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Thread: DIY Tutorial: Eliminating Severe "Cloudy" headligh

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  1. #21
    SamirDarji
    Guest
    In my search for the 3m scratch polish, I found out that there are complete kits for restoring headlights. It's also a service that a lot of window repair places have.

    I bought a kit from www.micro-surface.com. I haven't used it yet (haven't had time). But this is what my lights look like currently: http://pics.huntsvillecarscene.com/events/headlite

  2. #22
    Damn, those lights are fucked up. You should be able to clear them up the way g-rim described. Post some after pics. Good luck.

  3. #23
    another thing i use for the outside is a metal or aluminum polish like that mothers BILLTER and it works really good. My lights stay nice and clear since ive cleaned them. lol believe me it works GREAT if there not too bad!!!

  4. #24
    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(REDLANT97)</div><div class='quotemain'>another thing i use for the outside is a metal or aluminum polish like that mothers BILLTER and it works really good. My lights stay nice and clear since ive cleaned them. lol believe me it works GREAT if there not too bad!!!</div>

    I did the same thing. It makes them really shiny and very smooth. I was skeptical at first because it is made for use on metal, but it worked very well on the headlights. I used Blue Magic brand.

  5. #25
    SamirDarji
    Guest
    Well, I did the driver's side headlight using the micro-surface product and all I can say is that it turned out pretty good. I'd say it's 93% back to brand new. It's still a bit hazy if you look at it closely. But for the amount of light that now passes through it and how clean it looks otherwise, I'd say it's awesome.

    It took around 4 hours of time to do this though, so it's not quick. But it definitely is permanent. After the process was finished, I did one final polish using some rubbing compound and then a healthy coat of wax. They're slick as glass. Even more so than the paint.

    I've taken some pics that I'll put up later. Got too much other work to do right now.

    I only did one headlight, so I'll also have some pics showing how much more light passes onto the road--it's like having projectors after driving with regular lights. Major, major difference.

  6. #26
    has anyone encountered any problems while trying to clear the cloudiness in the headlights?.. im thinking about giving mine a try but im a bit worried i might mess it up. I think i might try it on the turn signal lense first cus they're also cloudy and they wont cost as much to replace if i do mess it up
    95 Galant S ~> 5 Speed Manual

  7. #27
    shannon957g
    Guest
    This process is amazing. My father and I did this, and they look spectacular, all except for the prisms inside the lenses

    Same thing here with the turn signal lenses.
    Why not just find some plastic light covering (like the housing for tube lights at a business or something), in a pattern that you like and cut it to specs, and seal it?

    I'm thinking about doing that with the signal lights....but we'll see!

  8. #28
    yea im definetly thinking about doing it sometime next week. The pictures that 4-G-Rim posted look amazing and definetly worth the work.


    about how long does it take to do this?.. and do i have to remove the headlights or can i do it right on the car?
    95 Galant S ~> 5 Speed Manual

  9. #29
    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Nyr0283)</div><div class='quotemain'>yea im definetly thinking about doing it sometime next week. The pictures that 4-G-Rim posted look amazing and definetly worth the work. Â*


    about how long does it take to do this?.. and do i have to remove the headlights or can i do it right on the car?</div>

    i would say take the headlights out so u dont miss a spot.


  10. #30
    shannon957g
    Guest
    josh is right, because where the headlights go into the grill near the t-bar would definitely be hard to reach and when you take them out, why not go ahead and clear corner them?

    But the light projection is 10 times better, and ....they're just beautiful. You'll have to see for yourself!

    Didn't take us long at all....maybe 20 mins or so, but I sped up the drying process with extra paper towels. Also make sure you wash your car AFTER you do that...otherwise, there is unattractive headlight plastic sandish stuff all over the place...haha. Lovely.

  11. #31
    New Member
    Join Date
    08-17-2002
    Location
    North Haven, CT
    Posts
    50
    I tried this tutorial last night and I thought I'd post my befores and afters as well. My before shots aren't that great. I'm not a good camera-man.

    PS: My car is very dirty - i know.

    PPS: The fog lights still look cloudy, but they are still an improvement, believe me.



    Before:


    Another before:


    Hard at work:


    During:


    After:
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  12. #32
    shannon957g
    Guest
    ...da-damn!

    Did you take the the lenses off the turn signal lights to sand them down?

    ...Wow.

  13. #33
    wow that looks amazinnnng.. definetly gonna get on that this week, makes the car look so much better..

    and the reason i asked about taking the headlights out was because last year i tried clearing the corners and it was a disaster. I had trouble getting the headlights off and when i finally did get them out i guess i rushed the whole process and ruined the headlight. I got into an accident shortly thereafter and had to replace them anyway, dont think i wanna try that again
    95 Galant S ~> 5 Speed Manual

  14. #34
    New Member
    Join Date
    08-17-2002
    Location
    North Haven, CT
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    50
    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(shannon957g)</div><div class='quotemain'>...da-damn!

    Did you take the the lenses off the turn signal lights to sand them down?

    ...Wow.</div>

    Yes, for the turn signals, i took off the lens to sand and buff. Couldnt fit the high speed buffer in that area otherwise.


    Thanks everyone!
    T w o T h o u s a n d O n e M a x i m a

    N i n e t y S i x G a l a n t L S - RIP

    http://members.cardomain.com/siriusgrrl

  15. #35
    2 questions before i mess this up.. can i use a regular drill with a buffing bonnet on it or do i actually need a "high speed buffer"?.. and what kind of rubbing compound did you guys use?.. should it be any specific one or will any old rubbing compound do?
    95 Galant S ~> 5 Speed Manual

  16. #36
    New Member
    Join Date
    08-17-2002
    Location
    North Haven, CT
    Posts
    50
    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Nyr0283)</div><div class='quotemain'>2 questions before i mess this up.. can i use a regular drill with a buffing bonnet on it or do i actually need a "high speed buffer"?.. and what kind of rubbing compound did you guys use?.. should it be any specific one or will any old rubbing compound do?</div>

    I believe you can use a regular drill with a buffing bonnet. I went out and bought the bluemagic plastic/plexiglass stuff... but what i did was use Mothers aluminum polish, then the bluemagic stuff. ::shrug:: Really anything is fine, im sure. There's really no way to mess this up... unless you press too hard with the buffer and melt the plastic... so dont do that. Ha


    Good Luck! It'll look great. No worries!
    T w o T h o u s a n d O n e M a x i m a

    N i n e t y S i x G a l a n t L S - RIP

    http://members.cardomain.com/siriusgrrl

  17. #37
    well i tried this today and i didnt have much luck with it... they are still cloudy but it seems to be from the scratches..i followed the directions step by step.. i used 1500 grit sandpaper with regular hand soap, used the turtle wax rubbing compound (heavy duty), and then used the blue magic plexiglass and plastic cleaner

    i sanded for about 5 minutes, buffed with compound and then the cleaner for 10 minutes each...

    any suggestions or think that i am doing something wrong??
    95 Galant S ~> 5 Speed Manual

  18. #38
    Quote Originally Posted by Nyr0283
    well i tried this today and i didnt have much luck with it... they are still cloudy but it seems to be from the scratches..i followed the directions step by step.. i used 1500 grit sandpaper with regular hand soap, used the turtle wax rubbing compound (heavy duty), and then used the blue magic plexiglass and plastic cleaner

    i sanded for about 5 minutes, buffed with compound and then the cleaner for 10 minutes each...

    any suggestions or think that i am doing something wrong??
    was there any improvement after the technique?

    but yea i noticed a few things. first of all with the wet sanding. you used 1500 grit sandpaper opposed to the 1000 or 1005 grit from the tutorials. i don't know how much of a difference it would make by using the 1500 instead of the 1000 but by using something with a finer grit you at least have to wetsand longer since the 1500 doesn't cut as hard as the 1000

    with that said you also said you were going to use a drill opposed to the high speed buffer. the drill runs much slower than a buffer so you're gonna have to polish with the drill for much longer than a buffer.

    if you were to look at the surface of your headlight with a microscrope, it would look kinda like this ^-__/^----^--/---^--^--

    by wetsanding you pretty much knock down the peaks of the scratches so that it will be much more even. kinda like this ^^^--^^^^-^^

    and then by using the various compounds, you knock down those scratches even more so you'll get a much smoother surface and thats why things looks clearer

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  19. #39
    i see a very slight improvement, not as good as i thought it would be..

    i said i was going to use a drill but then i found a buffer sitting in my garage so i just bought a new pad for it and used that, so im guessing this is not the problem

    the only other thing i could think of is that maybe the rubbing compound im using is not good for the headlights cus its the red turtle wax "heavy duty" one, or maybe the cloudiness is coming from the inside of the headlights, but it feels and looks like its on the outside

    maybe it is the sandpaper, maybe its too fine... im gonna go out and buy the 1000 grit tomorrow see how that works

    i'll take any other suggestions guys
    95 Galant S ~> 5 Speed Manual

  20. #40
    was the buffer a high speed buffer/polisher. maybe similar to this one


    or was it similar to like one of these numbers


    the second one is a lower speed buffer. this is the type that most people have in their homes. the first one is used more by professionals since you can damage stuff easily if you don't use it right.

    but yea. if the buffer isn't that fast then you're gonna have to sit there longer buffing. the high speed buffers because of their high speeds are more agressive and get the job done quicker.

    just remember after each step (not including the wetsand), the headlight is supposed to be getting a little bit clearer. if for some reason it gets cloudier or duller then something is wrong

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