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RE-finishing headlights

726 views 16 replies 10 participants last post by  black_shark 
#1 ·
I bought some like new KDM chromies a few months ago, but the right one had deep pits and scratches all over it. I buffed it about 40x, but the pits were too deep. Last week I baked the lights, disassembled them, wet sanded the chrome on the bezels (except 1/2 the signal bezel), painted them satin black, and they came out perfect. The problem was, the right llense pits were shiny on the lense, but still visible, and even more so when the lights are on at night. I said wtf, and sanded 1/3 of the lense with 400, then 600, then 800 and buffed it 2x to see how it would come out, and the lense looks brand new. I was gonna buy 05's soon, but the paint, and the lenses are coming out so good, I'm going to keep these bastages for awhile. I'll post some pics when I finish the lights. I'll work on it an hour or so the next couple of nights. Anyone else sand their lenses?
 
#3 ·
I new the only way to get the pits out of the ones I bought was to wetsand them out. Some people don't realize (not everyone) when they try to polish or buff to hide a scratch (on paint or headlights) that they're not removing the scratch, but you have to try to bring the surrounding area down to the deepest part of the scratch to diminish it.

It's up to whomever does this to make that choice. If your lights are fairly okay, let them go. But if they're hazy, or light surface scratches all over, this may be for you. I will say plan to put some labor into it. You're going to have to wet sand, and buff. Mine were pitted deep, so I had to start with 400, then 600, then polish sand with 800. I then used Nufinish scratch doctor (orange tube) with a buffer to polish the lense (I think doing it by hand will take forever). The deep pits are gone and the lense is smooth as new and crystal clear with no scratches on the surface.
 
#6 · (Edited)
Black said:
What if I sand it down with finishing paper of 2000 grit?
I've never used 2000, only 1200 when airbrushing, but if you can get, hells yeah.
Here's the one lense after buffing only 2x on this one spot. You can see the imperfections on the sanded area where I need to sand more to level it out before buffing. This buffed area was just a trial run.



Found a paint supply store that has up to 2000 grit wet/dry. That's gonna' save a whole lot of buffing time.
 
#13 ·
c-man said:
I use this method from another forum:

http://www.3.8mustang.com/forum/printthread.php?t=114484

The tiburon is just one make/model of many with this annoying problem.
I'm going to give that a try on my headlights tomorrow. I applied some PlastX to them tonight, but didn't do any of the sanding. It didn't make much of a difference at all, so hopefully the sanding will.

One question, though. My headlights aren't really foggy. They're just dirty looking. There's lots of little specs of **** on (or in) the lenses. They're a bit foggy, but mostly just dirty looking. I've cleaned the inside and outside of the lenses, and it didn't do anything. It's like the dirt is inside the plastic or something. Will the sanding/polishing take care of that for me, do you think? Or is it more just for eliminating the fogginess? I'd take a picture of them, but my camera isn't the best, so the "dirt" I'm talking about probably wouldn't be visible, anyway.
 
#14 ·
I have that same dirty haze look...like snow atop a mountain. :)


I tried the PlastX only and had no results. I also tried a complete restore kit that barely addressed the problem.

Sanding is about the only way to go. And with sanding, the more time you put into it, the better the results. Make sure not to rush the job and don't do it dry, otherwise you'll do more harm than good.

Clearcoat: I'd use a coating specific for headlights/lenses. If you spraycan clearcoat on the lamps, its only a matter of time before it starts to peel and ruin the finished look. If you have a gun, I think it would be a better idea.
 
#15 ·
Well, I'm going to try the sanding tomorrow. Or, later today, I guess. It's 3:10 AM here. I'll post pictures when I'm done. I painted my headlights the other day, and have been letting them dry. I put them back together tonight, and I'm now letting the sealant I applied to them dry overnight. So the only thing I'm needing to complete the new look is a clearer lense. Hopefully this will work. :)
 
#16 ·
scftw said:
Well, I'm going to try the sanding tomorrow. Or, later today, I guess. It's 3:10 AM here. I'll post pictures when I'm done. I painted my headlights the other day, and have been letting them dry. I put them back together tonight, and I'm now letting the sealant I applied to them dry overnight. So the only thing I'm needing to complete the new look is a clearer lense. Hopefully this will work. :)
Mine were pitted deep when they were sold to me, so I had to start with 320. If yours are just mild, I'd start with 400, working up to 2000. After final sanding with 2000, wipe it dry and look to make sure you have a smooth even finish with no noticeable scatches to cut your buffing time. If you don't have a buffer, buy or borrow one, because you're going to have to do alot of it. You can get it almost new looking and be okay. Mine are at the point where the look brand new, but there's a barley noticeable haze when the lights are on. I'm going to buff a little over the next few nights, 20 minutes here and there to finish it off. Mine are 100% better now and look new. The lenses are smooth as my GF's best GF's @ss. DOn't buff it until the polish becomes sticky or you can burn the lenses. Buff until almost dry, wipe, repeat.
 
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