good stuff...

 

Thanks, I used what I assumed to be similar to the Helmsman but I was wrong. It is Cabot Spar Varnish, don't use it. When I did the Eclipse it took close to 5 hours before the headlights were safe to touch. This was on a on sunny day, same thing happened to me on the Z, 5 hours. I tried this my RX8 the following day and it was horrible, the day was overcast and then the wind picked up which kicked up dust particles. Yes, you can see the dust stuck to the headlights.

Yesterday I was in Vegas and made it a point to head to Home Depot and I picked up the recommended Helmsman, The correct product is labelled 63200 on the shelf tag, which is Minwax's product number as well. In any case I am going to redo the RX8 headlights with the Helmsmans urethane. The Cabot stuff I'm assuming will last because the Z and Eclipse headlights feel smooth to the touch now that the product has fully cured. It's just messy due to the extended dry time.

Here is a link to the after of my 350Z headlights, I deleted the before pictures by mistake. The headlights were pretty bad and were deeply scratched from what I assume was a previous attempt to recondition them by the previous owner or someone he paid to do it.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?...1&l=758a31b27d

 

definitely need to do this on my 07 headlights

does anyone think its a good idea to even take this 1 step further by applying clear headlight films?

 

That's aweswome. Guys at the detail shop said there was nothing u can do about the haze coming back. Looks like the solution.

 

The chemicals that this involves, are they dangerous to paint?? (I asked because I obviously don't know) ... I know people tape off lights, and know you barely dip rag into the liquids, but should i be careful about hitting front bumper, fenders, whatever??? or does it not really matter, just wipe off and go?

 

I just did this to my car and I must say the results are fantastic. The plastic on my headlights started to peal over a year ago and I got sick of looking at it. It really looked bad and it needed to be done.

Here are the before pics. They don't show exactly how bad they looked. They look alot worse in person.









Here are the after pics.. They look brand new..

 

Has anyone done this without using a high speed drill? All by hand?

 

I did all mine by hand.. using 400, 800, 1500, and 3000 grit SP. Then cleaned up alcohol, and then apply other chemicals. Easy Easy

 

Same here, all by hand and the same grades of sandpaper.

 

I did this today by hand. when i bought my car the previous owner scratched the headlights trying to restore them. now they look like new.
Before

After

my sisters corolla before

After

 

sub'd

 

I restored mine 8 months ago.

I started off wet sanding at 600 grit, 1500, 2000, 3000 grit, then went to my big Makita buffer and hit it with some medium cut compound.

Finished up with some Meguiars PlastX and reapply Plastx every time I wash the car. I also apply the Meguiars Ultimate Black to the rear view mirror triangles to keep them glossy black.

So far looks good as new.

Before:




After (Passenger side at 3000 grit stage, Driver's after buffing):

 

ok, so i did this on my girlfriend's 05 corolla, but i didnt get a "smooth" finish :/ i sanded, cleaned, etc, and applied the clear with a sponge brush thing (that i picked up from home depot for like 50 cents). it took about 2 hours to fully dry, and looks great from afar, but when you get close, you can see the stroke lines anyone else have this problem? solution? its not horrible, but i'd love to be able to get a "like new" smoothness.

Nonetheless...
Before: (without sanding O_O)

After: cant see it in the pics, but brush strokes are present

 

the directions stated that you used a small folded up shop towel to apply the UV coating, so i would assume there lies your problem, try it again and follow the directions exactly and you'll end up with like new headlights

 

im trying this on my c/f hood.

 

My headlights aren't nearly as bad as some of the ones pictured, however the top portion of my headlights have gotten a lot of hairline scratches on them since I got the car. I'm thinking possibly from the car cover and occasional windy day? Would this work on that as well? I tried just using the Plastx stuff and was not happy at all with the results.

Also, I'm very nervous about taking sandpaper to my headlights, plus I've never wet-sanded anything before. Any words of wisdom to avoid potentially making them worse?

 

Wetsanding should be done in one direction, no circles! Start off with a 400 grit sandpaper, soak it in water until its soft and pliable. Again sand in one direction, often applying water to the area. The idea is to wash away all the material that you have just removed from the aurface with the abrasive.

Once satisfied you have all major imperfections out, repeat above procedure with 600 grit paper but your sanding strokes should be perpendicular to the last stage. Continue on to 2000 or 3000 grit paper.

After that you need to use some kind of rubbing or polishing compound to remove the 2000-3000 grit sanding marks. A spinning buffer works best, trying to make the buffing pad again move perpendicular to the sanding marks.

After that your headlights should looks good as new and its up to you for final treatment/sealing.

 

So has anyone experienced the longevity of this treatment?

The autogeek forum appears to be referring to problems with it wearing off with strong wash solutions or over time.

 

Gotta try this out

 

Did mine in the last weekend in Jan. and so far they have held up well. I only use meguiar's nxt for regular weekly washing and meguiars gold class when i am doing a polish and waxing. use a while you dry detailing spray that has gone on the lights and no issues with that either.