Theyre beyond my meguires restoration kit. The scratches and deposits are too deep. What can i do?

Sand paper?

toothpaste.

sand with some pretty fine stuff, like 600 and work up maybe? dunno tho, those resto kits work pretty well usually

are you using good ole elbow grease?(doin it by hand)
you proally will need a buffer and a slightly abrasive wax.

i tried by hand and got nowhere, used a buffer and they are as good as new.

Hmm. I am using the elbow grease..

Im using the PlastX compound that comes with the kit i decided not to purchase. To me, a soft buffer wouldnt be abrasive enough. Im scrubbing and getting nowhere!

These damnded headlights are starting to cost me more time and money than anticipated lol

a nice pic to show what u got could help too. most likely the clear coating is toast. i can hook u up really cheap with new lamps u can switch lence covers and have spare bases

Thing is, i just bought new headlights. These are just the old spares i was modding up and trying to fix.

Maybe ill just give it up

like i told you toothpaste. seriously.

if that does'nt work go to the junkyard and pick up a diff set. good as new lol

600 is too aggressive start with nothing less than 800 (wet sanded) and move up but 100 grit intervals then buff with non-silicone rubbing compound and finish off by hand with a finish wax. May have to abort if its too bad, it worked on my eclipse. They were yellow and looked like the coating was peeling off but after the sand and buff they're like new.

sometimes you just need to buy a new set and move forward.



Anything worth doing is worth over doing.

You need to wetsand, and buff with a plastic buffing compound (not Plast-X). Start with 1000 grit, and move up to 1500, then 2000, then buff it (with a power buffer, not by hand). They will look like new, as long as you take the time, and work through each grit of sandpaper properly. If you can't find a good plastic buffing compound, check around for plastic fabrication shops, particularly ones that deal with custom retail displays and signs. They will have it on hand, and if they won't sell you a bottle of theirs, they should at least be able to tell you where to get it.

Have you seen the 3M headlight restoration kit?

It comes with 3 levels of sand paper, and then a nice polish and I believe it all attaches to a regular power drill. Go to the automotive store or Walmart (Our's carries it) and look for it.

Thanks for all the help. Ill be sure to look into all of this.

z yaaaa wrote:sometimes you just need to buy a new set and move forward.

As i said, i have. Just tryin to clean these up if i can salvage them. The housings are mint.

Zenith wrote:Have you seen the 3M headlight restoration kit?

It comes with 3 levels of sand paper, and then a nice polish and I believe it all attaches to a regular power drill. Go to the automotive store or Walmart (Our's carries it) and look for it.

Thats what I used and I love this kit. Works with a drill, and works like a little buffer. Amazing stuff...

Quiklilcav wrote:You need to wetsand, and buff with a plastic buffing compound (not Plast-X). Start with 1000 grit, and move up to 1500, then 2000, then buff it (with a power buffer, not by hand). They will look like new, as long as you take the time, and work through each grit of sandpaper properly. If you can't find a good plastic buffing compound, check around for plastic fabrication shops, particularly ones that deal with custom retail displays and signs. They will have it on hand, and if they won't sell you a bottle of theirs, they should at least be able to tell you where to get it.

this



www.driftnamiperformance.com

Mod them as you want take the lens off your new ones and call it a day.

I have tried this on my grand am and got no where. I ended up just buying new headlights like you did and junked the others after numerous attempts at bringing them back to life.


Disclaimer: Dey see me Trollin' Dey hatin' for trollin dey trying to catch me ridin dirty.

Cavie Freak aka E-Thug wrote:Mod them as you want take the lens off your new ones and call it a day.

I have tried this on my grand am and got no where. I ended up just buying new headlights like you did and junked the others after numerous attempts at bringing them back to life.

You obviously weren't using the right products and/or technique. Plenty of people have been able to restore headlights using methods posted above.
The biggest key is that you have to put a lot of work sanding properly with increasingly fine sandpaper before you use anything to buff them.

Quiklilcav wrote:

Cavie Freak aka E-Thug wrote:Mod them as you want take the lens off your new ones and call it a day.

I have tried this on my grand am and got no where. I ended up just buying new headlights like you did and junked the others after numerous attempts at bringing them back to life.

You obviously weren't using the right products and/or technique. Plenty of people have been able to restore headlights using methods posted above.
The biggest key is that you have to put a lot of work sanding properly with increasingly fine sandpaper before you use anything to buff them.

Obviously you don't know the condition of my lights and that they were to far gone to bring back. I would have had to damn near sand a hole in them to remove the pitting. I did get them pretty clear so to speak but it was still to cloudy for decent light output.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edited Tuesday, May 25, 2010 4:18 PM

Disclaimer: Dey see me Trollin' Dey hatin' for trollin dey trying to catch me ridin dirty.

Well if they were so pitted that you had to sand a significant amount of material off, that's a different story. Sounds like you had pits from driving behind gravel trucks. LOL. However, the cloudiness indicates you still needed to do some more work. I'll give you that some headlights are just too gone to be worth the time and effort, but most of them can be restored with enough sanding and buffing.

Quiklilcav wrote:Well if they were so pitted that you had to sand a significant amount of material off, that's a different story. Sounds like you had pits from driving behind gravel trucks. LOL. However, the cloudiness indicates you still needed to do some more work. I'll give you that some headlights are just too gone to be worth the time and effort, but most of them can be restored with enough sanding and buffing.

I dunno what my wife did to the car before we were together. She swore up and down that the headlights were fine. I put a new one in and took her outside and showed her and she about hit the floor cause of the difference. I swear it was like comparing a old 1960 flashlight to a HID.


Disclaimer: Dey see me Trollin' Dey hatin' for trollin dey trying to catch me ridin dirty.