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Headlight restore worth $982.00

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Old 03-25-2011, 11:54 AM
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Default Headlight restore worth $982.00

So I bought my car about a year ago now and from the start the headlight were destroyed, i have no clue what the previous owner did to them but it looked like someone took 60 grit to it. Terribly scratched. Before....
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Old 03-25-2011, 11:59 AM
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After...

People told me to just buy new one but i figured before I spent $1,000 on a new set spend $18 bucks on a restore kit. I bought the 3M headlight restore kit, well worth the money.

And before people start busting my ***** yes I know these are different head lights but I started working on the drivers side one before I took any pictures.
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Old 03-25-2011, 12:01 PM
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wow thats not bad at all, ive never been a believer of the "headlight restoration kits" but this may have just changed my mind, might have to try it. Great job!
Old 03-25-2011, 12:06 PM
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My second job is auto detailing and I have found that the Diamondite Headlight kit works excellent. Go to autogeek.net and read about it. They also have videos that explain in detail how to use their restoration kits.
Old 03-25-2011, 12:47 PM
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Nice job! Mine will need a buff job soon.
Old 03-25-2011, 12:53 PM
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Advance Auto sells a headlight repair kit that is awesome.. I never thought they were worth it until my girlfriends brother bought the kit and did it himself and it worked great.. I can't remember the name of the kit now, but its in a silver bag and its like 20 bucks or right around there. Everytime I get a new car and the headlights look rough that is the first thing I buy.
Old 03-25-2011, 01:49 PM
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Yeah, I have one of those silver bag kits at home right now. Doing a little searching online, it looks like the brand name is Symtech. I've used that kit, the 3M kit, and have just done it myself with some wet/dry sandpaper and some plastic polish. Any of the above work just great. The 3M kit is nice because it includes a drill adapter and so you can let the drill do more of the work.

This isn't the greatest pic, but here's what I did on my Subaru years ago, I think with the Symtech kit.
Old 03-25-2011, 01:50 PM
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Wow that did an amazing job, I tried the Mequires kit on my Grand Cherokee, it was worthless.
Old 03-25-2011, 02:56 PM
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Originally Posted by jcollege
Wow that did an amazing job, I tried the Mequires kit on my Grand Cherokee, it was worthless.
I have used the Meguires on a few cars and it works well. I have a Grand Cherokee too and it worked terrible on it! I found out the corrosion was actually on the inside of the lense...go figure.
Old 03-25-2011, 03:28 PM
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Being a detailer, using 1500 then 2000 grit... buff up with some megs 105 and good to go!
Old 03-25-2011, 03:42 PM
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Originally Posted by SoJersey05V
Being a detailer, using 1500 then 2000 grit... buff up with some megs 105 and good to go!
The kit I used started with 500 grit and I went through about 12 pads on one headlight trying to get it smooth. I would have been there for a month if I started with 1500.
Old 03-25-2011, 04:24 PM
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I tried l the restoration kit, and it was nice... For a while, but in the end it was mor worth getting them painted and cleared then wasting more time restoring them, and still having the ugly gray border
Old 03-25-2011, 04:25 PM
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Are the headlights clearcoated or something? Those "before" pictures look a lot like clearcoat checking/failure.

Nice job cleaning them up!
Old 03-25-2011, 04:29 PM
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Originally Posted by aurora40
Are the headlights clearcoated or something? Those "before" pictures look a lot like clearcoat checking/failure.

Nice job cleaning them up!
No clue what the previous owner did to it. They have been like that for a year but never got any worse. It isn't flaking like paint or clear coat but literally like someone took 60 grit to it, deep scratches in different directions.
Old 03-25-2011, 04:47 PM
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Originally Posted by bbrown7888
No clue what the previous owner did to it. They have been like that for a year but never got any worse. It isn't flaking like paint or clear coat but literally like someone took 60 grit to it, deep scratches in different directions.
That's how mine are starting to look too. Its just normal wear.

I'll need to do the same touch-up work you did. Nice job.
Old 03-26-2011, 01:53 PM
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Just ordered the Diamondite deal. Hope it works!
Old 03-26-2011, 07:19 PM
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Originally Posted by bbrown7888
The kit I used started with 500 grit and I went through about 12 pads on one headlight trying to get it smooth. I would have been there for a month if I started with 1500.
thats why you used 12 pads on each because u started with 50 grit, id maybe start with 800 if it was really bad... anything less is for primer sanding...

on occasion you can megs 105 with a surbuf r series pad and be done, no sanding

if you know what you are doing and have the right products its simple, fast, and easy to do
Old 03-26-2011, 08:18 PM
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500 grit, not 50. then it went to 800 then wet sanding with 3000 grit and finally a polish. just saying 1500 is way to fine to start with based on how deep those scratches were.
Old 03-28-2011, 10:39 AM
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Thanks for the heads up on this. I did the same thing over the weekend, and I am really pleased with the results.
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Old 03-28-2011, 03:49 PM
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^^ Beautiful!


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