How about what a headlight restoration SHOULD look like!

[O.C.Detailing]

So I did a few "freebie" headlight corrections back in the day when I was just starting to do them. I chose a few folks from my street who, in all honesty, would have had to replace their headlights had I not done what I did to them. This customer was a referral from one of those folks I did for free (Though he insisted on tipping me $20 even though I told him it wasn't necessary).

It's a Jeep Grand Cherokee.

Process:

- Initial defect removal was done with 3M 1000 grit wet-sanding paper. I used Showroom Shine Spray Detailer as my wet-sanding lubricant.
- I followed the 1000 grit paper with 3M 2500 grit wet-sanding paper using Showroom Shine Spray Detailer as my lubricant.
- Once I was satisfied that all of the defects, hazing and yellowing were removed, I used Meg's 105 on Yellow CCS to remove the wet-sand marks using my Griot's ROP.
- I followed Meg's 105 with 205 on Orange CCS.
- I then used Meg's PlastX to condition the surface and polish it out a bit more.
- I topped it all off with Poorboy's world EX-P and let it sit for a couple of hours before letting the customer have the vehicle back.

ONTO the PICS!!!

Driver's Side Before:

Driver's Side After:

Passenger's Side Before:

Passenger's Side After:

AND a full frontal shot:

Your comments and critisms are greatly appreciated. Please tell me if you have any better processes or procedures. I think I may go to 800 grit for headlights like these in the future and just go to 2500 grit afterwards. 1000 grit even still took me 2.5 hours to do both lights. lol

 

[Kris R]

so far ive used the 20 dollar 3m kit with good results except the headlights were right back to cloud yellow in months.

I didnt know you could use regular polish on plastic to remove sanding marks.

how did you wet sand? by hand or machine?

So plastX is a good product then? I found with the 3M that it was about 85% as clear as brand new. (Did a mercedes headlight the other week and one was new and one was OLD. old one wasnt as clear and bright as the new after the process)

 

[O.C.Detailing]

You can use the same products on plastic that you can use on your paint. It will react just a tad differently, but still comes out about as perfect as your paint if done correctly and with enough attention to defect removal. Also, the plastic in headlight lenses is FAR FAR FAR thicker than clearcoat, so don't be afraid to go aggressive. It is possible to BURN plastic though, so I'd steer away from using a rotary unless you're pretty good with them. Also, you may want to use 3" pads. For headlights this large, I just used my 6.5" pads on my Griot's. lol

I never....EVER polish by hand unless it's a very small section where a finger is better suited because the polisher is too large.

And this is directly from the bottle of PlastX and why I use it after using wet-sand paper, 105 and 205. "Special highly water resistant polymers provide long lasting durable protection to keep your clear plastics clear and beautiful longer."

I add a pure sealant on top of that and I have yet to see any of the headlights I've done, including my own on my BMW, start to yellow or fog back up in over a year's worth of exposure to the elements.

 

[sullysdetailing]

Good Job.

 

[Kurt_s]

What polymer are you using when you say:

"Special highly water resistant polymers provide long lasting durable protection to keep your clear plastics clear and beautiful longer."

Thanks!

 

[Kris R]

What polymer are you using when you say:

"Special highly water resistant polymers provide long lasting durable protection to keep your clear plastics clear and beautiful longer."

Thanks!

He used meguiars plastX polish. That was written on the back of the bottle....

 

[dublifecrisis]

Good job man! I am more and more drawn to headlight restoration in recent weeks. It's just so darn rewarding and the difference is always night and day. I mean, paint correction is night and day too but the 'before' condition of headlight lenses is usually far worse than paint. At least by the time the average joe scratches his head one day and says "man these headlights look bad." IMO every detailer that is out there trying to make a buck should offer stand alone headlight restos or upsell it on top of full details.

Adrock has me wanting to sell all my detail stuff and just start doing headlights!!

 

[96Lude]

Great job on those headlights!

I use almost the same process that you do. Once the wetsanding is done and I have polished out the wetsanding scratches, I apply PlastX with a Lake Country white pad followed by a paint sealant. I have also had good results with this process.

 

[O.C.Detailing]

Thanks for all of the responses guys and gals. That quoted statement was on the back of the PlastX bottle and I use it in addition to an actual pain sealant.

Let's put it this way, where I make MAYBE $10/hr. doing a full paint correction on a car, I make about $30/hr. or more doing headlights. It's quick, easy money. EVERY detailer should be offering this service in addition to their standard detailing, but it should be an extra cost type of service. Most places around here charge $80-100 for headlights. I charge $60. SO yeah, good, easy money.

 

[Kurt_s]

Hey Adrock2003,

The finished headlights look awesome! You definately should market your headlight service if you make 3x the margin.

The Megs headlight kit DID NOT work for me and will use a wet sanding process next.

Just to comfirm, did you use the Poorboy's EX-P sealant as the final step?

 

[O.C.Detailing]

Yep, I used Poorboy's World EX-P pure sealant that you'd use on your car's paint. I do, however, use PlastX before applying the sealant to the headlights. I use my Griot's to apply everything.

 

[trek]

I never....EVER polish by hand unless it's a very small section where a finger is better suited because the polisher is too large.

I'm assuming you used 3M Trizact wet-sanding disc's? Where do you get the 2500 grit from?

 

[O.C.Detailing]

I wet-sand by hand, I don't polish by hand. I wet-sand until all of the defects are gone then polish it out by machine to remove the wet-sanding marks.

 

[trek]

I wet-sand by hand, I don't polish by hand. I wet-sand until all of the defects are gone then polish it out by machine to remove the wet-sanding marks.

Oh ok, I do it all by hand(no DA ). The only process I do differently is I use Turtle Wax Polishing compound after the 3000 grit, & then PlastX. I have yet to put a sealant afterwards, but just acquired opti-seal which I would do from now on.

 

[Fred114]

awesome job Adam. :dblthumb2:

 

[O.C.Detailing]

Thanks Fred. Hey, John and I are thinking about heading down to AG for some of their detailing classes this coming next season. Gonna split the costs by carpooling if you're interested. We'll keep you updated once the classes start back up and things get closer.

 

[detaildave]

Great work on the headlight restoration.:xyxthumbs:

 

[spike]

Another awesome job by the OC Detailing team. Way to go!! BTW, I really love your company name! How cool is that??!!

:bowdown::bowdown::bowdown::bowdown::bowdown:

 

[OCDetails]

Another awesome job by the OC Detailing team. Way to go!! BTW, I really love your company name! How cool is that??!!

:bowdown::bowdown::bowdown::bowdown::bowdown:

Great name. I would have been OCDetailing, but the domain name was already taken when I got around to building something like that. So OCDetails is what I became.

Great work! I agree with the adding headlights to your service. I started separating services like headlights, wheel restoration, engine detailing, and things like that. I was surprised how many people weren't interested in getting their crappy paint polished, but because they were failing state safety inspections because of the condition of their headlights, they were willing to pay the $60 or $80 to get them cleaned up. Same thing with engine detailing. I've had several really nasty jobs on engines that mechanics wouldn't touch until the owner cleaned it up so they could see what the problems were. lol hey, work is work and in every one of these situations I've been able to get my foot in the door in neighborhoods and businesses that I wouldn't necessarily have been in otherwise and was able to pick up a couple extra jobs on referrals. Business is business.

 

[O.C.Detailing]

heh Thanks all! I did a little bit of research on the name and found that there are some folks out there with the same name, but none here in Virginia, so I went with it. There are other domain names available such as ocdetailing.net/org/etc...