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Sorry. I'm out of the business although I'm going to start posting again.

What you're really asking is which is the best TEMPORARY protective coating? Virtually all these coatings boil down to some form of UV blockers in the form of wax. Some are better than others. None of these come close to the original protective coating applied to the headlight during...

Restoring headlights is a two step process; remove the old coating, replace it with a new one. There's no one size fits all for removing the old coating because there are too many variables. Essentially, you remove it with abrasives. The heavier the damage, the coarser the abrasive. Your first...

Part time or as a business?

Best is GG 3" or Metabo 3.25". Both are random orbit and variable speed. Both can be used constantly without overheating and are less than 250 watts. Stay away from anything cordless if you can. They get hot and batteries are expensive. They're not built for constant use. Stay away from...

I've been out of the business for 2 years. We developed a chemical stripper to eliminate most sanding and 2 different hard coats; a 2 part poly coat and a conventional varnish based coat. We never fully went into production because the market is so fragmented and production costs for startup...

3M is great for removing the original coating, but doesn't provide a replacement coating. With no protection, you will be redoing the headlights quite soon. ray6

Probably the best bet would keep them waxed. Any UV blocked by the wax will make the factory coating last longer. It is possible to add an additional protective coating, but not knowing what the original coating is made of, you may have adhesion problems. ray6

Nice job on the headlights. I would expect 8-12 months with the spar and 2-3 months with the polish. ray6

It's applied by wiping on with a foam applicator. Cannot promote it on this website, but with a little googling, you can probably find it. If not, send me a PM.

Many times you can see internal damage by applying alcohol or mineral spirits to the headlight before you start. This usually allows you to see internal moisture or damage. You could then talk to the customer as to the likely result so there are no surprises.

It may be that the coatings you are using (polish) are very thin and won't fill in fine scratches like a real sealer. The other problem with polishes is that 1 trip to the car wash and the protection is gone. You need to use a more permanent coating. Most don't need any sanding above 1500 grit. rays

Home Depot, Lowes, etc. The whole idea is to remove any trace of moisture. The higher the percentage of alcohol, the more moisture it will capture. Shouldn't cost more than $15/gallon, and a gallon will last a long time. ray6

If the Meg's polish has anything other than abrasive in it, I wouldn't use it. Might interfere with adhesion of the spar, especially if it contains any wax or silicone. Also, scrub the headlight with 100% alcohol to really clean the surface. Don't use rubbing alcohol because it has 30% water. ray6

I don't know anything about your detailing abilities, but you're a great photographer. ray6

It looks to me that all of the original coating was not removed. There's two parts to the equation; selection of grit and sanding duration. Many times with BMWs and many SUVs or some Chevys I start with a razor blade. This may seem harsh, but actually works well for me. After the blade I will...

When you say drip marks, do you mean the coating ran? Maybe your coating is too thin and is running. You might try mixing 70% spar and 30% MS. This will give you a thicker coating and less likely to sag or drip. ray6

It's hard to say without seeing the headlight. If streaks are left from applicator or paper towel, and occur at the width of the applicator, suspect water vapor. If there is a general haziness with narrow streaks, I would check the spar. How old is it? What type of cup was it mixed in? Did the...

I would suggest not using 70% IPA for your final clean. 70% contains 30% water. Water is your enemy. You're better off just using the MS as a final clean. 100% alcohol will clean slightly better than MS and will dry faster, but MS is better than 70% IPA since moisture can give you real...

We've been working on a partial headlight restoration process for some time. Starting to get good results. The problem has always been feathering between the old and the new and potential adhesion problems between new coating and old. Our current approach is to apply a chemical strip that...