Headlight Restoration

[timsatx]

My daughter was in town from Houston this weekend for her brothers birthday. I had told her before that her headlights were pretty bad and I was going to fix it next time she was in town.

What I used was the 3M Headlight Lens Restoration System #39045. This is the system:

http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/500/600_DSC00654.JPG

These are the parts for the system minus the painters tape that was included. I just forgot to add it to the roundup. What you have is:



1 - 3M drill backing plate
1 - 3M Masking Tape PN 0000 25 ft.
4 - P800 grit white abrasive discs
6 - P500 grit yellow discs
1 - P3000 Trizact foam disc
1 - Orange foam compounding pad
1 - 1 oz. 3M headlight lens polish sample
1 - Container of protectant formula

This is what it looks like laid out:


http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/500/600_DSC00655.JPG

This is what the headlight looked like before I started anything. The picture makes actually look not quite as bad as it really was:

http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/500/600_DSC00653.JPG

One of the first things I did was to clean the leans and then tape them up, both at the same time:

http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/500/600_DSC00656.JPG

From this point you will be seeing the other lens. I had to do this because what I found out was that the kit didn't include either enough 500 grit pads or (my preference) include sandpaper of higher grit count. The damage to the lens including piting and spider webs was way too much for the 500 grit. I spent probably close to half an hour working it till I realized what was going on. After two disk I knew there wouldn't be enough to finish the job.

I went to O'Reilly's and picked up a 5 inch backing plate and 6 inch diameter sandpaper in both 180 and 320 grit. I wasn't sure what I would need to use but it ended up I only used the 320. I stopped taking pics at that point and didn't start up till I proved my method went to the other headlight. Oh, I also had to trim the sandpaper to fit. I don't know why they sell only a 5 inch disk and 6 inch sandpaper:

This next pic is after I used the 320:

http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/500/600_DSC00657.JPG

Next is after the 500:

http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/500/600_DSC00658.JPG

This is after the 800:

http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/500/600_DSC00659.JPG

This one is after the Trizact Foam disk and water:

http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/500/600_DSC00659.JPG

After that come the final correction using the orange polishing disk and headlight polish:

http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/500/600_DSC00660.JPG

After that I then took off all the tape gave the front of the car a wash down to clean off the mess. I then grabbed a microfiber towel and applied the protectant:

http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/500/600_DSC00661.JPG

All together I was doing it for almost 4 hours. It didn't seem that long. The time includes going to get the sandpaper and backing plate. It also included a lot of learning in the beginning, both with understanding what the sandpaper was doing and what I was looking for.

My conclusion, if you have anything more than minor hazing you will probably need to get an additional backing plate and appropriate sandpaper that is rougher than 500 grit. Other than that this was a nice little learning project and I think the 3M system worked very well.

[cartman57]

Now that's how it should look! Nice documentation and great job.
I'm sure she'll be able to see better at night too.

[tuscarora dave]

Nice job on the lenses. Good way to provide night driving safety for a friend, customer or loved one. I got a call from a friend yesterday who told me his headlights were all fogged out and he bought some magic headlight lens restorer in a bottle. I kind of chuckled when he said, "It didn't work."

I talked him through the process over the phone then invited him to swing by the shop to have me fix them up for him if he didn't feel like getting the kit and going through the learning curve.

[sharpreflection]

very nice job. That looks like a pretty decent kit. I am still doing mine the old fashion way. Looks very good.

[VroomVroom]

Great job! I'm really impressed at how good that lens worked following the 800-grit. I would've guessed 1500 or even 2000. Kudos, and thanks for sharing the process and all the great pics.

[wvpptzff]

I'm sure she'll be able to see better at night too.

[sasson]

Amazing work! Hope the Diamonite Kit I bought would do the same ( Or better? I hope... )!
This is looks fun! I hate that many People that I ask about restoring their headlights say No...
Keep on the good work! =)

[timsatx]

Thanks everyone. I should add that This last week I came up with a nasty infection in my neck that I have been battling with antibiotics and painkillers. I really shouldn't have been out in the sun but I wanted to get this done. I ended up with a nice burn in a couple of places but I will survive.

My daughter said that some her friends had put some stuff on it to try and make it better. I asked her what but she didn't know. It was obvious too that they didn't know either.

To tell the truth, If I thought it would take that long I probably wouldn't have done it with the way I felt, but once started I couldn't stop.

Oh, there was plenty of the product left over so I put it in a baggy and gave it, the microfiber towel and the instructions to take home and told her when she washed the car to apply a little of it and help it to last longer.

[Setec Astronomy]

I got a call from a friend yesterday who told me his headlights were all fogged out and he bought some magic headlight lens restorer in a bottle. I kind of chuckled when he said, "It didn't work."

Ha ha, I have a friend who stopped by when I was sanding/polishing some headlights. Some time later he told me he bought an "as seen on TV" kit for $10 and he was going to fix his without "spending an hour sanding each one". I told him I'd help him fix his when the kit didn't work, not that he's ever going to try it, anyway, but that's another story.

[JSou]

Thanks everyone. I should add that This last week I came up with a nasty infection in my neck that I have been battling with antibiotics and painkillers. I really shouldn't have been out in the sun but I wanted to get this done. I ended up with a nice burn in a couple of places but I will survive.

My daughter said that some her friends had put some stuff on it to try and make it better. I asked her what but she didn't know. It was obvious too that they didn't know either.

To tell the truth, If I thought it would take that long I probably wouldn't have done it with the way I felt, but once started I couldn't stop.

Oh, there was plenty of the product left over so I put it in a baggy and gave it, the microfiber towel and the instructions to take home and told her when she washed the car to apply a little of it and help it to last longer.

Speedy recovery sir! Nice write-up and good work. I now know what I'll be picking up for my headlight restorations.

[sinking]

Good results.

If you have a rotary polisher in the future you should have a go with it using a heavy compound, then, of course, working to finer polishes. Using this method I have restored some pretty bad headlights in about 15 minutes. The only time I have ever had to use sandpaper was when I was working on a car that was keyed and they put a deep scratch in the headlight. If that doesn't take care of it I would take the time with the sandpaper steps but I have always found them unnecessary.