My Headlight Restore...My FIRST Wet Sanding Job!

[galaxy]

So...turned out pretty good I thought. The fog lights required 600 to get the majority of the chips and defects out, but it got most of it. Some were too deep, but they're unnoticeable at this point. Headlights started with 1000 did the trick.

Question for you wet sanding experts though; what steps do you use in paper coarseness? I went 1000, 1500, 2500, 3000. I would imagine I could have eliminated some of these steps, especially being plastic?? How do you judge what paper to use and in what order? I imagine these plastic headlights were easier to sand than paint, no? It didn't take many passes with the next finer paper to feel when it had stopped cutting, making me think I could have eliminated some.

The pics don't show because they really did turn out great, but there are a few, what appears to be scratches/sanding marks left in the surface, but this is me being super picky. They can only be seen when the lights are on. I'm going to try re-polising next time I have the machine out, but would a plastic specific polish offer any benefits or finer level of detail over a normal paint polish?

[Driwash]

very well done, they look new.

Tom

[DieselMDX]

excellent!

[BorisC]

How do you judge what paper to use and in what order?

Look good. The worse the lights look, the more aggressive I start. Always from most aggressive to least, which is the way you did it. After doing a few you'll develop an eye for it & find your 'standard' procedure you like to use.