Landon75 Posted July 16, 2012 Report Share Posted July 16, 2012 Ok so first thing, i've tried the regular headlight polish stuff and it didn't work. i noticed my headlighs were rough and it looked like a clear coat was wearing off. I looked up ways to fix this and clear up my nasty headlights. I saw a tutorial on how to wet sand and this seemed more logical than the toothpaste method. So i've never taken a piece of sand paper to the exterior and i have zero body work experience so i was kinda hesitant about doing this, but i sacked up and did it. It was very easy just takes time. So heres how i did it. Materials (what I used) Dry towels A few Microfiber rags/circle applicators for polishing 800,1500,2000 grit wetdry sandpaper (Purchased at autozone $15 for all three packs) Meguiars PlasX (Purchased at Wal-mart for $6) Meguiars Headlight Protectant (Wal-mart $6) Bucket of car soap Water hose or spray bottle full of soapy water 1. Clean headlight with car soap to remove dirt, grime, ect. Soak your sandpapers in the soapy bucket for about 10 min. 2. With the 800 grit sandpaper start sanding side to side (not up and down) while keeping the surface wet with your water hose. Sand lightly don't put a lot of pressure. 3. When you feel the headlight is smooth and the yellowing/pitting is gone your done with the 800 grit. Make sure when you check the headlight, dry it with your towel to see what it actually looks like. if done correctly it will look evenly hazed by the sandpaper and all of the imperfections should be gone. pic below is after 800 grit. Make sure you dry it first! 4. Wet the headlight again and start sanding with your 1500 grit. Again sand until you feel it smooth and even to check this dry the headlight. it should start clearing up a little better. Make sure you still keep your water on it while sanding. 5. Repeat step 4 with 2000 grit. should be getting clearer when its wet it should look pretty clear then dry it should look somewhat like this. 6. This is where you PlastX come in handy and your microfiber applicators. Gob on some PlastX and wax it on the dry headlight. Before it drys completly wipe off with microfiber rag. It still might look hazy from sanding (but much clearer) so your going to need a few coats of the PlastX. Wax on... Wax off.. After first polish.. ehh better but not great A few more coats of polish.. there we go looking good! 7. Get a couple coats of Headlight protectant on there. After all the polishing of course. And thats it it should be looking brand new now it everything went smooth. I was very happy with how it turned out. It was my first time doing something like this and it was very easy so dont be scared like i was. ok so now some before and afters Before After Thanks for checking this out. The reason I wrote this up is because I didnt find a tutorial on here and I decided to make one myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lbox88 Posted July 16, 2012 Report Share Posted July 16, 2012 The 3M Headlight Restoration Kit is basically the same thing except it has a drill motor attachment. Worked well on my Malibu when I still had it. Think they cost about $20. UBL | Build Log Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Audiojunkie23 Posted July 16, 2012 Report Share Posted July 16, 2012 I was just wondering how to do this! Thanks for the post man. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Landon75 Posted July 16, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 16, 2012 The 3M Headlight Restoration Kit is basically the same thing except it has a drill motor attachment. Worked well on my Malibu when I still had it. Think they cost about $20. I didnt want to use a drill was too scared to mess it up, i just used some good old fashion elbow grease. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Landon75 Posted July 16, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 16, 2012 I was just wondering how to do this! Thanks for the post man. Your welcome. Yesterday I was too and i didn't find it here so i made one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skullz Posted July 16, 2012 Report Share Posted July 16, 2012 I did the same thing with sandpaper on the headlight housing followed by polishing that got them looking good again after 10+ years getting yellow and low light output. Now i just have to hit them with 2k wet/dry once a year and to keep them looking good. The very first time you do it will take the longest time and every time after will only be about 5 minutes per light. 01 Ford focus ZX3 Pioneer AVH-X491BHS PPI PC 4800.2 Morel Maximo 6.5" x2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lbox88 Posted July 16, 2012 Report Share Posted July 16, 2012 Oh, I was not too happy to do it at first either lol. But I figured fuck it, can't get too much worse than it was. I used to have pics of it but either they got lost when I upgraded phones or my laptop died. UBL | Build Log Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Landon75 Posted July 16, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 16, 2012 I did the same thing with sandpaper on the headlight housing followed by polishing that got them looking good again after 10+ years getting yellow and low light output. Now i just have to hit them with 2k wet/dry once a year and to keep them looking good. The very first time you do it will take the longest time and every time after will only be about 5 minutes per light. Lol using just 2k would take forever but ill keep up on it this time instead of never doing it and it will be much easier next time around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reg93f150 Posted October 19, 2012 Report Share Posted October 19, 2012 thanks for this man! been wondering how i can do it, i used the turtle wax ones for a while on each headlight, it looked better.. but not nearly as good as yours does ALL CREDIT TO XX1 FOR DC BANNER down rpping vanderbilt. 30 miles from victoria. i own the 3rd loudest setup here out of 3. but i did put together all 3 setups strapping 2 amps together ? like bolting them next together? using bungy cables to hold them down? or wiring separate amps to each sub Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lbox88 Posted October 19, 2012 Report Share Posted October 19, 2012 Try to polish them down with toothpaste, worked well on a couple cars I've tried it on. UBL | Build Log Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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