# Headlight restoration



## Razormck (Jun 25, 2008)

Guys I'm after some advice on headlight restoration.

My Honda Civic Type R is looking great with new wheels and a machine polish (finally almost 90% swirl free) and protected with the Blackfire kit.

Trouble is the headlights let the whole look down. 

I've been looking at the Autoglym, 3m and Meguirs kits but are these worth it or should i brave and do the whole set and dry paper bit?

And how would I protect it - Just a wax on specific sealant?

Any help appreciated.

Cheers

Ray


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## ffrs1444 (Jun 7, 2008)

did my birds C3 with just wet and dry working down the Grits then went over with my DAS 6 brought them up good as new


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## 11alan111 (Dec 29, 2011)

*ref*

i bought the 3m kit from amazon everything you need except a cordless drill,excellent piece of kit


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## pf1982 (Jan 3, 2015)

I'm in a similar position to yourself, my fn2 lights let the car down 
Any pics


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## Spike85 (May 22, 2016)

I did my type r with the 3m kit and it was fantastic. Easily enough to do another set of lights.


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## moochin (Mar 17, 2009)

I wet sanded my bro's headlights on his skyline 2 weeks ago and polished with menzerna on a 2" pad and they look brand new. I'd say don't throw money at it when you don't have too.

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk


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## Typeroz (Jan 10, 2016)

How bad are they? Maybe try a light abrasive polish by hand. Mines were slightly yellow around the edges, Auto Finesse Triple cleaned them quite well.


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## stonejedi (Feb 2, 2008)

My wife done my car with the 3M kit and got some superb results...

How it started...









How it ended up...









The difference between the two...









Both done:thumb:...








.SJ.


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## steelghost (Aug 20, 2015)

Make sure you put something on them when you've finished - otherwise they'll quickly go bad again (the original UV protection will have been stripped away by the polishing). Something like Carpro Dlux would be ideal as it's semipermanent, but most sealants will do the trick, you just need to reapply reasonably often.


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## slim_boy_fat (Jun 23, 2006)

^^ How long did it take her? 

I'm planning mine if/when it stops raining.  Mine look very much like yours.


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## stonejedi (Feb 2, 2008)

slim_boy_fat said:


> ^^ How long did it take her?
> 
> I'm planning mine if/when it stops raining.  Mine look very much like yours.


About one hour for both headlights,that's from start to finish and sealing them with two coats of Zymol detail wax.SJ.


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## Matt_Nic (Apr 15, 2011)

If you do it without a complete kit - what do you need to buy?
I have a power drill, does it need to be done that way or can it be done to the same level by hand?

I'm thinking if by drill it needs a drill bit backing pad and some way of securing the wet and dry paper to it? what grades of paper do you use and what to finish it off?

Thanks!


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## DLGWRX02 (Apr 6, 2010)

Matt_Nic said:


> If you do it without a complete kit - what do you need to buy?
> I have a power drill, does it need to be done that way or can it be done to the same level by hand?
> 
> I'm thinking if by drill it needs a drill bit backing pad and some way of securing the wet and dry paper to it? what grades of paper do you use and what to finish it off?
> ...


I just done my daughters 307 to get it through the mot, i used a power drill with a 50mm backing pad, and matching white sonax cutting pad, didnt bother with wet sanding, just used farcela g3 cutting compound then went over with some megs to refine it. Must of worked it went through the mot fine on the retest, i did apply some summer sealant to the finished plastic lenses but in all honesty they need replacing.

The sanding i believe is all done by hand not machine.


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## Matt_Nic (Apr 15, 2011)

DLGWRX02 said:


> I just done my daughters 307 to get it through the mot, i used a power drill with a 50mm backing pad, and matching white sonax cutting pad, didnt bother with wet sanding, just used farcela g3 cutting compound then went over with some megs to refine it. Must of worked it went through the mot fine on the retest, i did apply some summer sealant to the finished plastic lenses but in all honesty they need replacing.
> 
> The sanding i believe is all done by hand not machine.


My wifes car is a 15 year old Puma with heavily yellowed lenses. I tried using a machine polisher and Menzerna 250 cut polish with zero joy.


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## robtech (Jan 17, 2011)

lots of vids on you tube .lots saying to sand ,polish ,and then spray with a uv inhibitor clear laquer ,,of course you gotta mask around the lights a lot more .depends on where the car sits every day if its in the sun all the time then the lights will yellow faster and the use of a laquer in this case would be best ,,failing that sand with 1500 2000 grit wet n dry then machine polish with the like of meguiars ultimate compound then go over with a polish then wax to protect .


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## Matt_Nic (Apr 15, 2011)

robtech said:


> lots of vids on you tube .lots saying to sand ,polish ,and then spray with a uv inhibitor clear laquer ,,of course you gotta mask around the lights a lot more .depends on where the car sits every day if its in the sun all the time then the lights will yellow faster and the use of a laquer in this case would be best ,,failing that sand with 1500 2000 grit wet n dry then machine polish with the like of meguiars ultimate compound then go over with a polish then wax to protect .


Would you hand sand them?
They come out quite easily so I would probably just do them off the car.


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## great gonzo (Nov 4, 2010)

I had a go last week, spent about 5 minutes on each. No wet sanding just a rotary.

Going to start wet sanding tho as it interest me.







Gonz.


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## Alex_225 (Feb 7, 2008)

I bought the Meguiars kit that comes with the drill bit attachment. Comes with sand paper so I wet sanded them first, used the attachment and polish to shine them. Was ok but still not that great.

I took a punt on the other kit Meguiars do with the can of lacquer, cleaned them and sprayed the lacquer on. Tonnes better!!! I'd recommend that kit. 

They say the finish lasts up to a year but there's enough product to redo them a few times.


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## VenomUK (Oct 13, 2011)

If you check out my Instagram SOLAXIO You can see plenty of examples of before and after shots of headlights I've done.

Its nice a simple, all you need is:
800grit (only needed if headlights are in a real bad way)
1500grit
2000grit
DA
Orange pad
White or black pad
105 & 205

As said already, just work up the grades from 800 to 2000 and then machine out with an orange pad using 105 and then finish off with a white or black pad and 205

The end result will be some nice clear looking lenses


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## slim_boy_fat (Jun 23, 2006)

Forgot about this thread, I did mine and will post up pics later when I get on the desktop pc.

Edit: posted in another thread here, post #21......http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=378201&page=3&highlight=headlight


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