Headlight Restoration

[Coppertop80]

I don't do a lot of this on the headlights (went new instead). I have done on the fogs though and I went exactly opposite to your technique. I started with 3000 trizact damp sanding disc on 3 " DA. Polished with compound and checked. Least aggresive method first. If not good enough then step down to 2000 grit and then 3000 and polish with compound. You get the idea. It takes a while but after dialing in you get consistant results. Just me method.

Least aggressive is the best approach, 400Grit is way too aggresive!!! I recently restored a headlight on a 07 Honda Civic ( head light was completely oxidized)
Damp sanded with 1500G, than 3000G and finally 5000G
Compounded with M105 on PC7424 on Lake Country yellow pad
Polished with HD Adapt on green pad
finished off with HD Speed on Black pad
The client couldn't beleave it was the same headlight.

[g35_coupe]

Least aggressive is the best approach, 400Grit is way too aggresive!!! I recently restored a headlight on a 07 Honda Civic ( head light was completely oxidized)
Damp sanded with 1500G, than 3000G and finally 5000G
Compounded with M105 on PC7424 on Lake Country yellow pad
Polished with HD Adapt on green pad
finished off with HD Speed on Black pad
The client couldn't beleave it was the same headlight.

It really depends on the vehicle. Honda lenses are easy peasy because their coating from the factory is relatively "soft". Try only using 1500 on some Volvo or Corvette lenses and you'll be there for days. There's a lot of trial and error if you're just doing them once in a while.

[Ironman]

Least aggressive is the best approach, 400Grit is way too aggresive!!! I recently restored a headlight on a 07 Honda Civic ( head light was completely oxidized)
Damp sanded with 1500G, than 3000G and finally 5000G
Compounded with M105 on PC7424 on Lake Country yellow pad
Polished with HD Adapt on green pad
finished off with HD Speed on Black pad
The client couldn't beleave it was the same headlight.

Very good thread; need to ask you a question. My mom's nissan altima is in need of a headlight restoration; I would describe the level of oxidation on her headlights at moderate to heavy. I could easily just take it into a body shop and have them do it, but I actually enjoy tending to my own personal car and would like to experiment with her headlights and see if I can get things right. I have at PC7424, M105, M205 and all three LC Hydo-tech foam pads.

I'm wondering how important damp sanding is? Is it a required step prior to compounding with M105? or can I just jump straight to compounding with M105 and the blue Cyan hydro-tech cutting pat, and skip the damp sanding altogether? I'm going to guess that the damp sanding will get you where you need to get much quicker maybe?

thanks again!

[JCDETAILRECON]

Unless you can feel deep pitting I would avoid going below 800 grit. 320 and 400 grit are last resort options reserved for severely crazed lenses. My go-to process (after cleaning ) is 800/1500/2500 or 1k/2k/3k .
If I have to go deeper it's 400 DRY/600/800/1200/2k/3k
Too big of a leap in the lower grits will leave sanding marks.

Also, different brand sanding discs can have different results, application to application. Autobody supply sources have the most options.