Headlight restorations & feedback, please

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AllanS

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I did a few headlamp restorations & wanted some thoughts of feedback from some well experienced headlight restoration folks. Here are 2 sets I recently did. Wet sand (400 up to 2000 sheets then to Mirka set) followed by (GG 3") with LC blue foam & Meg's UC followed by LC orange & Meg's UP. IPA wipe down & treated with OL.

Has anyone used the LC purple wool / foam pads? They are supposed cut well AND finish well, too! I was hoping to reduce steps & time, but still same net result of about 95% (or so).

I am looking at going beyond the "friends & family" route & doing a few days of HLR. Your thoughts & feedback (Constructive criticism) greatly appreciated!

- Allan
a couple of examples....
View attachment 53386View attachment 53387View attachment 53388View attachment 53389View attachment 53390View attachment 53391View attachment 53392View attachment 53393
 
You can get results within those with just an orange pad and the McKee's headlight restoring polish. No sanding. They look AWESOME man! Dont get me wrong.
 
Those look great--how many sanding steps did you do? All by hand or some by machine?
 
They look good. I started my real drive and interest in detailing 1-2 and now upwards of 3 vehicles per week on the side by showing off some simple headlight restores. My son helped out and we canvased our friends and neighbors and then word spread. I charge $50 per pair - $75 if I go to them and can knock them out pretty quickly. I agree that in many cases they can be done without sanding but for me its a huge time saving step to simply hit them with some 1500 and/or 3000 then polishing them back and sealing them up.
 
dcjredline said:
You can get results within those with just an orange pad and the McKee's headlight restoring polish. No sanding. They look AWESOME man! Dont get me wrong.
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Thanks for the compliment, @ dcjredline!

I saw several great reviews of McKee's polish, but some of the lights i did were pretty BAD! Like completely frosted. Not sure if it would do those.

Also wanted some feedback on the Lake Country Foamed Wool 3.5 inch Buffing/Polishing Pad and how those 2 would pair up. If what "marketing"implies, it would be awesome. Often, real world differs from marketing dept, though!

Thanks again.
 
They awesome man, I normally can get away with 1500,3k compound polish. With out seeing in person it's hard to tell. I'd just keep doing what ur doing and see if u can get away with less steps. Keep up the work!
 
Setec Astronomy said:
Those look great--how many sanding steps did you do? All by hand or some by machine?
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Setec - Thanks for the compliments. I was really happy (& customer / friend) with the job as well! For these really nasty ones (silver Rav 4), I probably used 400, 800, 1200, 1500, 2000(???) - wet, by hand - either with / w/o body sanding block. Then wet sanded w/ GG 3" & Mirka thru the rest of the kit (3k & 4k??) Then to the LC Blue w/ Megs Ult Comp & LC Orange w/ Megs Ult Polish. So, waaaaaay too many steps & time!

I was going to try DRY sanding for better cutting action on the earlier steps.
 
Holy cow, 7 sanding steps, and 2 polish? If you have to start at 400, I'd then go to 800 (dry), then switch to wet/damp for 1000, 3000, 5000. You should be able to finish from the 5000 with just polish. So that's 6 instead of 9 steps...not sure how much that helps.
 
Setec Astronomy said:
Holy cow, 7 sanding steps, and 2 polish? If you have to start at 400, I'd then go to 800 (dry), then switch to wet/damp for 1000, 3000, 5000. You should be able to finish from the 5000 with just polish. So that's 6 instead of 9 steps...not sure how much that helps.
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I KNOW! Waaaay too many steps - that 1 of the big reasons for my posting.

I have used wet - not dry or damp sanding. That probably had too much lube for the sanding process - reducing cutting ability. Will def use LESS water!

TY again!
 
pdqgp said:
They look good. I started my real drive and interest in detailing 1-2 and now upwards of 3 vehicles per week on the side by showing off some simple headlight restores. My son helped out and we canvased our friends and neighbors and then word spread. I charge $50 per pair - $75 if I go to them and can knock them out pretty quickly. I agree that in many cases they can be done without sanding but for me its a huge time saving step to simply hit them with some 1500 and/or 3000 then polishing them back and sealing them up.
Click to expand...

@pdqgp - Thx for your feedback. Sounds like you really did a grassroots effort to grow the biz! It's pretty cool that you have a "built-in" assistant!

My apprehension is about 1500 being aggressive enough

TY again,
- Allan
 
AllanS said:
@pdqgp - Thx for your feedback. Sounds like you really did a grassroots effort to grow the biz! It's pretty cool that you have a "built-in" assistant!

My apprehension is about 1500 being aggressive enough
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Haha on my assistant. I actually really started doing all this to help with yet another drive for my son to continue thinking how to run his own business. I have a day-job and my wife owns her own business but I want my teenage son to realize that yes he can make upwards of $50+ per hour doing all this when he's a bit older and also control his own destiny and business as a teen. Until then however, he's helping and learning.

In terms of sanding, I've had some pretty bad headlights and haven't found a need to hit them with more than 1500 and then 3000. I have and could use 800 grit saving some initial time but so far I'm not spending much time at all sanding. Goal there for me is to just remove the brittle cracked/yellow and like that won't polish out well.
 
I started off simply using McKee 37 headlight AIO with a purple LC wool pad on my drill...and sometimes on my Rupes mini

Works well, can prob buff and seal a oair a headlights in 10 minutes..

The sealant is iffy..sometimes it'll last other times it'll reoxidize in 5 months time... I guess this is dependant on how much factory clear is left and what shape it's in..

I also found out you will need to sand lights at times such as heavily pitted, delamination or crazed (crowfeet in clear)

I'm now starting to offer 4 levels of HLR
2 include polish/compound..the other 2 are resurface
None include a paint sealant

I either use ceramic coating or a wipe on, or aerosol UV coating ..that way you can garrentee your work
You cant do that when using a paint sealant that comes in the HLR kits..

With maybe the exception of Meguiers perfect clarity kit as it has ab aerosol UV coating..which is nkw avail seperatly now
So Mckee37 and meguiers stay clear uv
 
A couple of things. If you are going to hand sand please on the first step go east west with 600 Wetordry discs and a soft 3 inch hand pad. The next step with 1000 Wetordry in a north south pattern. If u did not pull out the 600 it will show up with a 1000 in a cross hatch pattern. Repeat east west then north south on all remaining steps. Then buff out with the correct polish , the correct pad. This should cut your time significantly. Oh, it's important to use a disc rather than cut sheets with finger sanding which will leave deep and wide scratches which are very difficult to clean up. Thats my 38 years of experience of working with every paint department at every plant in the USA and Canada. Hopefully this will help you.
 
pdqgp said:
Haha on my assistant. I actually really started doing all this to help with yet another drive for my son to continue thinking how to run his own business. I have a day-job and my wife owns her own business but I want my teenage son to realize that yes he can make upwards of $50+ per hour doing all this when he's a bit older and also control his own destiny and business as a teen. Until then however, he's helping and learning.

In terms of sanding, I've had some pretty bad headlights and haven't found a need to hit them with more than 1500 and then 3000. I have and could use 800 grit saving some initial time but so far I'm not spending much time at all sanding. Goal there for me is to just remove the brittle cracked/yellow and like that won't polish out well.
Click to expand...

Great that your son can learn & start saving EARLY!

Surprised about 1500 working so well & easy. I think I tried 800 wet & had to go to 600(???) wet. Will try 1500 dry. Also, I just rec'd LC foamed wool pads & McKee's AIO HL Restorer. I have a few cars (almost) lined up, as test subjects to play with.

Thx as always for your valuable help & feedback!

Dandy98 said:
A couple of things. If you are going to hand sand please on the first step go east west with 600 Wetordry discs and a soft 3 inch hand pad. The next step with 1000 Wetordry in a north south pattern. If u did not pull out the 600 it will show up with a 1000 in a cross hatch pattern. Repeat east west then north south on all remaining steps. Then buff out with the correct polish , the correct pad. This should cut your time significantly. Oh, it's important to use a disc rather than cut sheets with finger sanding which will leave deep and wide scratches which are very difficult to clean up. Thats my 38 years of experience of working with every paint department at every plant in the USA and Canada. Hopefully this will help you.
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Yes, thx for the reminder about E/W & N/S - critical to knock down the high points. I have a semi firm rect pad (for auto body work - can't find the soft one) I will prob invest in 1 of those GG Palm Grip Pad holders (for 3" disc) if I am going to be doing a slew more.

And yes, your "few years" in the industry, are very helpful & appreciated.


ChicagoAutoPros said:
Looks good. Now Put PPF on them so you don't have do them again in 6 months.
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Opti-Lens on them... hoping for better longevity than 6 months! Though there is no "real" data.

Thx

(edited to add other replies)
 
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