MegaTRon

I followed the youtube vid that is posted on wetsanding and clear coating the headlight but mine turned out really cloudy when i sprayed the clear coat. I believe the humidity caused this so I wet sanded the clear coated and used a Dewalt rotary at 1800-2000rpm (orange buffing pad) with meguiars 105 ultra cutting compound to get them clear. I can still see some haziness in certain parts of the headlights around the perimeter (looks like the foggy clear coat) and microscratches. Any recommendation on a compound and buffing pad to get the headlights like new again?? I've been working on this for a week now and cant seem to get it back to like new condition.

redwing497

Unfortunately I can't really help you but this is why I've been hesitant to clean up my headlights with wetsanding and buffing. From what I've read, Once you do it, they'll yellow again in no time due to the clear coat being stripped. With that said, can you wetsand again and, instead of using a spray, use something like 3M Paint Protection Film? Just curious, did you buy a headlight restore kit? Trying to figure out which ones are decent.

mswitz88

In most cases you can clean up foggy headlights with a compound then a polish and wet sanding isn't really necessary. If you already wet sanded, my guess is that you may still have deeper scratches remaining from coarse sanding grits. If the cloudiness you are seeing is in the corners of the headlight, you may just not have fully sanded out the oxidation or buffed out the sanding marks with your compound for fear of catching the paint. You can mask off the paint and compound those areas by hand if you can't get in with a buffer. If you bought a headlight restoration kit, I would start over and follow the kit instructions and make sure not to skip any grits. Sand with one grit in a east-west direction then the following grit in a north-south direction until you can't see any of the previous east-west scratch marks from sanding. Once you are done with wet sanding, use a compound like the 105 on either a microfiber cutting pad or an orange foam pad then follow that with a polish like meguiars 205 on a white foam pad. I usually finish with a durable paint sealant like Klasse High Gloss Sealant because it's long lasting but you need to reapply it to the headlights regularly (as often as you would the paint) after you sand off the factory clear. There are specific headlight protectant sprays too that are supposed to be more for that purpose but I don't have experience with those. As long as you are diligent about the sanding process and even more diligent about putting a UV inhibiting sealant on them afterwords, you shouldn't have any issues with cloudiness. If you do get lazy with sealant application after the fact and they cloud up a little, just repeat the compound/polish steps and reseal. I have made some pretty cloudy headlights crystal clear without needing full wet sanding.

Here are some before and after pics that I did for a friend with the compound/polish/sealant technique. It was mid-winter here in upstate NY and temp was about 20 degrees which wasn't ideal for this process but I still got pretty good results. He is 4 months removed from this now and they are still crystal clear.

MegaTRon

Do you recommend wet sanding with 1000 grit then 2000 grit and finally 3000 grit? Then buff it out with the meguiars 105 and then 205? The majority of the headlight is crystal clear except for the outer edges that are still a little hazy. I can snap a pic later tonight. Thanks for the help!

Oh is it okay to just seal the headlights with carnauba wax?

I didn't use headlight restoration kit. I followed the DIY posted on the forum using the wetsanded method then using a uv protectant, non yellowing clear coat spray can but from what I've read the humidity cause the clear coat to not dry properly.

mswitz88

Preferably I try not to wet sand where possible. If it's just on the edges try masking off your paint and getting in closer with the buffer and 105 then 205 and see if that clears it up. If that isn't enough then you'll have to wet sand first (probably 2000 then 3000 will be sufficient) and repeat the compound/polish step. The coarser the grit wet sanding you use to start off, the more you need to get out with finer grit sanding. Always try to work from least to most aggressive.

I wouldn't recommend carnauba wax for that purpose. Carnauba is for deep gloss and shine but generally only lasts a few weeks from a protection standpoint. Invest in a durable paint sealant (I like Klasse High Gloss Sealant as previously mentioned). For paint purposes, you put the sealant down first then you can add more gloss and shine with a coat of carnauba over the top of it.

Hope that helps.

MegaTRon

Thanks for the help. I can still see micro scratches when holding a flash light to the headlight. You have any tips on buffing these out?

__S2KGPWCR__

I recommend using Meguiar's Plastx. I use it after every wash and has kept my headlight looking new for the past 8 months. Yes, I also went through the headaches of cloudy headlight.

mswitz88

Just like paint, when you compound and polish the headlight you may still have some of the "deeper" scratches left over. You can try re-compounding and then polishing. My guess is you might not have worked the compound or polish in long enough for it to fully remove all the defects. This is a common mistake that people don't let the polish break down and really work into the paint/plastic. It may also be remnants of deeper sanding marks that weren't fully removed with the next sanding step. Without seeing you perform the restoration or seeing how deep the micro scratches you are talking about are, I'm kind of blindly throwing darts.

wadzii

on bad ones like that we usually wet sand with ~2000ish grit till you have a nice even haze over the whole headlight then spray good quality automotive clear coat over the head light in 2 or 3 fairly light coats. Once the clear cures the headlight should come out nice and clear. If you used good clear coat it will also protect the plastic from becoming hazy again.

if you just buff and wax it, they will yellow again pretty quickly.

MegaTRon

That makes sense. It is my first time using a rotary/polisher/buffer. I have the dewalt dwp849x and set the rpm at 2000 with the meguiars 105. I might going too fast around the headlights cause im scare it will burn the plastic. Do you use any time of lubricant on the buffing pads with the meguiars 105?