Hello and Headlight Restoration

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riles32807

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Hello all,
I've been a member here for a while, I started lurking quite a bit recently, and now I think I'm addicted.... I hear admitting it is the first step. =) I'm blown away at the friendly atmosphere of the community and the great wealth of knowledge everyone brings to the fourm.

I recently bought a 97 Lexus ES300 that needs some mechanical work, needs to be repainted due to clear coat failure, and needs some cleanup and some love. One of the things I want to do to it and to my wife's care is to restore the headlights. I've been looking for something I can do part time on weekends, and I'm thinking headlight restoration might be it. I'll do both of my cars, and a couple of friends and family to make sure I have the process down.

I have a cordless drill, and I'll be ordering:
DP Headlight Restoration Kit
Snappy Clean Pad Cleaning Powder
and Opti-Lense

Is there anything else I need? Should the DP resto kit leave the lenses smooth enough for Opti-Lense or do I need to add a polish?

Thanks.
 
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I would hit it with polish to remove any remaining imperfections. After the headlights are spotless I'd top with a sealant such as opti to protect your hard work.

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Thanks kdubsky, is that from experiance using the DP headlight restoration kit?I was really hoping it would be a one step solution, though I know Opti needs a polished surface.
 
Not yet Evan.J I'm still in the planning stage, but I'll try to take a couple today. The Lexus is the worst of the two, but not as bad as some of the examples in this post More DP Headlight Restoration Before after Photos.

Like I said, I want to try restoring lights for some extra cash. I want to put my pricing somewhere between the $25 Craigslist guys and a pro shop. It would be awesome if I can do the work fast with the DP kit, then offer a guarantee with the Opti lense coating. I doubt the Craigslist guys are offering any kind of guarantee, probably just sanding and waxing.
 
Honestly, I just hit the lense with some m105 on a 3" cutting pad on my porter cable and then finish it off with some m205 on a 3" polish pad. Comes out good as new.
 
A lot of headlights can be made to look great with just a polish or compound.

That being said, a lot of really bad ones need sanding.

With that setup, you will be able to do a LOT as far as restoration, but you won't be able to do everything. Investing in sanding pads, tape, and the headlight restoration kit would ensure you are ready for everything.

If you are going to do it you might want to consider this.
 
Thanks VPMark, I was thinking of getting some paper as well just incase. From what I've read, 800 seems the lowest most people need to go, should I be good with 800, 1000, 1500, & 2000?

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riles32807 said:
Thanks VPMark, I was thinking of getting some paper as well just incase. From what I've read, 800 seems the lowest most people need to go, should I be good with 800, 1000, 1500, & 2000?

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That would probably work fine. Remember to charge people more if sanding is needed because it could take significantly more time.

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You guys are awesome. Thanks for answering the questions I didn't know I had. :xyxthumbs:
 
riles32807 said:
Thanks VPMark, I was thinking of getting some paper as well just incase. From what I've read, 800 seems the lowest most people need to go, should I be good with 800, 1000, 1500, & 2000?

Sent by carrier pigeon using AG Online
Click to expand...


Those grits will all work great. I even use 220 to make quick work of badly deteriorated lenses and I always finish up with 2500. To do a complete refinish can take up to an hour or more.

Compound and polishes only work as a temporary fix and will NOT last. It's not correcting the problem, just hiding it.

Iv'e been refinishing headlight lenses professionally for about 8 years and researched and put in my due diligence for years before that. Iv'e now come up with a product and method i'm confident using on my customers cars and my dealers cars.

Good luck to you

James
See Clear Headlights
See Clear's Home Page
 
Exess100 said:
Those grits will all work great. I even use 220 to make quick work of badly deteriorated lenses and I always finish up with 2500. To do a complete refinish can take up to an hour or more.

Compound and polishes only work as a temporary fix and will NOT last. It's not correcting the problem, just hiding it.

Iv'e been refinishing headlight lenses professionally for about 8 years and researched and put in my due diligence for years before that. Iv'e now come up with a product and method i'm confident using on my customers cars and my dealers cars.

Good luck to you

James
See Clear Headlights
See Clear's Home Page
Click to expand...

Just curious why you think compounding and polishing is only temporary? I've never restored headlights for money but on my family cars I've had lasting results with just a layer of m21 to seal the deal. I have used 800,1500, & 2500 sand paper for really the same results, although I've never dealt with HEAVILY oxidized headlights. I'm always curious to learn the correct way of doing things so trying to figure this out. Thanks!
 
Thanks Exess. I have a couple questions I think I'm going to PM you.

Oooo let me try fielding this one! =)
It sounds like you probably stay on top of your car care which will go a long way to keeping headlights clear. Remember that most people probably don't pay as much attention to their paint as you do to your lenses. If there is only light oxidation, then a quick compounding is probably enough to take it down to clean, clear polycarbonate. In extreme cases sanding is needed to get rid of all the old oxidized polycarbonate.

However just compound and polish leaves the polycarbonate unprotected from UV and oxidation, some sort of sealer is needed. On the low end wax will help for a while, a sealer will help for longer and a headlight specific sealer should last longer still. I'm not familiar with M21, but it looks like a decent sealer and under the right conditions probably will keep the lenses looking good for a while.

For my own vehicles I would probably do the same as you and just use a sealer I'd use on the car anyway. If I'm going to do it as a business, I want to use the best product I can. Especially since I'm planning on offering a guarantee, I wouldn't want to be redoing all kinds of work for free.

Hope that helps.
 
kdubski said:
Just curious why you think compounding and polishing is only temporary? I've never restored headlights for money but on my family cars I've had lasting results with just a layer of m21 to seal the deal. I have used 800,1500, & 2500 sand paper for really the same results, although I've never dealt with HEAVILY oxidized headlights. I'm always curious to learn the correct way of doing things so trying to figure this out. Thanks!
Click to expand...

Hey Kdubski,

I say it's a temp fix because, unless there's a UV top cote used, the deterioration will come back once the polish wares off. Of course it depends how bad the lens is to begin with. If there's slight yellowing/hazing I guess the compound method could work. It's a tricky thing. To be honest, iv'e never did the compound deal and UV top cote. When someone hires me to do their headlights I always do a total refinish.

One thing to keep in mind, once sandpaper is used you are actually taking off the old UV cote leaving behind the raw plastic. It seems to me that people don't realize that this is what their actually doing. This is why a UV top cote is needed.

-James
www.seeclearheadlights. com
 
riles32807 said:
Thanks Exess. I have a couple questions I think I'm going to PM you.

Oooo let me try fielding this one! =)
It sounds like you probably stay on top of your car care which will go a long way to keeping headlights clear. Remember that most people probably don't pay as much attention to their paint as you do to your lenses. If there is only light oxidation, then a quick compounding is probably enough to take it down to clean, clear polycarbonate. In extreme cases sanding is needed to get rid of all the old oxidized polycarbonate.

However just compound and polish leaves the polycarbonate unprotected from UV and oxidation, some sort of sealer is needed. On the low end wax will help for a while, a sealer will help for longer and a headlight specific sealer should last longer still. I'm not familiar with M21, but it looks like a decent sealer and under the right conditions probably will keep the lenses looking good for a while.

For my own vehicles I would probably do the same as you and just use a sealer I'd use on the car anyway. If I'm going to do it as a business, I want to use the best product I can. Especially since I'm planning on offering a guarantee, I wouldn't want to be redoing all kinds of work for free.

Hope that helps.
Click to expand...

Absolutely, PM me. I'll do my best to help ya out.

Your on the money with your thinking except that you need to have a UV curable top cote. Using a paste type of sealer will only last as long as it stays on. It's just the same as using wax or a sealer on a cars paint. It eventually wares off. Using the rite UV curable top cote is long lasting and durable.

-James

www.seeclearheadlights. com
 
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Excess, I did, thank you. Sorry things have been pretty crazy traveling with the family for the holiday.

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So what process did you take after all and products as well?
 
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