2000 Subaru Legacy Headlight and Taillight Restoration - All About The Up Sell

Scott@IncrediblyDetailed

Scott@IncrediblyDetailed

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This car is owned by an 88 year old lady who recently had it re-painted and now the lights were a real eye sore. She brought the car over for a headlight restoration and I pointed out the oxidation and discoloration of the taillights, she wanted those restored as well. $180 for 2 hours worth of work is not a bad saturday.

Process:

  • 1000 Grit Unigrit Sandpaper
  • 2000 Grit Unigrit Sandpaper (I only used 2000 on the taillights, they are way softer than headlights)
  • ONR for sanding lubricant (same ratio used for claying)
  • PC w/ 3 inch cutting and polishing pads
  • Menz FG400
  • Menz SF4000
  • IPA Wipedown
  • 3 Coats of Opti-Lens

I forgot to take pictures before I corrected the outer taillights so in every picture they had already been compounded and polished, they did not need sanded.

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Superior work those two light housing look amazing and will be a main eye catcher
 
Nice work on those lights. What happened to the "Legacy" badge? Did the body shop not re-install it?
 
I always wonder about this when I see a car driving along with one perfect light and one hazed--it was obviously in an accident and had the one light replaced--so why didn't the body shop do something about the other one? Did they say "the headlights won't match--we can put a new one in the other side for $700" and the customer declined, or are they just clueless and don't even think about it until the customer picks the car up?

Did you ever think of approaching this body shop and showing them how they did an unsatisfactory "restoration" of this car, and that when they are doing repaints or single-headlight repairs, they should call you to help them?

My point above was why don't bodyshops do this, have the expertise, develop the expertise--it's an upsell for them to repair a hazed headlight when they are replacing a broken companion--or is this an insurance issue, generally (that the ins. co. won't pay to fix a lens that isn't broken)? Obviously not in this case.
 
Setec Astronomy said:
I always wonder about this when I see a car driving along with one perfect light and one hazed--it was obviously in an accident and had the one light replaced--so why didn't the body shop do something about the other one? Did they say "the headlights won't match--we can put a new one in the other side for $700" and the customer declined, or are they just clueless and don't even think about it until the customer picks the car up?

Did you ever think of approaching this body shop and showing them how they did an unsatisfactory "restoration" of this car, and that when they are doing repaints or single-headlight repairs, they should call you to help them?

My point above was why don't bodyshops do this, have the expertise, develop the expertise--it's an upsell for them to repair a hazed headlight when they are replacing a broken companion--or is this an insurance issue, generally (that the ins. co. won't pay to fix a lens that isn't broken)? Obviously not in this case.
Click to expand...

I really have no idea. I'm going to guess insurance and the fact they probably would rather replace the light than just correct the lens. It is strange but this particular body shop did a shitty job on the small details, but the paint was swirl and hologram free.
 
Both front and rear lens looks great! May I ask how you like using the Opti-Lens and how long you waited between coats? I have performed quite a few headlights however have not used Opti-Lens and therefore the plastic seems to get worse over a shorter time than I like. I'm pretty sick of seeing that and refuse to put "just" a layer of sealant on top anymore so I'm looking for the best options.
 
Nice job! How long do you wait between coats of Opti-Lens? I've never read/thought about doing multiple coats of it.
 
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