Review: Griot's Garage G8 Headlight Sander

[Thomkirby]

Mike,
This was a good refresher on how to do it correctly. I was hesitant to use my 500-grit discs on the headlights, I normally use the 800-grit wet dry paper only, as not fully sure how well the plastic would do with that grit. Good demo of the steps.

Just for fun try it with toothpaste it leaves a nice minty taste for the dogs to lick. Otherwise that myth is just that, a waste of good toothpaste if the headlights are sun baked.

And yes, double tape around the headlights! You taught that one well at your training classes!

[Mike Phillips]

Very wise Mike to mention "2" layers of Tape for this type of work. Unless you're going to mask with Gorilla Duct Tape, I once found out 1 tape layer is not adequate for protection of surrounding paint-trim. Even when working with sanding papers the hard and slow way, by hand

It's just a good best practice. And I purposefully used two layers and made a point about it because I see so many experts on other social media platforms NOT show this best practice.

It's cheaper to use a little tape than to re-paint.

Very cool article. Looks like a nice machine for sure. Never used that sand paper but I’m gonna have to give it a shot.

Thansk Jim. Mirka Abralon is the BOMB for so many things. It's not for removing orange peel, the foam cushion backing just doesn't allow the face of the sanding disc to focus on just the high spots of orange peel. But for just about anything else - it's a nice product. I've shown it for years now in my boat detailing classes.

I’m not shocked people commented on taping.

Always so many people want to let the world know how smart they are.

Personally when I’m sanding, I tape with masking then in some areas I will put duct tape on top of the masking tape for extra protection. The few minutes taping certainly beats the expense and time of a body shop trip.

I'm a huge fan of Duct Tape. I'll share a story about it later.




[QUOTE=Thomkirby;1670245]

Mike,

This was a good refresher on how to do it correctly. I was hesitant to use my 500-grit discs on the headlights, I normally use the 800-grit wet dry paper only, as not fully sure how well the plastic would do with that grit. Good demo of the steps.

Thanks Kirby.

And yes, double tape around the headlights! You taught that one well at your training classes!

Second nature to show the right way in a class setting.

[mc2hill]

It's just a good best practice. And I purposefully used two layers and made a point about it because I see so many experts on other social media platforms NOT show this best practice.

It's cheaper to use a little tape than to re-paint.

Great advice Mike!

I learned this lesson the hard way while doing headlights on a black Cayenne Turbo for a friend. I went a little past the tape with my sandpaper without realizing it. Then had to sand the mark to get it to come out. I was worried how the area would hold up over time since it was now thinner than the surrounding area. Luckily for me his wife backed into it, and he had it repainted a few months later!
Now I too double tape the closest areas, and add a few extra widths of tape the where I 'may' touch.

[Mike Phillips]

Great advice Mike!

I learned this lesson the hard way while doing headlights on a black Cayenne Turbo for a friend.

I went a little past the tape with my sandpaper without realizing it. Then had to sand the mark to get it to come out. I was worried how the area would hold up over time since it was now thinner than the surrounding area. L

uckily for me his wife backed into it, and he had it repainted a few months later!

Now I too double tape the closest areas, and add a few extra widths of tape the where I 'may' touch.

Thanks for share Mike.

An ounce of prevention, or in this case a few strips of tape can save the day.

[Halon]

Sorry to bring this back from the dead. Thank you for the great article. I was wondering if you could help me understand why it would be important to take it all the way to 4000 grit? I'm still somewhat of a rookie, and I spend a lot of time reading articles like this and watching various YouTube tutorials. So my question is more based on what I've read rather than from real world experience.

The FCC cream you used, I've seen that it's capable of correcting down to 1500 grit sanding marks, even with basic DA machines and foam pads. So in this case, could time have been saved by skipping the 3000 & 4000 grit steps, and instead go straight from 2000 to compound, while still achieving the same results? Or is there a reason or benefit in going all the way to 4000?

[Mike Phillips]

Sorry to bring this back from the dead. Thank you for the great article. I was wondering if you could help me understand why it would be important to take it all the way to 4000 grit? I'm still somewhat of a rookie, and I spend a lot of time reading articles like this and watching various YouTube tutorials. So my question is more based on what I've read rather than from real world experience.

The FCC cream you used, I've seen that it's capable of correcting down to 1500 grit sanding marks, even with basic DA machines and foam pads. So in this case, could time have been saved by skipping the 3000 & 4000 grit steps, and instead go straight from 2000 to compound, while still achieving the same results? Or is there a reason or benefit in going all the way to 4000?

Great question.

I practice typing or speaking for the WIDEST SPECTRUM of people (people that read what I wrote or watch a video I'm in).

As such, I tend to show EVERYTHING versus only show some things.


I could probably sand and stop at #500 grit and pull my sanding marks out with a rotary buffer, wool pad and aggressive compound - but I don't show what I can do - I show what "can" be done. Then I leave it to each person to choose what of that which I have written to take and use for their situation.


THIS FORUM IS FREE TO JOIN AND ASK QUESTIONS


And anyone that wants more information about anything I say, type or recommend is FREE to join this forum and ask me and I'm always happy to reply in public.

I don't like when people simply shoot me an e-mail or a "message". That's being lazy. I prefer the forum because the info reaches so many eyeballs and endures over time.


So thank you for joining the forum to ask your questions.

[Mike Phillips]

Sorry to bring this back from the dead. Thank you for the great article.

Never hesitate to reply to any thread on this forum no matter what the date and specially any content I've written.

My own personal practice is to,


Write for the future



That is, I do my best to write information that is never time-sensitive. My 11 year anniversary for joining Autogeek is July 10th. As I type, that's 2 days from now.

Articles, content, information I wrote 11 years ago is still just as accurate and pertinent today as the day I wrote it. It's a writing style that I prefer and practice.

[TrustJesus]

Thank you I want to learn to do this.

[TrustJesus]

Honestly I don’t know how to do this but I want to learn, this will help thank you

[Duy]

Mike, thank you for this informative thread just like all your other posts.

Question I have for you and others, for long term protection, instead of using a coating of some sort which I've seen offer protection for months to possibly a year, could I wetsand with 6-800 grit and spray with 2K clear for years of protection?