twin_snails

iTrader: (2)

So I said I would do a small DIY and chronicle the refinishing of my headlights. And Brad, this does take out any surface irregularities and minor pits. The result is smooth as glass. You'll be amazed at the results I think. I know I was. I wasn't going to post as a DIY because Gio37 already has a great thread on this, but at Blnewt's suggestion, here it is.

This was my very first foray into an automotive refinishing job of any kind or with wet sanding. I was curious as to why wet sanding is the preferred way to go on this, so I tried a little bit of dry sanding. The sandpaper is so fine that without the water, the material you're removing glazes up and clogs the sandpaper with specs of glazed material, which makes it ineffective. With a good amount of water, that's not a problem.

I took before and afters so you guys can see the process and what the outcome was. I followed Gio37's DIY here on the forum as a basis for how to go about this and as a guide and went a little higher on the sandpaper grit, to 3000. Thank you and credit to Gio37 for a fantastic DIY! The link can be viewed here: https://www.myg37.com/forums/d-i-y-i...storation.html

So here's the before photos. As you can see, my headlights were pretty skerfy, no thanks to oxidation and me letting a guy with a backpack "fix them" in an Autozone parking lot last year, AGAINST my better judgement. They came out terrible. He only spent about 15 minutes on them and then sprayed clear coat on them after sanding. I was about having a coronary (definitely fit to be tied) and ready to strangle the guy. The right was worse than the left.

Right:


Left:


As you can see, I've already masked the headlights off with standard 3M blue tape.

I used the following items, all of which I picked up off of Amazon.

1000 Grit 3M Wet or Dry sandpaper (came with 1000, 1500, 2000, and 2500 grit sandpaper)

3000 Grit 3M Trizact Performance Sandpaper

3M 39010 Polish and Protector

SE CBC300B Cone-Shape Cloth Buffing Wheel

An air-pressurized, hand-pump, push button garden sprayer
I already had the garden sprayer so I don't have a link to it. You can use any spray bottle to put water plus some dish soap in it, but the push button sprayer made it easier.

So you start out with 1000 grit and start sanding away and keep going until you have a uniform, opaque haze across the entire surface of the headlight. Depending on how bad your lights are, you might even go down to an 800 grit as this stage takes a while. With the 1000 grit, I spent about an hour on each headlight to ensure I removed all of the imperfections. You're only removing a few microns of material total.





The 1000 grit takes the longest to do out of all the grits because you have to keep sanding until you take off the entire layer of skerf. I would say half of your total time will be spent on the 1000 grit stage. You don't want to see any clear areas or borderline orange peel amongst the haze as depicted here and circled in red:



I've skipped some of the intermediary grits because well, you get the idea. With each stage, wipe the area frequently with a dry cloth and let it dry. This allows you to tell that you've achieved a uniform opacity with each stage.

Keep going through all the grits and while the water is on the headlight, as you go higher with the grades, the lens becomes clearer. The opaque white gradually gives way to translucency and you move through the grits. The images depicted below are of 2500 grit, both wet and dry.

2500 Wet:


2500 Dry:


Here is 3000 grit and as you can see, it's still not perfectly clear, but the polishing stage will fix that. You could probably get away with 2500 grit as the final grit but the higher you go, the easier it makes your polishing stage go.

3000 Dry:


The following photo shows the polishing stage. Only a little bit of the 3M headlight polish is necessary on the polishing wheel. I applied only a little bit to the buffing wheel for each headlight and that's all that you'll need. The buffing wheel just attaches to a standard 3/8" drill. On this stage, you keep polishing everywhere until the finish is perfect.

Polishing:


Final product left side:




Final product right side:




I hope you guys have enjoyed the post and can see what is possible if you're willing to do it yourself and put some elbow grease into it. All told, I spent about 2.5 - 3 hours per headlight because mine were bad and I wanted them done right. I'm quite pleased with the outcome of the job and hey, I can see that my car has cool headlights again!

HoldmyMouse

Very nice write up and restoration! Just want to ask if you have used any other protective sealant since you sanded some of the uv coating off in the process? Clear coat paint maybe? Because without a protective layer, the plastic will get hazy from sunburn in a short period of time.

Gio37

iTrader: (1)

hey twin_snails, great job

twin_snails

iTrader: (2)

Mouse, I've done a bit of research on the UV sealants on the market and most appear to either be the equivalent of WD-40 or cause significant streaking/tackiness/haze after applying.

The plan is to have Xpel clear film applied over them to eliminate the recurrence of the the issue.


Thanks Gio! Your DIY inspired me to finally get it done and done right. How has your experience been with the lenses staying clear? Are you using any UV protectant on yours?

twin_snails

iTrader: (2)

This stuff seems to get pretty decent reviews, but it's expensive.

Optimum Opti-Lens Permanent Headlight Coating, headlight coatings protectants

Flakman

Nice write up. Great results!

twin_snails

iTrader: (2)

Thank you for the kind words Flakman!

18 g37

Great share. I will do that on my headlight also, hope it will give me a new like headlight.
Also I noticed my bulbs is dim, and recently i found a custom led bulbs on my G37. And it seems that this custom led bulb is high quality than the aftermarket led bulbs and ballast. This seller make the LED bulbs and the ballast all in one.

I am quite miserable when i have the hid bulbs, it can't help me to say the road well and some times the ballast died, so i need to take out the bulbs and change the ballast. Any way, so terrible quality of the aftermarket HID and ballast.


In all, can't wait to polish my headlight and install my new custom D2 led bulbs.

Geee37

Great DIY! Will be doing this to my car soon. Do the headlights need clear or protectant to prevent the yellowing from coming back? What product works the best for this?

llebcire

Couple of questions since every time I do this it only lasts a few months:

Did you treat with any protectant, i.e. clear coat, UV, ceramic?

If you still have the car - how are the lights holding up and do they need re-done?

-Eric

NealP

I'd suggest UV block clear coat:

wankelrx8

Here's the coating I use.it lasts about a year, so you just spray a new coat after 9 months or so:
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