Used 3M headlight disaster and I have swirl marks everywhere. Looks like crap. Got all the flaky stuff all but horrible swirl marks. Not sure if I should try to re-do afraid
It may get worse or just bite the bullet and buy new headlights

 

Haw deep are the marks? Tried wax?

 

lol u fail just polish the crap out of them

 

I usually refer to this thread for detailing:
https://my350z.com/forum/cleaning-an...conquests.html
^^^so much win

You should also look into contacting detailed image
http://www.detailedimage.com/
^^^they are very knowledgeable and are active members of our forum. I'd hold off on buying new headlights...

 

pics or it never happened.

 

Anybody who has done it correctly can you please give me some hints or something

 

looks like you used a brillo pad on it....refer to the links above

 

I just drove up from Florida to NC for the summer. Since it's lovebug season, I had a mess when I got here. Spent the last 3 days buffing it out. While I was at it, I did my headlights. I used 3M rubbing compound, polishing compond, and wax with a porter cable buffer.

I would say from looking at yours to lose the drill and buy a good buffer.

 

It's your lucky day. I just did this two days ago and the headlight looks BRAND NEW and it now has a UV protective coating to stop it from yellowing as well. From what I can tell, you still have not even polished past the UV coating or still have some remaining. There should not be those little flakes near the edge in your pictures. Here's the DIY. And yes, you need a random orbital buffer and some different abrasive compounds after the 2000 grit sanding. If don't use one, you could probably get away with just the fine polish compounds and a rag but it would take forever by hand.

http://www.gpona.com/forums/do-it-yo...on-t18468.html

BTW, I'm to lazy to take pics of my lights and upload them but you just gotta trust me. I've been on this forum for 7 years.

 

I just did mine on Saturday. They came out just fine.

Do the 2 step over. I believe it was the white with the purple writing.
Then, wipe the headlight with a paper towel.
Soak the entire headlight AND the grey foam sponge pad they supplied very well with water.

The key was at that point I started to push down a tad bit harder on the headlight with the grey sponge foam pad and the polishing step as well.

Goodluck

 

Was there some kind of coating on your headlights? I've seen some bad headlights but I've never seen the spots like you have along the lower portion of your headlights. It almost looks like clear coat failure but there shouldn't be any clear coat on your headlights. It also looks like you are sanding in small circles. You should sand with 2000 grit one direction and 3000 grit in the opposite direction. You should be able to then polish them to perfection with the drill attachment.

 

I think it's just the top plastic layer is peeling off. You have to do some aggressive sanding in order to have a completely clean surface but you will have to protect it with something besides wax or paint sealant. engiNERD posted a link to the same method I do for my side job. I've got my thread here: https://my350z.com/forum/g35-g37/494...n-success.html and you can PM me if you have any other questions.

 

you might of not used enough product. but it is fixable if you buff it correctly

 

After all the suggestions I hit it a couple of more times with the sandpaper and then with Plast-X. Its coming around. I'm going to hit it again this weekend.

 

Looking good man!!!!

 

Looks a lot better. I just did mine over the weekend. Took me about an hour per side. You may have not spend enough time on step 2. But you seem to be coming along well. Anyone know of a good UV protectant?

 

same exact thing happened to me. i bought the maguiars extreme headlight restoration kit...made a tremendous difference, but now i'm gonna bring it to a body shop to hit it with some clear coat to fill in all the little imperfections....

 

Try Aerospace 303. You can buy it @ West Marine. It's what I use on my boat.

 

Thanks. Ill give it a try. West Marine is so expensive though

Edit- Looks you can buy it online though.

 

After polishing my wheels I felt the texture of my polish and said, "why not".
Used Mothers Mag Polish on my headlight covers and they look brand new. Waxed them and so far so good. MUCH cheaper than the headlight restorer kits