Headlight restoration by hand

[duffthebluff]

Hello fellow members,

I need your help, I'll be doing a headlight restoration project this weekend and I'd like to ask if anyone has done restoration with a sand paper and wetsanding the lenses by hand. Is this doable? I heard that its pretty hard to do.

My grits would start off at 800, 1500 and finally 2500.

Thanks!

Ian Duff
Shineville Auto Detailing
Manila, Philippines

[spewking]

Easy to do. Use the grits as you list. After sanding, polish with compound, say menz 1000, and an orange pad to really clean off lenses. Wipe off with IPA or eraser. Then seal. Used CarPro DLux last time and it's still holding up well.

[DogRescuer]

Easy to do. Use the grits as you list. After sanding, polish with compound, say menz 1000, and an orange pad to really clean off lenses. Wipe off with IPA or eraser. Then seal. Used CarPro DLux last time and it's still holding up well.

Agree with this but I would hit it with a 105 then 205 will work faster and finish with a high# as he said imo

[blkSRT]

I have always wet sanded lights by hand without any issues

[RFrommann]

i've done dozens of headlights by hand, very do-able

[2JZ]

Yup, sanding by hand is easy. I use the crosshatch technique and finish my last grit size horizontally. Then some menzerna fg400 followed up with sf4000 and sealed.

[duffthebluff]

Thanks for your help guys, I'll reply to this thread whatever happens in my restoration. Hope nothing goes wrong lol

Ian Duff
Shineville Auto Detailing
Manila, Philippines

[aim4squirrels]

The sanding by hand is the easy part. Compounding and polishing take more effort by hand and don't typically yield as good a result. Use a light touch with the heavier grits and you won't have as much to do with the lighter grits.

Anything can be accomplished with time and muscle though, you may have to weigh the cost of time vs. price of a machine if you do a lot of these jobs.

A Harbor freight DA or the 3m headlight drill system might not be a bad investment for a job like this, but seeing as you have a Detailing business, you should have something handy.

[duffthebluff]

Yeah, I do have a Flex 3401 here so I'll hit it with a compound after I sand it down. I'm just worried if I needed to get a grinder for this.

Ian Duff
Shineville Auto Detailing
Manila, Philippines

[Beavis]

I always wets and my headlight restorations by hand starting with 400, 600, 800, 1000, 1200 and then 1500. It is alot of steps but it helps on making sure all the scratches are out and then ready for buffing.