hEADLIGHT RESTORATION ANYONE DOING THIS?

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Dynamic Detail

New member
Is anyone doing headlight restorations? And if so how much do you charge per headlight? And finally any kits or products that you would reccomend?

Thanks
Dynamic Detailing
 
I think headlight restoration is pretty simple if all you're fixing is yellowing and small scratches or chips. Since it's just plastic, you can start by sanding it down with 800 grit sandpaper, then working your way up and ending with wetsanding with 2000 grit. Follow it up with some Meguiar's plastic polish if it's good, or give it a shot of clearcoat to restore the clarity.
 
truzoom said:
I think headlight restoration is pretty simple if all you're fixing is yellowing and small scratches or chips. Since it's just plastic, you can start by sanding it down with 800 grit sandpaper, then working your way up and ending with wetsanding with 2000 grit. Follow it up with some Meguiar's plastic polish if it's good, or give it a shot of clearcoat to restore the clarity.
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This is exactly what I do and it works great; I can do both headlights in about half an hour or so. Charge accordingly as you would for hourly work, or a flat rate for the service--$20-30ish sounds about right. I've used Plastix by Megs as a final polish (after wetsanding) and that alone seems to do the trick, but I'm sure you could get fancier if you wished.
 
Dynamic Detail said:
Is anyone doing headlight restorations? And if so how much do you charge per headlight? And finally any kits or products that you would reccomend?

Thanks
Dynamic Detailing
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You can also use a product from Yacht Brite called Buff Magic, a non abrasive compound that contains jewelers rouge and is also an awsome metal polish. This product has many uses and can be used to restore marine eisenglass and the back windows of convertables, followed by Pro Polish (Polymer) the results are astounding. For conveinence try useing a 3 in air polisher starting with a 3 in velcro wool pad and a small amount of Buff Magic ( a 22 oz can will do a 40 FT boat) reapply as neeeded. Followed by the Pro Polish with a 3 in velceo foam polish pad and your done :-) Clean up; The Nature of Buff Magic is that it will load up a wool pad so spur regularly, when finished spur your pad , let dry, apply some all purpose and rinse.

http://www.autosolutionsproducts.com/prod_reconditioning.html

Trust is Like Virginity, You Only Lose It Once

Mike In Edgewood MD
 
yea megs. plastx is the best. before it even came out, when they had the sample packs i bought up all of them for a dollar each and started doing the headlight restor. I just use a light cut 4 inch pad on my electric drill and they come out like new. Some of them you need to sand down
 
Yes, I've been doing headlight restoration for several years now. 90%+ of my market is used car dealers.

Going rate is $60-$95 per set. Chrysler pays $110 for warranty claims. Very lucrative service; as the profit margin is huge.

Will post pics in a few minutes.

BTW, products can be purchased at a local body shop supply store, although some of the products I use are purchased from superiorrestoration.com

Regards,

Mike
 
Cool i thought there might be fairly good market for it what kinda supplies do buy ata body shop supplie store? Or should i ask what kinda supplies are you using to to this service.

Thanks for the help
Dynamic Detailing
 
Oops,

Almost forgot. 9 times out of 10 I use 800,1000, 1500, and 2000 grit Mirka wet-sandpaper. Followed by 1000 and of 2000 grit micro-compound. Also using some components from superior restoration's kit. Plexus is a great last step.

Process takes anywhere from 15 minutes (for lightly degraded lenses) to 45 minutes per set (for severly degraded lenses, like the Caravan in the pic above.)

Regards,

Mike
 
I had great results with the AutoGlym twins, and I tried them on various plastic surfaces besides lights - like TVs, laptops. Once I did a Sony TV to freshen up the appearance (or make it more contemporary). I went over the frame with the PR & SRP with a simple polishing cloth (no wetsanding) and it came out beautifully. Nice mirror shine on the front of the frame and matte finish on the back.
The other interesting job was a softlack-finished (silky rubber-like material; used on the more recent VWs, loves to peel off!) computer. I scraped off the softlack with a screwdriver (the only tool that worked) wetsanded the surface with 1000 & 2000 grit papers, and finished the work with PR, SRP and AIO. It seems that the aluminum oxide abrasives work especially well on plastics.
 
truzoom said:
I think headlight restoration is pretty simple if all you're fixing is yellowing and small scratches or chips. Since it's just plastic, you can start by sanding it down with 800 grit sandpaper, then working your way up and ending with wetsanding with 2000 grit. Follow it up with some Meguiar's plastic polish if it's good, or give it a shot of clearcoat to restore the clarity.
Click to expand...

i did this today at work on a 1997 safari van that was really beat up and the service manager and used car manager were really impressed with the results. thanks for the great process
 
Today I was restoring a 1965 Tissot Seastar 315T wristwatch. It has a curved plastic lens, and 14K gold housing. I did the above mentioned routine, with two exceptions (1Z+EGP). I wetsanded the lens w/1000 & 2000 papers, then applied the AutoGlym twins with my PC @ 3. Then I polished the gold with AIO by hand, and went over it with SRP with PC @ 3. Then sealed with 1Z Glanz and followed with EGP. A little buffing with a 3M MF, and the timepiece was pristine.

BTW, EGP works extremely good over the Glanz. As on my dark green Camry, it keeps the bright clarity of the Glanz and adds even more depth, gloss and slickness. :bigups
 
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