Headlamp Restoration Success
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 8,842
Likes: 1,700
From: Illnoise. WAY downtown, jerky.
Any 1K clear will not work long term.
Joined: Jun 2018
Posts: 2,116
Likes: 671
From: Connecticut :(
Beautiful job, looks fantastic! With these cars aging and BNIB becoming discontinued, this seems to be the best course of action and the results can yield damn near like new headlights.
Curious; is there a point to going any finer than 10k grit before clear is applied? I see some people asking, as well as some resto videos I've seen where they go all-out with a DA buffer and cut & polish before applying clear and polishing again. I see you didn't and they still look amazing.
Realistically, wouldn't the clear coat fill all of the scratches and imperfections in, as well as having something to adhere to on a non-polished surface? I'd imagine any polishing should be done after a few days of applying clear for the best results. I see no need to do so beforehand, but I am farrrrr from an expert when it comes to this stuff.
About how long did this process take you? I have a set I need to restore, and I'm most likely just going to remove them from the car and do them by hand. I'd imagine I can just spend the day at my leisure sanding them down grit by grit and then get some clear on by the end of the day. I also heard that 2k clear doesn't play well with polycarbonate lenses, but that's the point of specific 2k just for headlights. I'd definitely go with an epoxy 2k clear over 1k. And then either UV-resistant PPF or ceramic coating applied to the lenses after polishing the clear.
I'd definitely do this over buying new headlights or trying to swap lenses with eBay lights. The only time I'd consider swapping lenses is if they started reproducing just the lens, a venture which has never panned out for us. Again, nice work!
Curious; is there a point to going any finer than 10k grit before clear is applied? I see some people asking, as well as some resto videos I've seen where they go all-out with a DA buffer and cut & polish before applying clear and polishing again. I see you didn't and they still look amazing.
Realistically, wouldn't the clear coat fill all of the scratches and imperfections in, as well as having something to adhere to on a non-polished surface? I'd imagine any polishing should be done after a few days of applying clear for the best results. I see no need to do so beforehand, but I am farrrrr from an expert when it comes to this stuff.
About how long did this process take you? I have a set I need to restore, and I'm most likely just going to remove them from the car and do them by hand. I'd imagine I can just spend the day at my leisure sanding them down grit by grit and then get some clear on by the end of the day. I also heard that 2k clear doesn't play well with polycarbonate lenses, but that's the point of specific 2k just for headlights. I'd definitely go with an epoxy 2k clear over 1k. And then either UV-resistant PPF or ceramic coating applied to the lenses after polishing the clear.
I'd definitely do this over buying new headlights or trying to swap lenses with eBay lights. The only time I'd consider swapping lenses is if they started reproducing just the lens, a venture which has never panned out for us. Again, nice work!
Joined: Jun 2009
Posts: 3,689
Likes: 21
What do you mean "borderline"? (I've used PPF on about 6 cars over the last 20yrs..not one has hazed over).
Joined: Jun 2009
Posts: 3,689
Likes: 21
Joined: Jun 2009
Posts: 3,689
Likes: 21
Beautiful job, looks fantastic! With these cars aging and BNIB becoming discontinued, this seems to be the best course of action and the results can yield damn near like new headlights.
Curious; is there a point to going any finer than 10k grit before clear is applied? I see some people asking, as well as some resto videos I've seen where they go all-out with a DA buffer and cut & polish before applying clear and polishing again. I see you didn't and they still look amazing.
Realistically, wouldn't the clear coat fill all of the scratches and imperfections in, as well as having something to adhere to on a non-polished surface? I'd imagine any polishing should be done after a few days of applying clear for the best results. I see no need to do so beforehand, but I am farrrrr from an expert when it comes to this stuff.
About how long did this process take you? I have a set I need to restore, and I'm most likely just going to remove them from the car and do them by hand. I'd imagine I can just spend the day at my leisure sanding them down grit by grit and then get some clear on by the end of the day. I also heard that 2k clear doesn't play well with polycarbonate lenses, but that's the point of specific 2k just for headlights. I'd definitely go with an epoxy 2k clear over 1k. And then either UV-resistant PPF or ceramic coating applied to the lenses after polishing the clear.
I'd definitely do this over buying new headlights or trying to swap lenses with eBay lights. The only time I'd consider swapping lenses is if they started reproducing just the lens, a venture which has never panned out for us. Again, nice work!
Curious; is there a point to going any finer than 10k grit before clear is applied? I see some people asking, as well as some resto videos I've seen where they go all-out with a DA buffer and cut & polish before applying clear and polishing again. I see you didn't and they still look amazing.
Realistically, wouldn't the clear coat fill all of the scratches and imperfections in, as well as having something to adhere to on a non-polished surface? I'd imagine any polishing should be done after a few days of applying clear for the best results. I see no need to do so beforehand, but I am farrrrr from an expert when it comes to this stuff.
About how long did this process take you? I have a set I need to restore, and I'm most likely just going to remove them from the car and do them by hand. I'd imagine I can just spend the day at my leisure sanding them down grit by grit and then get some clear on by the end of the day. I also heard that 2k clear doesn't play well with polycarbonate lenses, but that's the point of specific 2k just for headlights. I'd definitely go with an epoxy 2k clear over 1k. And then either UV-resistant PPF or ceramic coating applied to the lenses after polishing the clear.
I'd definitely do this over buying new headlights or trying to swap lenses with eBay lights. The only time I'd consider swapping lenses is if they started reproducing just the lens, a venture which has never panned out for us. Again, nice work!
I'm guessing you don't realize that the OEM S2k headlight beam pattern and brightness is one of the best ever on any car. Don't swap with eBay junk.
Joined: Jun 2018
Posts: 2,116
Likes: 671
From: Connecticut :(
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post