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wetsanding headlights [56K go for dinner]
Full DIY is located down a few replies with lots of pictures.
hey, one of my headlights is hazy while the other is very clear. so my plan is to wetsand both headlights (to keep them equal, but obviously less sanding on the clear one) using 800, 1000, 1500, 2000, buff (with buffer) with 3M rubbing compound, and then clearcoat to protect. just wanted to ask, anyone done this before? meguiars plastix will not save this one headlight, its that hazed because my ride was in an accident before i bought it and i guess they only replaced the drivers side headlight. |
never heard of it being done before but if it turns out post a diy cause im sure many others would want to do the same.....
by the way sweet ride.... looks ten times better in person then it does in the pics.... |
I've done it on my saturn... skip the clearcoat tho, that's just silly.
maintain your headlighs with Plastix from Meguiars at least once every 3 months and it won't happen again (unless you use high wattage bulbs, in which case the heat will discolor the plastic from the inside out) |
JDMman i will post a DIY forsure, when did ya see me, thanks for the compliment
bbarbulo thanks for the tip, i've heard of using plastix to maintain it, so i think i'll go with that. i'm gonna be doing this soon, if it rains all day tomorrow i'll do it then, otherwise early next week when i get back from drinkin JD with my buddies, hehe. |
yeah man, just expect to put a lotta muscle into it ahaha... be patient and the end result will look like new headlights (assuming they're not discolored right through) also, remember the more you remove the more distortion you introduce, so remove only the material you HAVE to remove.... and use one of those spongey sanding boards to keep pressure even on the whole sanding area.
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one is done, holy **** it looks so much better, i'm just getting the condensation out of the other and i'll post a full DIY for others considering this. its easier then DIY CTR style smoked headlights :D
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for this i went with the following grits of automotive sandpaper and wetsand using water with soap in it to lubricate:
HERES WHAT YOU NEED: all this sandpaper is $2.79ea at CDN tire. 180 (only if really, really, REALLY bad) 400 800 1000 1500 2000 Meguairs Plastx Sanding block bucket of water with soap in it cloth x 3 (1 to keep area wet, 1 to dry area to see your progress, 1 for plastx) buffer (orbital or highspeed if you have it, if not use cloth) SANDING (gets as smooth as a baby's butt) sand for about 5 minutes per grit in a smooth steady motion, each grit will erase all lines from the previous, so when i got to 1500 and 2000, i used those just a tad longer. START (look at that pitting and hazyness) http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...l/IMG_2449.jpg 180/400 http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...l/IMG_2454.jpg 800 http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...l/IMG_2456.jpg 1000 http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...l/IMG_2458.jpg 1500 http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...l/IMG_2460.jpg 2000 http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...l/IMG_2462.jpg then orbital buffer and meguairs plastx (or other buffing/polishing compound) which removes the cloudy part from all the sanding and leaves it crystal clear. did this for about 15 minutes and really worked it in the best i could applying about 3 coats of plastx. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...l/IMG_2467.jpg NOTE: a highspeed buffer would have removed all lines and make it shiny as hell, but i don't have access to a highspeed buffer. i'd probably go 1800-2500rpm since its plastic and if it heats up it won't be pretty. move it around alot and stop to feel how hot its getting, highspeed buffing makes alot of heat and if you melt a part of the lens, your ****ed. another trick to this is to use spray water to cool it down, i wouldn't recommend this way unless you know what your doing and have done it before. Why 180 grit, thats pretty heavy isn't it? yes, one of my headlights was so bad, it looks like it was from a 1990 civic that has never been washed. after this its crystal clear and you cannot see any scratches unless your like 1ft away, then you can see some small lines from wetsanding, this is because i had to go down to 180 grit to get all the pitting out. the drivers headlight was started at 400 and there are virtually no lines at all, but it was replaced at somepoint before, so it was much newer. |
turnout and only a hour or so of work.
Final Results Before http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...l/IMG_2449.jpg After http://photobucket.com/albums/v226/a...l/IMG_2472.jpg http://photobucket.com/albums/v226/a...l/IMG_2468.jpg http://photobucket.com/albums/v226/a...l/IMG_2469.jpg http://photobucket.com/albums/v226/a...l/IMG_2470.jpg http://photobucket.com/albums/v226/a...l/IMG_2471.jpg http://photobucket.com/albums/v226/a...l/IMG_2472.jpg http://photobucket.com/albums/v226/a...l/IMG_2473.jpg |
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Great write up!
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How's the light output? Notice any significant light increase? How about light focus? Do you still have a clear cut off?
Nice DIY. |
i did this last year to mine.... but the clearcoat is coming off... i'm gonna re-do them.
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didn't clearcoat. just used meguairs plastx and it polishes it nice and smooth and repells water too, so i'd just give em a good polish rather then clearcoat.
yes light output is greatly improved over the way it was, definately something to do if your lights are hazy or pitted |
Great DIY and write up.
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bump...did it to mine today
96 HB with DIY black housing headlights its still not 100% tho I went from 400-600-1500 grit papers and then used plastix or whatever its called, with a waxing buffer machiene and after 3 coats or so it was greatly improved over what it was...but its not 100%....is this the best it iwll get? any tips> |
:shrugs: i've seen other DIY's and they look better than brand new...
any ideas anyone? |
2000 grit would have helped alittle, but after that its basically scrub like hell with plastx. i still need to do mine more too as you can see some lines in person. there should not be any big lines at all, just a few minor ones that look like scratches.
another option is to you 3m compounds, they have a polish and another extremely light cutting one that may help if the lines are deeper then 1500 grit. |
hmmmm..
question.. are the lenses plastic?? or more like a lexan?? i might have a trick depending on the answer :D |
they are plastic, kinda like a a plastic clear cup.
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well that sux..
i'm sure my ideas would have worked on lexan lenses.. |
share anyways, they may transfer over.
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k, i've used this on lexan and plexi and it clears up edges MINT
ya know those butane torches you can get?? use one of those to gently heat up the edges and they clear right up (thank Trading Spaces for that one :D ) the other is a bench grinder (with polishing wheel)..use the blue bars (not normal rouges,,,they'll fook it up!!)...again, works mint and NOT only on edges |
props for the DIY
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I have had same problem.
i took the three step waxing process. and that cleared mine up. no need to sand. but good write up |
Originally posted by sergsru I have had same problem. i took the three step waxing process. and that cleared mine up. no need to sand. but good write up mine were heavily pitted....to the point i seriously just considered buying new ones. |
Originally posted by alwaysoverkill heavily pitted from rocks and the three step waxing cleared em up? mine were heavily pitted....to the point i seriously just considered buying new ones. sorry mine were not heavily.. but were blurry. |
imageshack sucks!
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My EK headlight is also very yellow. Should I just sand the outer lense? Or disassemble the headlight and sand the inside as well?
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Outer lense only but if you really want to, you can do the inside as well. I only reason I had mine apart was because I did the DIY CTR headlight.
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look hell of a lot better then before
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^^^ sure does eh? better then nothing at all. good work people.
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Hard to believe these are the same headlights. Buffing the crap outta them took me about an hour alone, just shows how much work I put into them.
http://img111.imageshack.us/img111/1579/img19663sg.jpg http://img111.imageshack.us/img111/5048/img21744zj.jpg |
I gotta spend some more time buffing mine to get them clearer, Freddy, what did you use. So far i just spent 15 minutes or so per light with Meguiars PlastX and a cloth. I need to get my hands on a highspeed buffer. did you apply by hand?
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I used a buffer to apply and remove.
2 Coats - Meguiar's Plast-X 2 Coats - Meguiar's Scratch-X, 2 Coats - Meguiar's Professional Fine Cut Cleaner 2 Coats - Meguiar's NXT Wax Can you tell I'm a Meguiar's fan? :D |
thats a sick ass DIY, im doin this when the weather gets better
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Just did mine today. I didn't go overboard though with buffing because no power tools to utilize. I just buffed manually. My arm hurts now :(
Here is a shot of my front lights. I used 800 grit only and looks pretty decent for now. My rear lights result wasn't overly good. The left tail light alread sucked so it didnt look amazing after. Maybe in the summer I will sand them down with courser grit and work my way up. Just used 800 grit for a couple of minutes. http://img367.imageshack.us/img367/7830/dsc01032mh.jpg http://img487.imageshack.us/img487/2346/dsc01054lj.jpg http://img367.imageshack.us/img367/7893/wall7mx.jpg BTW: I didnt use plastic polish, I just used the leftover Mothers Mag and Aluminum Polish I had sitting in my cabinet. |
I plan to do this soon to my lights.
Did any of you find that the light output to be distorted at all after the process? What kind of buffer did you guys use? |
Originally posted by Slvr-Bullet I plan to do this soon to my lights. Did any of you find that the light output to be distorted at all after the process? What kind of buffer did you guys use? I'll use a motorized machine to wax the polish too. :thumbup: |
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