Headlight Restoration Help -- Yellow Spots?

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karasha

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I was wetsanding my IS300's headlights yesterday and I noticed some strange, yellow spotting on the headlights:

PjbuyA0.jpg


I was using a 1500 grit and following it up with 2000 grit.

I wasn't sure if this needed a lower grit sandpaper or if the headlights were just gone and trash, so I decided to continue to polish them since this is my daily driver and I can't drive around with my headlights super fogged from wetsanding.

FomGDhS.jpg


I polished them using GG6 with a 3" backing plate/3" blue LC pad and FG400. I was pleased with the results, except that obviously the yellow spotting was still there. If I ran my fingers over the headlight and over the spots, it would feel bumpy, as if this was on the outside of the headlight.

This makes me think that this is some left over degraded UV coat that is just really sticking on there, but I am not entirely sure. I wanted to ask y'alls opinion on how I should continue.

PS -- My apologies for the horrific, clear coat failing front bumper and the strange blue-taped hood.

Ninja Edit:

The driver side headlight still had the same yellow spotting, but not nearly as much as the passenger side. I'll throw in my before and afters just for the heck of it:

Driver Headlight:
oHWeGbF.jpg


Driver Fog:
YXez1it.jpg
-- There is some deep pitting in there that I'm unsure if that can really be removed.

All together:
capUzC8.jpg
 
Yeah, my guess is that's some leftover degraded factory coating, you will need to sand more to get that off. I wouldn't have used a blue pad with FG400 but it looks like they came out pretty well.
 
Setec Astronomy said:
Yeah, my guess is that's some leftover degraded factory coating, you will need to sand more to get that off. I wouldn't have used a blue pad with FG400 but it looks like they came out pretty well.
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Sounds quite lazy of me, but all the rest of my 3" pads were currently soaking after use. It was a bit of a desperate move since it was getting late and I needed to polish them down, but it somehow removed all wetsanding traces and finished down pretty. I generally stick to a white pad or an orange pad... depending on the situation.

What grit sand paper would you suggest to help remove this leftover coating?
 
Anthony@zerboautoworks said:
What's up with all the hidious painters tape on the hood?
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It's not a story I entirely enjoy hashing out, so that is why I asked to please excuse it. The car is currently being restored. I would be grateful if we keep this on topic about the headlights.
 
First reply is correct. Those spots are what's left of the original factory coating. Simply needs a little more sanding
 
That factory coating is pretty hard, why don't you step down (or is that up?) to 1000, I'm pretty sure I went down to like 600 when I had some spots like that.
 
Anthony@zerboautoworks said:
What's up with all the hidious painters tape on the hood?
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I agree... that painters tape is surely a topic for conversation. :rolleyes:


karasha said:
It's not a story I entirely enjoy hashing out, so that is why I asked to please excuse it. The car is currently being restored. I would be grateful if we keep this on topic about the headlights.
Click to expand...

Ahhhh now.... ya' gotta' admit, compared to the headlights that tape is something to behold. Besides, it looks like it's been on there a while. Hope it doesn't fade into the paint.

As for the story, don't be bashful.... you're among friends here. Nobody will tell. ;)
 
karasha said:
It's not a story I entirely enjoy hashing out, so that is why I asked to please excuse it. The car is currently being restored. I would be grateful if we keep this on topic about the headlights.
Click to expand...

Well you pretty much got your answer on the headlights(needs more sanding maybe 500 or 600 grit then follow up with finer grit sand paper) please tell why the hood is taped up.
 
Thanks those who gave suggestions on how to fix the problem. I've never encountered such a problem with headlights. I had a feeling it was some old, degraded coating that was clinging for dear life. Just needed some reassurance. Appreciate it!

And long story short on the hood: it's a rare TRD carbon fiber hood. Clear coat failed which exposed the resin. It's covered and taped while I search for a new hood so I can remove this one and repair it.
 
I start sanding with 320, then 500, then 800 and on up. Your just not going deep enough to get to the clear creamy goodness.
 
Looks blotchy so I would concur with factory coating being left over. If you decide to refinish them, I would drop down to 1000 and use a few strips. Better to "over sand" with a finer grit than try and remove sanding marks from 400, 600, or 800 grit. Least aggressive approach.
 
karasha sand with 500, 800 grit then follow up with finer grit sand paper. :xyxthumbs:
 
Thank you guys for all of your suggestions. I believe I will go down to 1000 and work with that for a bit. If that doesn't work, then I'll go down to 800, then 600, etc. should the previous grit fails. It would be nice to go with the least aggressive approach! :)
 
karasha said:
Thank you guys for all of your suggestions. I believe I will go down to 1000 and work with that for a bit. If that doesn't work, then I'll go down to 800, then 600, etc. should the previous grit fails. It would be nice to go with the least aggressive approach! :)
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Yup. ;) 1500 almost got it. Go back with a fresh 1500 again to get what's left... 1000 if that's not working.
 
What are you going to put on them when you're done? Spar? Opti-Coat? Opti-Lens?
 
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