3M Headlight Restoration

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SR5_Runner

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Hey all,

As the title states, I'm working on restoring my OEM headlights on my 05 4runner. I used the kit that is for a drill. The first headight, I did NOT wet sand during the first two sanding sessions, only during the third step just before the polishing phase. The headlight turned out great. This was some good validation to my venturing "into the unknown". Nobody wants to ruin something when trying a process for the first time!

Now on to the next headlight...annnndddd problems.
For the first headlight, I was using an inadequate drill at best. Just some lowes, taskforce drill with a poor battery. BUT the headlight turned out perfect!

For the second headlight, I sourced a much better quality drill, but wasn't sure which setting to use on the drill, so I just went for it. Followed the same steps as the first headlight, but when I wiped the light after the final polish, I had that sinking feeling. I had TONS of "new" scratches embedded.

Hopped on the ole google and figured it was because I was NOT wet sanding and this was causing my sanding pads to load up and I didn't properly remove the buildup, causing scratches.

I geared up for using the ORIGINAL drill for the next try, since it worked so well for me. After some reasearch, I figured all I needed to do was basically start the process over and add water to ALL sanding steps. After doing this, nothing but the SAME results. Just a waste of time was all I got form the last "session".

Any help to fix this would be greatly appreciated. I will try to get photos as soon as I can. Thanks in advance!
 
Hard to say, but the picture might help.

Were you using a new piece of sanding paper/disk each time or reusing the old ones. I have used the 3M drill kit and 3000 grit seems like it wont last much more that two or three lights. And I think the jump from 800 to 3000 (I think that's what the kit has?) is asking bit to much from the 3000. Could be that your not completely removing all of the previous grit sanding marks before you move on to the next step.

The first time around all of you paper would have been fresh/new and more effective.
 
Mantilgh said:
Hard to say, but the picture might help.

Were you using a new piece of sanding paper/disk each time or reusing the old ones. I have used the 3M drill kit and 3000 grit seems like it wont last much more that two or three lights. And I think the jump from 800 to 3000 (I think that's what the kit has?) is asking bit to much from the 3000. Could be that your not completely removing all of the previous grit sanding marks before you move on to the next step.

The first time around all of you paper would have been fresh/new and more effective.
Click to expand...

I switched pads often to make sure a loaded pad was not an issue the 2nd go 'round. Photos show results with the kit on the 1st headlight, with wetsanding only with trizact pad, vs 2nd headlight, attempted refinishing twice. Notice the small scratches that almost cause a haze on the 2nd headlight.
 
What are the sanding grits used?

Since I bought the DP headlight polish and protectant I have not had to wet sand SQUAT! The headlights turn out dang near perfect.
 
dcjredline said:
What are the sanding grits used?

Since I bought the DP headlight polish and protectant I have not had to wet sand SQUAT! The headlights turn out dang near perfect.
Click to expand...

Correct, PN38009 uses 500, 800, and a trizact pad at 3000 grit.


Mantilgh said:
This is the one I used and I think the other two kits have the same grit disks.

3M Headlight Lens Restoration System, headlight polishing kit, restore yellow headlights, 3M plastic polish

It has 500g, 800g, then the big jump to the trizac 3000.

I just hand wet sand them all now. For the bad ones I start at 320 and go through every grit up to 2000. Then Optimum Compound II cleans them up like butter. It takes a while but they come out nice.
Click to expand...

So would you say just get something BELOW the 500 and hand sand it then jump back into the process with the kit? I just don't want to waste the refill kit I bought to NOT get rid of the fine scratches. Do you think maybe polishing with some scratch-x (or any scratch remover) before the final polish might work??


P.S., for those looking, can you see the referenced scratches in the pics I posted??

Thanks
 
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drbll said:
I have used this kit:3M Headlight Restoration Kit, headlight scratch remover, plastic restoration kit

It has everything mentioned above, plus a 1000 grit refining disc to help transition from cut to polish. Worked great.
Click to expand...

I actually bought that kit as a "refill" for the original kit. I got it for like $15 vs the refill kit online plus shipping which would be more expensive. I might give that a try as well!

I might just try to start from scratch and hand sand through each step to see if that works. Did you wet sand through all steps or just when the directions indicated to do so?
 
IMO there is no way 3000 can take out 800 sanding marks.

The trick as Larry at AMMO NYC says. Go up and down with one paper, then the next one go side to side until you no longer see any up and down marks. Then back to up and down till you no longer see side to side marks.

This would help us know if you are still seeing 800 grit marks and lead us to you need to do a step inbetween to get rid of the 800 marks.
 
I never got god results with the over the counter kits. IMO a drill is the wrong tool for sanding. i would grab a handfull of automotive sand paper and a soft sanding block and do the sanding by hand. wet sand 800, 1000, 1500, 2000, 3000 then you can polish with the drill attachment.
 
I have a guy that wants me to restore the headlights on the 18-Wheeler and also on his RV for when he goes to football games. I trying to Figure out what a fair price would be to do those.
 
dcjredline said:
IMO there is no way 3000 can take out 800 sanding marks.

The trick as Larry at AMMO NYC says. Go up and down with one paper, then the next one go side to side until you no longer see any up and down marks. Then back to up and down till you no longer see side to side marks.

This would help us know if you are still seeing 800 grit marks and lead us to you need to do a step inbetween to get rid of the 800 marks.
Click to expand...

I agree. I bought the kit just to play with and have the 3000 trizac. Although the 3000 is really not needed if you have a good aggressive compound and a polisher. It would make the compound/polish step much easier if you were doing it by hand.

I do the 90 degree method. Do one side with one grit untill I think I'm satisfied, and wipe of the residue. Take the same grit to the other. By the time I'm done with the second one with that grit the first side will be dry and show the sanding scratches better than when it is wet. If I still see scratches going the opposite way I keep sanding with that grit, then I recheck the second side. Then step up to the next grit and follow the same process. It doesn't have to be 90 degrees, could do 45 or whatever works well for the shape of the light. Much easer to do with the light out like you have done. It can be a pain with them in getting all the way to the edges so get creative if you need to.
 
haha I just had customer came in with same problem,

he used 3m headlight restoration kit and created all new scratches,
I know 3m's 1st step is p500 and I have box of those, so I started with dry sanding it with p500, even it out everything,
and then wet sand with 1000 and 2000 and trizact 3000, Compound and finishing polish

BOOM!!!!

*3000 was not really needed tho
 
For an update:

Lat night I must have spent a few HOURS sanding the headlight!
I started with the first drill I mentioned using for the 1st headlight, and wet sanded thoroughly through all steps. No change...very frustrating.

So I took a break, and started over, this time using the 3M kit with the handheld foam "pad". I did NOT wet sand until the two trizact pads. I did use the 90 deg. method, which did help. All said and done, results were improved, but still not where I want it.

At this point, I am taking a bit of a change in course. I have to remind myself the use of these headlights. They are simply temp. headlights so I can fix my Retrofit headlights I am currently running. Both OEM lenses will be more than adequate in terms of light output until I can fix the retro's. After that, I'll be back to not stopping until the 2nd headlight is cleaner than factory! Can't let the stubborn thing win!! Thanks for all the help and advise thus far. I'll be back when I return to tackle the scratches, hopefully sooner than later!
 
You'll figure it out, just keep trying and you'll be an expert in no time.

A poor retrofit is what got me into doing these. I hit a baby deer last fall it shattered my passenger side light and broke the housing. With just liability coverage I could afford to get it fixed.

Ended up buying two retrofitted lights that had xenon projectors in them, $100 for both. After picking them up I realized why the price was so good, a really poor job was done on them. Holes hacked in the housing and reflector, zip tied and siliconed in, crazing on the inside and out, and the projectors were basically touching/frying the inner lenses.

Broke them down, epoxied my reflector back together, JBWeled the holes up in the new one, and swapped my pieces into the housing, then went to work on fixing the lens. Did I the outside first, taped it off with black tape so I could see what I was doing, then went to work on the inside.

My plan was finish out the retrofit properly. I haven't yet but maybe someday. It's nice because my car already had HIDs and they use basically the same bulbs. Just would need to swap from the reflector version to the non reflector bulb when they are done.

Have since decided to get a better sized compact projector with the same bulb type to have it fit better in the housing. The ones they had in there would stick out the back of the housing almost two inches if set properly. It's a fun little project, but with the new baby and other more pressing things I don't have much time to tinker.
 
Mantilgh said:
You'll figure it out, just keep trying and you'll be an expert in no time.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the encouragement!

Just like the refinishing, the retrofit was really something I wanted, and really wanted the challenge to see what I was/am capable of doing. It was def a bit out of my wheelhouse when I started, but even then, I feel like I did a more than adequate job. I'm redo'ing them mainly for the LED Rings, but while I have it open, might as well make it as close to perfect as I can. My only issues are that the JB Welded halos failed on me, and I am unhappy with the "level trimming" to the back of the OEM "cylinder" where the OEM bulb sits. (at a loss for words for the proper name at the moment!)
 
Cool. I'm still not sure what the best epoxy is. For things that you cannot see where the parts are epoxied together, I score with a razor knife first to try to give it something more to hold on to. I run the blade at around 45 deg to the surface and creates a little pocket and raised lip. I might go a bit overboard with it. Like a checker board pattern but with a third crossing set of lines, then clean with alcohol.
 
Been detailing for 23 years this system works for me in south fla,where headlights bake.Really bad headlights start out at 320 600 1000 1500 finish off with rotary a drill just doesn't do it.u have to know what cars have a cloudy appearance from the indside which Honda and bmw have.now if I get a person who doesn't mind spending a little more for perfection I will finish off with 2000 before rotary action.Theres a big misconception to doing 2 headlamps for 15 a piece ,than rather paying 50 for each ,I'm mobile I have to recoupe my fuel in that.Down here you see retired people on the side of the road with there chair and little umbrella offering to fix headlamps for 25 for both they wipe some crap on it in 😁
 
When I did my lights with that exact kit I just pressed lightly, just using the weight of the drill. I was using a small bosh drill 10 volts on setting "1" which is slow and took my time to get and even Matt finish with the first sanding pad. I checked my pads very often to make sure none of the material you were removing was clogging the pad or else you get deeper unwanted scratches. The white disk 800-1000 or whatever grit it comes with cakes up much faster so I checked it more often and cleaned the disk more often. You will spend about 2-4x more time sanding with the 800-1000 grit to rid the lights of the previous 500 grit pad made. Touch the surface and it will feel smoother after each step and the Matt finish will become more of a Matt finish if that makes sense to the point the lense looks frosted and non transparent. I did make sure to wash and dry before each step and even wash and dry a few times during the process of each step because the pads were caking up. The last pad 3000 took the most time and I used lots of water and went over at a slow arm speed until again all the previous scratches were gone and then compound and boom perfect.

I think maybe you didn't spend enough time before moving on to the next step or something got stuck on the pad and scratched it all up? I think starting with 800 as dcjredline suggests would prolly be best place to start and just take you're time until you have even scratch marks on all the lens. The up and down and left to right method he mentions is also the technique I used on my lenses.
I did have some super light swirls when I was done but you had to look very hard. But I think my wash mitt put those there :(
 
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