Hazed headlights, any tips?

C

Carbon Blue

New member
Hey there everyone well Im about to attack some hazed headlights over the weekend and from past experiences I have just used some compound and my UDM w/orange pad to clear things up. This time around Im looking to do some wet sanding with 1500grit sandpaper. The hazing isnt as bad but it could definitely use some help. Any recommended tips? How low of a grit sandpaper do I need? I was planning on using 1500-2000. thanks you guys!



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I went the 1000/1500/2000 then polish on PC, and the wife's Passat came out almost perfect. Make certain to go at 90 degree angles (side-to-side with coarser paper, then up-and-down with finer paper, etc), and keep both the paper & the light wet out well, cleaning up the debris (rinsing) after each pass or two.
 
Go as gentle as possible on them, and step up your aggressiveness. Sometimes, even something like OC or OP by hand works well. Then seal them with a OOS/CS/UPGP.
 
I used Meg PlastX on my car and it helped alot! I dont know if it can cure all that hazing but worth a shot being that is under $10
 
I use a 4 inch edge2000 pad on my makita for headlights unless they're an odd shape.



For those, I would use a yellow 4 inch pad with presta ultra cutting cream, then finish with a green or blue pad with OP or 106ff, then seal with 845.



I don't think wetsanding is necessary unless they are REALLY bad, and those do not appear to be.





Just remember, if you are using a rotary on the headlights that you really should tape off the paint thoroughly so as not to burn it.
 
thanks again guys. Ill be using my UDM on speed 6 with the orange pad. Ill be using some 3M medium compound followed by menzerna IP and FP. I will seal them with some wolfgang sealant. thanks everyone
 
evenflow said:
I think it was ScottWax who has had success using Optimum Compound on the headlights.
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Did it by hand using an MF towel too. ;)



When I buffed out the car the next day, I did go over the headlights with the UDM and Optimum Compound followed by Poli-Seal to further improve the clarity.



I had to wetsand the headlights on the 626 I used to have though. 1200-1500-2000 then polish. They had some odd build-up on them.
 
Scottwax said:
I had to wetsand the headlights on the 626 I used to have though. 1200-1500-2000 then polish. They had some odd build-up on them.
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I finally decided to tackle my own headlights the other night and I did not get anywhere, even with a 4" yellow pad on a rotary using Hi-Temp Extreme Cut. I will have to go the wetsanding route on mine too. Like yours, mine has some kind of build-up that is not being removed from compounding alone.
 
hey BlackElantra GT do you think you could post some pics?? thanks



BlackElantraGT said:
I finally decided to tackle my own headlights the other night and I did not get anywhere, even with a 4" yellow pad on a rotary using Hi-Temp Extreme Cut. I will have to go the wetsanding route on mine too. Like yours, mine has some kind of build-up that is not being removed from compounding alone.
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In regards to Hyundai headlamps, there appears to be a softer/more rubbery, ding-resistant plastic coating over the underlying plastic. However this doesn't seem to hold up to sunlight. On my 4.5 year old elantra, the coating fogged and yellowed, then began wearing away. If you polish (say with plastX), you'll end up with nice clear covers where the coating has worn off, and an ugly hazy film where it hasn't.



I ended up wetsanding this coating off the rest of the way with 1500 grit. Once you get going you will be able to tell where the coating remains while rinsing and concentrate on those areas with finger pressure. The coating does not show as much of a milky sanded finish as the rest of the lens, and will appear to be darker colored while sanding and rinsing. This coating does sand off with 1500 grit no problem.



Once it was all gone, sanding everywhere to see that it is, I went to 2000 grit, then plast-x.



I found the plast-x didn't quite cut 2000 grit easily enough so I used some sort of "heavy scratch remover for plastic" polish I had laying around from a 3-step kit who's name escapes me, then plast-x finished up just fine with a couple applications.



In my opinion you need some sort of intermediate step inbetween 2000 grit and plast-x if you're doing this by hand.
 
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