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I bought the 3M product, used it, and love my new headlights. Mine were really bad - far worse than the ones in this post. The first grit in the 3M product is 500. I worked and worked and worked with those pads until all 6 (or were there 8?) clogged up and most of my cloudiness was still there. So I cut a piece of my 220 grit woodworking sandpaper and went back to work. Finally, I started seeing the cloudiness disappear. When I got an even finish everywhere, I switched to some 600 grit paper I had (in place of the used up 500), then continued with the 3M process. Everything went perfectly after that. Now it's just a matter of seeing how often I'll have to reapply the UV protectant. Thanks to Steve for a great recommendation.
Did you happen to take any pictures during the processes?
Yes - I'll go through them all tonight and post the good ones
This is my first multi-picture upload, so bear with me. The first picture is how the headlights looked before I got started. The second is how it looked after I worked and worked with the 500 grit paper from the kit. It still had lots of cloudiness and discoloration. So I went to 225 grit woodworking sandpaper and got the results in the third picture. Then I think I went back and un-clogged the 500 grit paper as best I could and got the fourth picture. (Yes, I've jumped from the left light to the right light because I forgot to take pictures of the left after I started seeing results!) The last picture in this post is after I used 600 grit paper from my shop.
I then used the 800 grit paper from the kit and took this first picture. I used the 3000 grit wet pad (no pic), then the polishing paste and got the results you see. As I said in my earlier post, I'm very pleased with the result and hope it lasts at least a couple of months.
If you have discoloration, than it's on the outside.
The fogging I had on the inside is because the lens was removed so the housing inside could be painted black.
Later, Steve
Looks great. Steve, correct me if I'm wrong, did you use to have a silver 996tt that you sold, and then got a black 997tt? Or I am thinking of someone else?
Looks great. Steve, correct me if I'm wrong, did you use to have a silver 996tt that you sold, and then got a black 997tt? Or I am thinking of someone else?
I just wanted to give a quick update. It's been over a year since I refinished my driver side headlight and it still looks great. BTW I haven't had to do any maintenance to the finish and I haven't added any UV protectant.
i think lamin-x is a must have to protect our precious looking lamp assemblies was a bit concerned about waymegellis results until the LAST pic lol. vastly improved!
I did the same thing to my headlight on the left side. But I would recommend to put a new clear coat on again as a protection for the acryl glas. The old coat is gone. No protection anymore from stones and stuff hitting the glas. Next time there is no coat to get off. It will be the substance of the headlight itself....
we have a local guy in Phx, on Craigslist, "the headlight guy", who did both of mine for $40, in my garage. I also had him do my Mini. I was wondering about the coating issue, may look into lamin-x as not familiar. Here is an after pic.
BTW I haven't had to do any maintenance to the finish and I haven't added any UV protectant.
Later, Steve
Let me clarify. I covered the refinished headlights with the UV headlight coating when they were first completed. I haven't reapplied the coating since and the headlights look great.
I did the same as Jarvis by sanding down the old yellow cracked coating (I took it a few steps further by using the micro mesh sanding pads (which go up to 12,000 grit, but I stopped at 6000)) and then sprayed U.Pol clear, a uv resistant clear coat (about $20 a can). They look brand new, and have held up well in the SoCal heat
Subscribed!. That's one of my pending projects. Thanks for the detailed write up Steve. You really put alot of effort into this. Followed this when it came out, but never subscribed. Now I am. Thanks to 06Turbo for the U-pol suggestion as well.
was a bit concerned about waymegellis results until the LAST pic lol. vastly improved!
