Headlight correction

Setec Astronomy said:
Did you find the Opti-Lens to apply differently than OC 2.0? I think I actually started a thread about this but didn't get much feedback. I found the Opti-Lens to take much longer to flash.
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Yes. I too experienced a longer flash/dry time with Opti-Lens. When Applying Opti-Coat you can barely see it a few seconds after the application and with Opti-Lens it felt like it took a few minutes to flash.
 
hernandez.art13 said:
How many headlights uses do you get with opti lens? Per se

Because I might be getting some if the headlight correction that I might do, goes through
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You should get 8-10 sets, depending if you do a second coat.
 
RaskyR1 said:
It all depends on how bad the headlights are. Just like polishing paint, sometimes you simply have to get really aggressive to get the correction you need. Pretty common for many of the nasty jobs to start at 320 or even lower at times...heck, I recently saw someone say they had to resort to 80 grit to fix a set of trashed headlights....not something you want to reach for off that bat, but he fixed what others had failed to do. Just like polishing paint, you need to refine your work properly as you go an not make too large of jumps in aggressiveness.
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:iagree: completely Rasky but didnt want to say anything below 1000 because someone might take 80 [rocks on paper] and think it makes the job faster and next thing ya know they sand THROUGH the lamp ahahahah... sometimes i think its good to look out for people trollin the web

90% dont generally need more than 1000 grit from what ive seen. LOL unless they live RIGHT on the ocean or in the mountains and drive in salted roads and havent maintined vehicle in about 10 yrs ahahahah
 
Christopher.Brown said:
the size of the Mf doesn't matter.. this is on a da.... the megs pads are aggressive and will remove and finish down on paint and headlights..

as far as preferring Opti coat... I have it on hand... I don't see the point of buying another product for the same application... I wax and keep a layer of wax in top of my coatings anyway.. so I have up to triple protection on many vehicles :props:
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Ok that makes sense. Since I plan on doing a lot of headlight correction, I think buying opti-lens might be a good idea. I have Opti-coat on hand but the cost is probably about the same for both.
 
CriticalDetails said:
Why do you like using Opti-Coat instead of Opti-Lens for coating headlights. Opti-Coat works better than your average sealant and prior to the release of Opti-Lens it was my go to headlight coating. Restored headlights start to fade after a year or so when using Opti-Coat. Keep in mind the headlights still look many times better than they did before the restoration was performed.

I have only been using Opti-Lens for roughly six months so I can't compare its long term durability to Opti-Coat at this point.



Here is the video that Art was talking about.

Car Detailing: Headlight Restoration - Honda Civic, GoPro Hero3 - YouTube
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Great video.
 
This brings me to a second question.

I have been trying to get hook and loop sandpaper disks for my 3" DA backplate. Very hard to find. I did manage to track down a place that sells it around here but they sell the disk in single grit boxes of 100 disks! That would last me 2 lifetimes!

How do you guys get yours? I did not find any on autogeek, and none of the canadian detail suppliers have it either.

Doing it by hand works, but doing it with the DA will save a lot of time so I want to switch ;)
 
coqui said:
For me it depends in the condition of the headlights. Very bad I use 320, 500, 800, 1500, 3000, polish, and sealant. In others, I start on 800 or 1500. For protection I now only use Opti Lens. You can use a sealant, only if your going to maintain it with other applications of sealant like you do with the paint.
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I'll do something similar to this one as well. Just depends on what it was like starting.
Typically I'll go with as rough as I can to remove the old finish, then work from there.

I picked up the Meguiars Headlight & Spot Repair Kit here on AG, and still got % off on the close out price. Really comprehensive package of wet/dry unigrit paper and foam unigrit finishing discs, plus the wool and foam polishing pads, hand pad holder and all in a nice Meg's bag. :)

hernandez.art13 said:
How many headlights uses do you get with opti lens? Per se

Because I might be getting some if the headlight correction that I might do, goes through
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Art,

The small OL will do 4~5 pairs, but if you go to the jobber size for not even twice the price it's more like 18~20 pairs. ;) You seriously need to contact Chris@Optimum about dealer status if you're thinking about doing headlights. :props:
 
Aw shoot...I missed my chance to say "they probably have those sanding discs at WALMART" LOL

Oh wait a minute...this isn't the Wal-Mart thread...sheesh, I need some coffee...
 
Setec Astronomy said:
Aw shoot...I missed my chance to say "they probably have those sanding discs at WALMART" LOL

Oh wait a minute...this isn't the Wal-Mart thread...sheesh, I need some coffee...
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I doubt they will have these at Walmart, too specialized. You can get the 3M headlight repairs kits pretty much everywhere but I was unable to find sand paper disks with adhesive to replace the ones you use. Well, at least not from 3M. I will have to take the time to look at the détails of the disks available here, thank's again for those links...
 
Calendyr said:
I doubt they will have these at Walmart, too specialized. You can get the 3M headlight repairs kits pretty much everywhere but I was unable to find sand paper disks with adhesive to replace the ones you use. Well, at least not from 3M. I will have to take the time to look at the détails of the disks available here, thank's again for those links...
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That Wal-Mart comment was a joke, man. 3M certainly makes PSA (pressure-sensitive adhesive) discs, just finding anything made by 3M is like looking for a needle in a haystack. Even if you know what you are looking for it's almost impossible to find it at their website, and if you do, then the next problem is finding somewhere to buy it.

I think the 3M equivalent to the Unigrit concept would be the Imperial lapping films (which are graded in microns rather than grit size just to make things more confusing) but I'm not sure they call it Imperial in the PSA.
 
I can pick up 3M stuff at my two local Detailing shops.

I'll take pictures next time I go :)
 
I bought the headlight sanding kit for the drill once that has Velcro backing and the 3" replacement disks including the 3000 trizac pads you can just buy at an auto parts store (Lordco here in bc)
 
Thanks for the pdf with 3M product charts Setec.

Here at Canadian Tire they have a lot of 3M sandpaper, but it's in sheet form and it has no backing of course. Maybe I could ask them if they can order the ones for DAs.

I looked at the Meg's one here on Autogeek. The low grit ones (500,800) seems a good deal, but for some reason the high grit ones are super expensive! Like 3 times the price for half the number of disks. So I will most likelly end up buying the low grit ones and try to find high grit ones from 3M or an other manufacturer. I have found a manufacturer here that sell 2500 grit, 100 disks for 24$. I doubt it's unigrit, would have to check with them. What effect would it have if it's not?
 
You may have to try an industrial supply place rather than Canadian Tire. The higher grits are more expensive because it's harder to make, generally speaking. 3M makes plenty of controlled grit papers, but the problem with non-"unigrit" is if you have random large grit particles you will get RIDS in your sanding job. May not make that much difference for headlights.
 
Setec Astronomy said:
You may have to try an industrial supply place rather than Canadian Tire. The higher grits are more expensive because it's harder to make, generally speaking. 3M makes plenty of controlled grit papers, but the problem with non-"unigrit" is if you have random large grit particles you will get RIDS in your sanding job. May not make that much difference for headlights.
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Ya that is what I was thinking, could it make scratches too deep to compound. But now that I know you can take out 1500 grit scratches with compound, even if say on 3000 grit there are some particules that are 2500 type size, the compound would still correct it.

But, I think it's best to stay with unigrit to make things simple and easy. These disks must last for ever doing sanding on something as soft as plastic... I would think...?
 
Ok last question before I pull the trigger on my order...

how long do sand paper disks last? Let's say I use 500, 800, 1500, 3000 grit disks, how many (headlights) can I correct with one disk?

For the 500 and 800 one it's easy, it comes in a box of 50 for 12$ so no worries there. On the other hand the 3000 grit ones are very expensive at 40$ for 15. So I want to make sure I am not gonna buy way too many ;)
 
New here, but I got pretty good results from meguiar's Heavy Duty headlight resto kit.

From sand paper, all it has is 1000grit and 3000 grit.

I do lots of other items like straight blades and I used 8000 grit and 16,000 grit for final polish or a hair splitting edge :)

As a matter of fact I just posted a thread in this subforum. The headlights where awefull.. Pics attached in that thread.
 
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