Sanding foggy lights....blemish marks remain

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
Jan 24, 2007
Messages
450
Location
LBP
I'm currently in the process of restoring a set of pitted & fogged up lights I pulled off a parts car. Ive come across a weird blemish in the lens that is apparent on both lights. I'm not sure if this is on the outside or inside of the lens. If on the outside could it be my sanding technique? or possibly just a heat wear mark from the bulb on the inside of the lens over time? I usually start off with a 600/800grit depending on bad they are, and then move on to wet sanding with 1000grit, then 2000 in a crisscross pattern followed by M105/205 using a DA w/cutting pad.

IMAGES HERE
 
Last edited:
Yes definitely seems odd. We did the sanding technique on dad's fogged up lights. Last 4 years before fogging again.

It was too much work vs buying new lights.
Water sanded them using same steps you did.
Then buffed the headlights
Then applied 3M clear coat to them

Never again.
 
I bought the Mother's power ball kit to use on my 01 Forester and 06 Odyssey. I had the same thing on mine; it took more sanding with the lowest grit paper disc until all of that roughness was gone. It took a long time but it finally all came out.
 
YouTube has a guy doing it with Mothers aluminum polish and a buffer..looks pretty good but if your after perfect maybe cheaper to just replace.
 
Those headlights are pretty jacked up. If sanding by hand, keep sanding. This is why I always use a machine when sanding headlights. They can take a long time to fix, and many times will never come perfectly clear.
 
Looks like one of the lamps exploded. I've seen that on a few cars, we just empty out the pieces and maybe wash out the inside of the housing, left dry and put back in service.
 
Originally Posted By: FastEddie
Those headlights are pretty jacked up. If sanding by hand, keep sanding. This is why I always use a machine when sanding headlights. They can take a long time to fix, and many times will never come perfectly clear.


What type of machine are you using? Polisher with a hook and loop sanding pad?
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: 03cvpi
Looks like one of the lamps exploded. I've seen that on a few cars, we just empty out the pieces and maybe wash out the inside of the housing, left dry and put back in service.
Yeah I think the inside is a heat mark after looking it over further. Unfortunately I can't access the inside enough to clean it out.
 
The only way I ever get good results is to sand the hard coating off, and well into the soft plastic. With the ever finer paper method mentioned above.

Then buffing with a Blue Point/Snap on 3 inch detail buffer and Flitz. Coat with wax afterwards. I don't clear coat them, as my last clear coat attempt eventually had degradation under the clear, that needed to be sanded and buffed.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top