headlight restoration

[wallace03]

would this be enough for restoring headlights along with GG6 and various pads/compound? Meguiars Unigrit Sand Papers Sheets, wet-sanding papers, remove orange peel, finishing papers (http://www.autogeek.net/meguiars-sandpapers.html) what grit would be the most common to get? on a side note, when machine polishing with a black pad should the pad be changed/clean as if i were polishing? and for harder to get areas should i be using hand applicator or just use the 3" pads when waxing? also, how many uses can you get from wet sanding paper? is it one and done?

[ChrisMessier]

I'm interested in this as well... Looking to do resto jobs for a dealership group. Hopefully someone responds soon!!

[ray6]

It doesn't have to be that complicated. I'd work in reverse. Are you planning to put on a permanent coating after you remove the old one or are you going to use wax/polish/mystery coating?

What are you expecting for coating lifetime? Are you going to guarantee your work?

Too much emphasis is placed on getting the old coating off. Not the replacement coating. There are many different methods to remove the old coating, some good, some not so good. Many are overkill. Your task is to remove the old coating to the level required for the new coating as fast and as cheap as possible. Your profitability doing headlight restorations is usually based on time.

It's easy to restore headlights by multiple steps, but if it takes an hour to do it, you'll have problems making any profit.

Once you figure out what the final coating will be, figure out what it will need as a final abrasive. Many polyurethane coatings will easily fill 1500 grit sanding marks, so any finishing work beyond that is a waste of time and money. Also, many coatings are sensitive to waxes and other compounds so you would want to avoid them. There are about a dozen good final coatings on the market. Choose it first.
ray6