Restoring Headlights with a Dual-Action Polisher


Thats the results that I have got from using a DA on my paintwork, takes time, but well worth it, and there is no way you will get that finish with hand. If your going to use a DA I would recommend that you clay bar the car first, you will be amazed at how much crap comes out of the paint, and you will get a better finish also. My car is like glass now, so smooth.

Again this works well on the headlights and give them a new life. I also dont agree that they will fade straight away. Not true, its probably several years of grime etc on them to cause that, why after several days of removing it would it suddenly appear again, just doesnt happen. As said, if you seal them with wax or similar then any grime that gets on them will wash off easily anyway.

To put this into perspective, I washed and clay barred a '08 Mini Cooper S and the amount of crud in the paint you wouldnt believe, for a car that has less than 5k miles on it. So you can imagine what will come off an older car. Once this is done then the car will stay cleaner longer and the dirt washes off so easily also. I hardly have to touch my car now, the dirt that does manage to attach to it just rinses off.

Any more help, drop me a line, spent a lot of time,money and effort doing this. Well worth the time/effort.

Dont get a cheap halfrauds DA, you need a decent one, like the Meguair one above, something that has variable speed.

Ben
 
my headlights def need done soon, they're far worst than the before picture, would a detailer/ valeter do this?
 
Good results. The headlights weren't that bad to start off with.
Came up great. I just done mines a couple of days ago using a da.
I use a rotary on headlights if they are badly hazed.
Sometimes even wet and dry them if they are really bad and to make them perfect.
I do detailing and any detailer will do your headlights if u asked.
 
worth investing in your own machine polisher really. i would reccommend the meguires gx220 for beginers. its easy to use and good results can be had from using it. also as stated before if your headlights are really scratched/hazed then its worth while sanding them down a bit using the finest grit sand paper. i usually use 1200 grit.
 
1200 isn't very fine. I stock 2500 and 3000 only really.
1200 is still quite rough and will take some amount of time to bring back up.
If your headlights are really bad then only and only then wet sand. It should be your last step.
I use unigrit paper from meguires.
 
tico_ek9 said:
in 2 months they will be back to ugly again!
Click to expand...

Not if done properly. The plastic has a protective coating to protect the headlight and this gets thinner over time until it goes completley and then the yellowing starts. As long as you apply a protective coat again once you're finished sanding and buffing it should last ages.
 
Good write up! They look the tits after the polish. ^^^ True. Ive buffed and polished mine awhile back and theyre still looking pretty good.
 
unless you do that regulary every 2 months, it's gonna be back again.

By poslishing you are removing the facotry applied's protective coats from the surface of headlights. Sealing with wax won't help unless you are using some after market headlight restoring kit which contains all the polishing and protective coat.

Another way to do that is seal it with lacquer.
 
I just tried restoring my headlight. I spent about 2 minutes on it and it's come up like new! All i did was scrub like hell with some farecla polish just to test if it worked and...IT DID lol :)
 
I did my headlights last year not long after i got the 9 and only now are they starting to go hazy again..

As for the megs g220, yeah it is a good machine but it is a little over priced for what it is..I use a kestrel DAS--6 and it is every bit as good as the G220,but only a bit cheaper...

This is the kit i bought

Clicky


here is a link to my headlight resto thread
 
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