Headlight restoration 50/50.

[93fox]

So i decided to restore this headlight i found in the trash can. someone decided to buy a new headlight and decided to throw this one out thinking it had no hope. since ive had a few new ideas on how to restore headlights i thought this would be the perfect candidate for the job. now here is the thing that is going to surprise most of you all. I did absolutely NO POLISHING on this headlight at all. Yes you read that right, NO POLISHING. i didnt whip out no compound, no pads, no buffer. All i used was Sandpaper and helmans spar urethane and mineral spirits. that is all i used.

process:
wet sand with 800 grit.
wet sand with 1000 grit.
wet sand with 1500 grit.
wet sand with 2000 grit.
wet sand with 3000 grit.
wipe the lense with mineral spirts to clean the sanding residue.
wipe the urethane at 1:1 with mineral spirits.

i wasent expecting it to look all that great since i was just testing to see how this looked but the results left me far more than amazed. ill let the pictures do the speaking now:











My thoughts:
Personally i think this is a very good alternative of doing this. In the thread where hotrod introduced this idea he updated everyone with the headlights he did. BUT he did compound and polish out the headlights first....THEN applied the urethane mixture. If i correctly remember he updated up to two years and it still looked awesome. Now here is my take on why i think this is a whole lot better idea than polishing and then wiping the urethane mixture. Take this for an example, when a painter is going to paint your car he doesn't buff out the car first to a perfect shine AND then sprays over it right? no. he first sands the paint and then paints and clears on top of it. That same method applies here. Having sanded the headlight up to 3000 grit there were still sanding scratches. super fine microscopic left from 3000 grit. SO when i wiped the urethane mixture, its laying on top of these scratches and "biting" or "holding on". see how this is similar to the example of painting a car? Its the same when i just need to clear a hood for instance. i dont spray clear over a nice shiny buffed hood. I first sand it with 1000 grit and then spray the clear, this way the clear has something to "hold on" to. This is why i think this method is better. its just like prepping a car for paint or clear, you sand it in order for the paint or clear to grab on well. same here, i applied the urethane mixture on top of the sanded headlight so i believe it will hold on alot better. now most of you are probably thinking that if there are any scratches visible. the answer is no. i spent quite a good time on 1000grit removing all the 800 grit scratches. i spent a good amount of time on each finishing grit to achieve a perfect finish.

any thoughts and comments are more than welcome!

[93fox]

[Jonah]

The results speak for themselves I am about to start on my 2003 Honda Accord. Not looking forward to working the area around the raised bump area esp if I have to do a lot of sanding by hand. I agree with your thoughts though. Having a roughed up area (very slight in this case) does give the material something to grab onto. As a comparison, when you assemble a golf club you have to roughen up the shaft (carbon or steel) or the epoxy wont hold and the club will fly apart.

[93fox]

The results speak for themselves I am about to start on my 2003 Honda Accord. Not looking forward to working the area around the raised bump area esp if I have to do a lot of sanding by hand. I agree with your thoughts though. Having a roughed up area (very slight in this case) does give the material something to grab onto. As a comparison, when you assemble a golf club you have to roughen up the shaft (carbon or steel) or the epoxy wont hold and the club will fly apart.

you are correct buddy! this headlights looks like if i had spent hours polishing it to look this nice. but thats not the case here!

[93fox]

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[Elite Pro]

Good Job bro!
I've only sanded, polished then Opti Coated

[93fox]

Good Job bro!
I've only sanded, polished then Opti Coated

[thewraith1971]

wow...looks like i got something to try out on the camaros headlights

[jamores23]

wow fox they look real good! so you sanded then coated no polishing? how did they clear up from the 3000grit sand marks?

[gbk233]

how did they clear up from the 3000grit sand marks?

I'm guessing that the urethane filled the micro scratches and leveled them...making them invisible.