ever wetsanded a single scratch out of a headlamp without distortion?

[builthatch]

i had clear film installed and they cut one of my headlights with a razor. it's hard to gauge exactly how deep it is...but it barely catches my nail. it's such a thin cut, so the fact it doesn't catch that much could be a function of the thickness of my nail vs. the thin nature of the cut.

here you can see the scratch, then branching off of it is a faint reflection of that scratch in the reflective surface below it. underneath you can see something that looks like another scratch - that is actually part of the LED DRL assembly. it's a seam/joint.

i hit it with an orange pad and some hyper polish just to knock the edges down. i'm wondering if it'd be worth spot sanding it lightly with my finger starting with 1500 grit and working my way up. i think a slight bit of surface "bend" or distortion would be better than the scratch. it's up high in the lamp so it wouldn't affect the optics.

 

[JACdetailing]

I would say give it a try with the 1500 with just the scratch isolated with tape then work your way to 2500 while making the area a little larger with the finer grit. I'm no expert though, so wait for some other more experienced geeks to chime in.

Good luck with it either way!

 

[builthatch]

thanks. it's really annoying to get a car back from a respected fellow detailer and have to take care of things like this (only one of many issues i have with the work performed).

the old adage "if you want it done right, do it yourself" is certainly true but i don't do clear film work!!!

it's in a tough spot in that it is so close to the panel edge so i don't know if i'll be able to get enough of the pad on it without hitting an area of the lens that is too big. maybe i'll do 1500 all the way to 4k by hand and try to polish by hand as well.

sucks i'll have to redo the coating on these but that's what Opti-Lens is for.

 

[Evan.J]

I hope the didn't cut on they car itself. I have come across this a lot and it's a shame that this stuff happens.

I will say the blades used durning an install of PPF are very sharp and are with carbon blades or stainless steel either way they are very very sharp and do cut very deep into the paint.

With your headlight you can try to sand them out but if you wanted you should bring this up to the installer and and voice your concerns about these cut marks. I would be curious if he had bulked the film on the car and cut the film on the car. If he did then there will be cut marks along every edge. These are something's you can ask.

 

[builthatch]

I hope the didn't cut on they car itself. I have come across this a lot and it's a shame that this stuff happens.

I will say the blades used durning an install of PPF are very sharp and are with carbon blades or stainless steel either way they are very very sharp and do cut very deep into the paint.

With your headlight you can try to sand them out but if you wanted you should bring this up to the installer and and voice your concerns about these cut marks. I would be curious if he had bulked the film on the car and cut the film on the car. If he did then there will be cut marks along every edge. These are something's you can ask.

thanks. thankfully he used at my request all Xpel precuts (plotted at a Porsche dealer) for everything EXCEPT the hood. and for the hood, he wrapped around the edges so he was basically putting the blade in the fender/hood gap, cutting and wrapping. unfortunately it appears he got a little crazy going down the one gap

i expressed my displeasure with everything and we're going to talk tomorrow but i figured for the time being i could rectify this one thing and it'd be one less thing he could potentially mess up when he addresses my issues.

my fear is that the cut is deep and you are right, i'd have to go pretty far to get it out. it's just too hard to tell without digging into it and i don't want to distort or overcorrect while trying to get it out.

ugh, so annoying on a brand new vehicle because it sticks out like a sore thumb, lol. it's like that first rock chip or whatever. but the difference is, nature/chance didn't make this happen. i actually paid for it to occur haha.

 

[builthatch]

ok update

so, when i took the car back to that fool he said he couldn't get it out due to any number of so-called risks.

i figured what the hell, it's already cut, what else could go wrong? so i attacked it.

here's the result:

that dude was and is so full of crap!

process:

2000 grit finger sand with feather out under less pressure
2500 grit
rotary with 2 7/8" plate, 3" orange foam and Hyper Compound (had to use rotary because oscillation of DA killed working room, even with the same 2 7/8" plate)
had to go back and sand more with 2k
skipped 2500 and went right to rotary combo
then DA with 3" black pad and Hyper Polish
IPA wipe
Opti-Lens (two coats)

 

[Kingston]

Glad it worked out, good to know.

 

[allenk4]

Highly skilled film installers do not actually "Cut" the film on the paint.

They lightly "score" the film. This doesn't go all the way thru, but allows for a clean separation.


Another example is vinyl pinstripes. Take a look at the ends of a few cars. They are usually hacked with a square cut that goes deep into the paint. A Pro installer does a nice curved edge without touching the paint.

 

[builthatch]

Highly skilled film installers do not actually "Cut" the film on the paint.

They lightly "score" the film. This doesn't go all the way thru, but allows for a clean separation.

Another example is vinyl pinstripes. Take a look at the ends of a few cars. They are usually hacked with a square cut that goes deep into the paint. A Pro installer does a nice curved edge without touching the paint.

yep. but it's amazing how many "top notch" installers still cut the paint.

this was a full hood wrap so apparently he was passing the knife through the fender/hood gap and hit the light. while redoing the polishing and coating on the hood, i noticed there were some slight razor cuts on the cowl side of the hood lip, facing the windshield. weird because that lip was wrapped around to the underside, so who knows how they got there.

he's terrible. the way he portrays himself on the internet and forums, you'd think he was God's gift to detailing and clear film. i don't know how he gets away with doing so many exotics with such poor film skills. he'll literally blame anyone and anything except for himself when things go wrong. it's comical.

he even bragged the other day on the internet that a 3M executive and sales manager called him to ask if they could come by his place to fully grasp how great it is, hahaha. that made a few people in the industry who know of my situation chuckle.

crazy that his original detail was crap too. the second detail was much better in terms of finish polishing but he screwed up a lot of stuff and missed tons of details, the lack of correction with this scratch being one example. truck is 99% done now because of my chasing his errors, with the exception of finding a new person to do the film. i just need to redo one side of gloss black pillars and remove the rest of the DLux on the side window trim.