# Headlight restoration - Opel Vectra C



## Bass-Evolution (Aug 13, 2009)

Not having much to do these days, because of the hollydays, I called a friend whose headlights I knew were in a bad condition in order to give him a post Christmas present.

220.000 kms and a lot of years, made the headlights to look like this :

Initial inspection :







MACRO



Yellow Stuff :



Only by decontamination with the clay block, the headlights began to look better :





Great stuff this clay block !! Even where other hard clays are strgglin', this thing flyes :

The process continued, decontamination followed by wetsanding with P600, P1000, P1500, P2000, P4000.

I guess I took this pic while I was wetsanding with P1000



Anyways, after P2000 and dryed, the headlight looked something like so :







2 passes with FCP, 3 passes with Ultrafina, sealed with M-Seal revealed the final result :







Comments wellcomed.

Alex.


----------



## wojtek_pl (Apr 25, 2010)

:thumb: 
car was "blind" with xenon and hedlights faded like this.


----------



## paulmc08 (Feb 3, 2009)

Nice job fella


----------



## Jacktdi (Oct 21, 2010)

Excellent job.


----------



## samm (May 19, 2006)

Great job.


----------



## Jamie-O (Jan 28, 2010)

Massive improvement!


----------



## civicnz (Dec 24, 2010)

A big change!
One question, When will he come spend some time to be like before?


----------



## centenary (Sep 5, 2010)

Top job! Wish you were local to do my E46 lenses!

Beep, beep:driver:


----------



## AnalBeard (Dec 27, 2010)

that's a hell of an improvement!



centenary said:


> Top job! Wish you were local to do my E46 lenses!
> 
> Beep, beep:driver:


i'm going to be doing my e46 lenses in the new year, can't say i'm looking forward to it!


----------



## vectra ed (Feb 4, 2006)

A good job done there. I bet you can see the difference now.


----------



## tonyy (Jul 26, 2008)

very good job,now look awesome...


----------



## Sandman (Dec 19, 2008)

I never understood, the wetsanding. How do i know when it's too scratchy, the paper. I'm always afraid to scratch the headlight pattern too hard. 

Do i use the usual water for wetsanding, or some lubricant?


----------



## gargreen7 (Apr 12, 2009)

done this to my old Fiesta Zetec-S probably the best thing i did to it, 

looks great, good job mate


----------



## "SkY" (Apr 21, 2009)

great job:thumb:


----------



## Goodfella36 (Jul 21, 2009)

Great work there much needed


----------



## Focuslicious (Jun 29, 2010)

Very great job :thumb:


----------



## angajatul (Oct 14, 2008)

Nice work .....just like eye surgery!


----------



## ADW (Aug 8, 2010)

Thats is one hell of a turn around, Great job. :thumb:


----------



## MadOnVaux! (Jun 2, 2008)

Nice one fella


----------



## Bass-Evolution (Aug 13, 2009)

thank you cor the comments !! :thumb:


----------



## brautomobile (Nov 17, 2009)

Very nice work Bass-Evolution, top job!Hope you don't mind that i'm answering this question. 



Sandman said:


> I never understood, the wet sanding. How do i know when it's too scratchy, the paper. I'm always afraid to scratch the headlight pattern too hard.
> 
> Do i use the usual water for wet sanding, or some lubricant?


It's quite easy, never go under 320 grit and it will be fine.You have to use each time a sandpaper or a send disk to remove the scratches from the previous one.For the beginning it's best to start with 1000 grit paper or disk than 1500 or 2000 then the 3000.Afterwords you can finish with a compound than a finish or fine polishing paste.The idea is to remove entirely the clear uv coating from the headlight.The best part is that it's quite impossible to destroy the headlight or to do something irreversibly.Don't be afraid, just do it.:thumb:


----------



## Bass-Evolution (Aug 13, 2009)

I don't mind at all. Thank you by the way. And, yes, you are right. The ideea is quite simple. The worse the state of the headlight, the more aggressive the first sandpaper should be. You need to remove bit by bit all the defects from the headlight, this being done with the sanding procedure, then, you need to restore the clarity and transparence of the lens, this being done with the less aggressive sandpaper, followed by compounding and the polishing. 

You don't need to be afraid, you only need to try.

Practice makes perfect.


----------

