Headlight Restoration Finishing Polish

[jdemoss]

I seem to do great cleaning headlights until the very end I can't get it to come back to perfect clarity. I go from 1000 grit up to 3000 grit by hand with sandpaper. I have only been using microfiber towels to rub in the finishing polish by meguires. It seems to suck. Is it because I need to use a polishing pad or is it the finishing cheap polishing walmart product I'm using?

[bsirbu]

This is what I do:

1500 grit wet

2000 grit wet

3m compound with rotary on a 3"
compounding pad (I use LC 3" blue pad)

3m machine polish with rotary on a 3" polishing pad (again I use LC 3" orange pad)

Finally seal with a good sealant (I typically use opti-coat for a more permanent seal)

Hope this helps!

[SeaJay's]

I wet sand them using my griots 3" DA. Usually start with 3000 grit and work my way down from there depending upon how bad the headlights are.

Once the sanding is complete I'll use my rotary, a 3" med-heavy cutting pad and some M105. Then follow that up with a finishing pad and some M205. Then seal with opti-coat.

I think the problem you have is that your attempting to polish them out by hand. It can be done but is a ton of extra work. A rotary makes quick work of it.

[BorisC]

Are you using any sealer on them or just polishing by hand as a last step? In my experience if you just polish, the lights will begin to dull within a week or two as the polish wears off. I agree with SeaJay that polishing by hand is probably not cutting it. I would use a rotary or at least a drill. I used to polish before I coated the lights but found it to be a waste of time b/c I had to remove the polish to coat them anyway.

Here is what I do currently. Generally takes no more than 30-35min.
Tape as necessary 2-3 min
1Kg-2Kg-3Kg Wet by hand. 2-3 min per light - I may start w/ 800g if they are really bad.
Clean Up -Lights w/ IPA or MS. Clean any runoff, splatters, etc w/ detail spray or w/e. 4-5 min
Apply sealer 2 min
Crystal clear everytime.

[SeaJay's]

Boris what are you using as a sealer? Assuming it's the spar/mineral spirits mix?

[BorisC]

Boris what are you using as a sealer? Assuming it's the spar/mineral spirits mix?

Yes. Eyeballed at 50/50.

[ray6]

It may be that the coatings you are using (polish) are very thin and won't fill in fine scratches like a real sealer. The other problem with polishes is that 1 trip to the car wash and the protection is gone. You need to use a more permanent coating. Most don't need any sanding above 1500 grit.
rays