How to save really bad head lights - Orinda Auto Detail

[Orinda Auto Detail]

Ok I`m gonna start like this to get your attention

Ever try to buff out something like this? Probably did not go well at all! These tricks are nothing new but at the request of some Detail buddies I`m gonna do a step by step for you.

Things you`ll need-
Sand paper
320 grit(rare you need this coarse but the one in the photo above did)
600 grit - This is where I started on the ones in the write up below
1000 grit
1500 grit
3000 grit
If doing this by hand a soft sanding block helps a lot.
Any machine polisher. I use a rotary but this can be done with a D/A.
I used BF SRC compound followed by BF SRC Finishing on 3` pads cutting/polishing. I used Opti Coat pro to protect the lens(Opti Lens is a better choice...been lazy on ordering it)
Masking tape is a must to protect areas around the head lights.


First off I can tell someone tried to scrub or sand these with something. Also you can see the UV line that is baked into the plastic. There is no way your polishing through that line with just a buffer and compound. You could make this look a little better but no where near perfect. I`ll show you!

A closer look shows you can actually see spiders looking cracks that appear to be in the lens. This is where the outer layer of the plastic is cracking.

This lens is the better off of the 2. I`m gonna take a wool pad and some 3m compound and lay into this for a few passes. This is a common practice for head lights. It works well if they are just starting to oxidize. But if they are actually cracking in the top layer....

Taping is key no matter which way your doing this. I always double up my tape on the sharp edges and leave kinda over lapped bubble at extra security from polishing or sand paper.

Common tools for a lot of head light restos. Lets see what happens.

After quick wipe down with ONR. A good amount of compound(go heavy it helps with the heat, You can burn a lens. So better safe than sorry)

Repeated said step 3 times and used my rotary on 1600rpm. Didn`t touch the lines or cracks. Made them a little less yellow by removing the outer most layer of oxidation. Fail IMO. Ok i`ll come back to this on in a minute. Lets tackle the hard one.

Up close you can see this really bad.

Starting with 600 grit, I sanded left to right. The goal in this step is knock down the UV line and all the patchy area`s so that it appears uniform. Use lots of water in this step as your sand paper will load up with spent plastic very quickly so rinsing often really helps.

After stopping and drying the light off you can see on the edges I need to him them more because those lines have to be gone in this step. 1000 grit in my experience will take a VERY long time to knock them down so save your arm and make sure your checking your work often.

Getting there but still need those patchy spots to go away before moving on.

After this I hit the bottoms where it dips one more time with 600. Total time on this step including taping and documenting was about 30min. Take away documenting I did this step on the other light in less then 10 min.

Now on to 1000. The reason I do 1000 is because it hard to remove 600 grit scratches with a higher grit. On this step you wanna go up and down basic cross hatch pattern so you can be sure you got rid of all the 600 scratches.

You can see here the up and down 1000 marks on the left side. You wanna do this till you can see no more left and right scratches left over from the 600.

After that go with 1500 again switching direction so you get rid of all the previous step standing marks.


while you can do all these steps by machine and it is way easier. I always do my coarse 320-1500 by hand because of the risk factor. Any of those will go through tape pretty easy. 3000 on the other hand does not. So while you can do this by hand I use my Flex3401. The forced rotation is awesome on head lamps.

Lots of water with machine sanding to keep your paper for loading up. My flex was on speed 2. With a DA I would not recommend trying this one handed unless using a much smaller sanding disc.

Time to polish them out and see what up! Using my BF SRC compound and my tiny wool pad...

Just compounding. After this I used a polishing pad and finishing polish. The lights will sealed later with OC Pro

Bling!

I was gonna do a Time lapse video but I didn`t notice till was almost done I forgot to turn the camera on. Customer walked up when I was setting it up and well...

Passanger side was done in the exact same order minus the attempt with wool and compound



Hope you like this and if you have any questions feel free to ask!

Thanks for looking
Joseph Torbati
Orinda Auto Detail!

[ihaveacamaro]

That`s awesome Joe!!

When do you know to just use compound/polish vs sanding and then compound/polish? Obviously the headlights were beat up in this one, but on some headlights where you aren`t sure, how do you decide? My guess is just try the first step and see what happens, then decide from there, or do you get an "eye" for this kind of thing after a while?

[Gurge]

great writeup

I hate having to go lower than 1000 grit. usually that means the lenses are a mess like you showed here. well done

[Bunky]

Nice write up..boy you used a lot of tape.

[mjlinane]

Awesome Joe!!

[Wors]

Very nice write up. Great work.

[tropicsteve]

that was a great save joe. i would have thought those lenses were beyond help.

[VitoB]

Great work, those headlights were really bad. I have done many headlight restorations myself and you are 100% correct, when you have those yellow lines or cracks, then you have no choice but to use aggressive sanding methods.

[mrclean81]

Excellent write up. Lets see a resto kit from Walmart do that

[Pats300zx]

Awesome work and documentation

[Addicted2Bling]

Yeah, my 1 step headlight restorer liquid can do a better job! JK, great write up.

[Orinda Auto Detail]

Thanks guys!

[Todd@RUPES]

Thanks for the review! The lights look much better!

[polisher]

wow what a before and after results!!!..do mine too