So I had this car that I thought was going to be a detailing project, until I found out how many knicks, scrathes, oxidized parts there were. But I still decided to give the headlights a shot. I had never revived headlights in this bad of condition before. So I went at it (and here is how you can do the same)

<U>Tools Needed</U>
Wash Bucket
Wash Mitt
Car Soap
Clay Bar
Blue Painters Tape
Dual Action Polisher (Porter Cable 7424 or a Meguiars G100)
Cutting Pad (ie: Propel, Propel V2, Edge, Lake County, Meguiars etc)
Polishing Pad (ie: Propel, Propel V2, Edge, Lake County, Meguiars etc)
Finishing Pad (ie: Propel, Propel V2, Edge, Lake County, Meguiars etc)
Cutting Polish (ie: M83, Menzerma IP, PB SSR3)
Polish (ie: M80, Menzerma FP, PB SSR1, PB PP)
UV Protectant Wax (ie: NXT, M21, PB PwC, etc, etc, etc)
Microfiber Towel (a couple would be better)


<U>Steps Needed to Restore Your Headlight</U>
-Wash your car (it seems a little silly to me to get the wash bucket out and only do your headlights)
-Dry the car
-Go Back to the headlights with your clay bar, and a Spray Detailer, or some Car -Soap w/water mix in a spray bottle.
-Clay your headlights
-Tape off all surrounding body panels/Bumpers with the tape.
-Break out your PC with cutting pad
-Put one line of Cutting Polish across your pad. (It will look like a No Smoking symbol)
-Spread the polish around the headlight @ speed 3
-Push the speed up to 5 and move SLOWLY across the headlight, waiting for the polish to become almost clear.
-Get your microfiber and wipe all excess polish off
-Cheack clarity of the headlight
-*****If it is still a bit blurry/faded/yellowed repat polish on headlight
-Now switch to your polishing pad with your polish
-Put one line of polish across your pad. (It will look like a No Smoking symbol)
-Spread the polish around the headlight @ speed 3
-Push the speed up to 5 and move SLOWLY across the headlight, waiting for the polish to become almost clear.
-Get your microfiber and wipe all excess polish off
-Remove painters tape
-Now get your Finishing pad out, along with your wax. (you will want a wax that is UV protectant)
-Apply wax as Directions say (many waxes have different application methods)
- You can also apply wax by hand
-Get your microfiber and wipe all excess wax off
-Now get your Spray Detailer, and spray the headlights to give them a final cleaning

Once your done, you can get results like this:
Passenger Before

Passenger After



Driver Before

Driver After



Now just like anything in the restoration part of things, if your headlights are as bad as the driver's side picture shows, don't expect them to look like you just opened a brand new set from Honda. But you can also see that the passenger side looks pretty damn new. Now some people may say to wetsand first. But I seriously hate wetsanding, uneless I HAVE TO DO IT. I dont want to leave sanding marks all over the place. Nor do I want old clear coat dripping all over the place. I may come back some time and post a wetsanding headlight how to. You can also skip the Cutting Polishing part, and go straight to polishing, but alot of times with straight polish, it will take 3x the time it does with just cutting out the oxidation right away. Any questions just ask.

(I'm sure I missed something)
I will try to update with STEP BY STEP pictures sometime in the near future.

 

nice writup....wow that driver side was just dirty as a hooker at 6am. You might wanna wetsand that one for even better results. Nice job!

 

STEP BY STEP HAND REFINISHING
If you don't have access to a polisher, feel free to do this by hand. (Just be prepared to do a bit more work ) Here are the steps to accomplish headlight refinishing BY HAND.

<U>Products Needed</U>
Wash Bucket
Wash Mitt
Car Soap
Clay Bar
Foam Pad Applicator
Terry Cloth Towel
Plastic Cleaner (Wolfgagn shown)
Plastic Polish (Mothers Plastic Polish shown)
UV Protectant Wax (ie: NXT, M21, PB PwC, etc, etc, etc)
Quick Spray Detailer (Speed Detailer)
Microfiber Towel (a couple would be better)
Grout (sp?) Scraping Tool (Black Magic shown)


<U>Steps Needed to Restore Your Headlight</U>
Picture before we start working

-Wash your car (it seems a little silly to me to get the wash bucket out and only do your headlights)

-Dry the car
-Go Back to the headlights with your clay bar, and a Spray Detailer, or some Car
-Soap w/water mix in a spray bottle.
-Clay your headlights
-Put the Plastic Cleaner on your foam pad applicator / terry cloth

-Spread the Cleaner around in a small area

-Wipe the cleaner in a circular motion
-Work it in real good, until its almost clear.
-Get your microfiber and wipe all excess cleaner
-Check clarity of the headlight
-*****If it is still a bit blurry/faded/yellowed repat cleaner on headlight
-Now get your plastic polish with your microfiber.

-Lay a thin even layer of polish on the headlight.
-Allow it to haze (I usually do one part at a time, and then wipe off in the same order)

-Get your microfiber and wipe all excess polish off

-Apply wax as Directions say (many waxes have different application methods)
-Get your microfiber and wipe all excess wax off

-Check for left over wax in crevices.

-Get the creivce cleaning tool, and spray some detailer on the waxed area.

-Residue is all gone

-Now get your Spray Detailer, and spray the headlights to give them a final cleaning
-Sit back and enjoy.



This is just the one where i took the pictures for the write up. But here are better pictures of better results possibly by hand application.

Before

After




Modified by DA JeLLie at 8:03 PM 10/31/2006

 

i had a buddy do his like that, except he used some stuff you just rub on/off, and it turned out the same... but looks good!

 

 

wow looks amazing, i really need to give that a shot!

 

damn i should do that on my other headlights..i got 2 hazed up pairs already nice turnout

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by siege911 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i had a buddy do his like that, except he used some stuff you just rub on/off, and it turned out the same... but looks good! </TD></TR></TABLE>

Hand applications take a bit more elbow grease than the PC. But you can still restore them either way.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by DeadEnd9009 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">nice writup....wow that driver side was just dirty as a hooker at 6am. You might wanna wetsand that one for even better results. Nice job!</TD></TR></TABLE>

 

Wow! Can you just offer your services to locals for a small fee?

 

very good DIY.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by EL Vap133 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Wow! Can you just offer your services to locals for a small fee? </TD></TR></TABLE>
Yes I do some side work.

 

 

looks great, thanks for the info. I'll try it on my del sol headlights.

 

 

damn dude, i need to do this!!!

what polishes etc do you need to do this by hand?? and an indication of how long it'll take??

i dont have access to the PC machine...

 

Good stuff yo

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by . r i c h 9 9 0 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">damn dude, i need to do this!!!

what polishes etc do you need to do this by hand?? and an indication of how long it'll take??

i dont have access to the PC machine...</TD></TR></TABLE>

Instead of all the cutting pads and PC you can replace those with Foam Applicators and terry cloth towels. You are going to need a STRONG cutting polish. You might try Wolfgang plastic cleaner, and then some PlastX. By hand if you are looking for the same results, it could take you about 1hr+ all depending on how bad your lights are. For the drivers side, by hand, you may need to do the first step with WG plastic cleaner about 4 times. The Passenger side may only need it once or twice. Follow up with some Meguiars PlastX, and top it off with UV protected wax.

 

 

Good write-up! I could put this to use on my drivers side...

 

excellent write-up.This should be pinned.

 

I should have step by step pictures up this week, along with step by step instructions / pictures for by HAND application.

 

nice write up but i just went and bought new headlights instead and without the amber

 

i used a 3M polishing pad, dewalt buffer, 3M detail compound and 3M detail polish worked just as good

 

Step by step pictures now up for HAND APPLICATION.