2006 Hyundai Sonata Detail with HD Speed and MIRKA Sanding Products

RaysWay

Autopia Specialist
This Saturday I was scheduled for this Sonata. The light colored paint actually concealed a lot of the imperfection, but my FLEX Swirl Finder light and new LED light stand did a great job of showing the true condition of the paint.

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The dealership requested the headlights to be restored as well. They weren't too bad, but easily one of the biggest eye sores on this car.

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The entire car had light swirls.

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A few test spots showed HD Speed is what the doctor ordered.

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This is after polishing the hood.

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This is something I was really excited about carrying on the Autopia store....the MIRKA Abralon 3 Inch Assortment Pack. They should rename this pack the headlight perfection kit. Since you should be able to restore just about any pair of headlights back to perfection with this kit. The assortment pack includes two of each 500 grit, 1000 grit, 2000 grit, 3000 grit and 4000 grit! In the past if you wanted a diverse collection of 3 inch discs, you had no choice but to by packs of 20-50 discs for each grit. That's fine for a professional detailer who is going to be using all the discs in the near future, but for someone who wants to restore a few pairs of headlights, it didn't make sense. For only $26.99, you get 10 discs in this assortment pack.

I used the discs on a Griot's Garage 3 inch polisher with an attached Meguiars 3 inch interface pad.

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Before. I taped around the headlights and popped the hood to prevent scratching the paint.

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After 500 grit.

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After 1000 grit.

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After 2000 girt.

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After 3000 grit.

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After 4000 grit.

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Then I switched to my Makita 9227c with a Buff and Shine rotary extension and Flex-Foam 3 inch backing plate with a Lake Country 3.5 inch DuroWool 100% Twisted Wool Cutting Pad with Meguiar's M100 as my compound.

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Perfect.

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I actually finished with my Flex 3401 and HD Polish on a white Lake Country Hybrid Pad before sealing with CQuartz.

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It started this detail at 4pm and finished at 9:45pm. I took my time with this detail knowing I had an open day Sunday to finish if I needed to. But I was able to finish in one night so I had an entire Sunday to relax :)

You can see my new Husky Shop Seat in the back that I picked up for $8.

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The trim was restored with Solution Finish.

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HD Speed did a great job and was a breeze to use with a FLEX 3401 + Orange Lake Country Hybrid Pad.

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I have another car scheduled for tonight. If you'd like me to use anything specific, let me know and I'll do my best to include it in the upcoming detail.

Thanks for reading!
 
Wow, great job Ray! That Mirka kit seems like the bee's knee's for a few sets of lights, as you said. One of your pictures didn't show up--the 4000 grit result.
 
Increased life to paint
Increased clarity
Increased shine
Increased value

Detailed by Ray...................
 
bumping an old thread

ray, when you did these headlights. was it all dry sanded or did you wet sand it some?
 
bumping an old thread

ray, when you did these headlights. was it all dry sanded or did you wet sand it some?

Every step was wet sanded. The sanding discs were presoaked in a bucket of water for about 5 minutes before use with a drop of Dawn dish detergent. Then I filled a spray bottle with water and added 1 drop of Dawn dish detergent (for lubricity) to use while wet sanding.
 
Every step was wet sanded. The sanding discs were presoaked in a bucket of water for about 5 minutes before use with a drop of Dawn dish detergent. Then I filled a spray bottle with water and added 1 drop of Dawn dish detergent (for lubricity) to use while wet sanding.

thanks, will be tackling a headlights this weekend.
 
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