I just wanted to make a seperate thread...for all those who been gettin cloudy headlights becuz we tried to wetsand/polish them...

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=443410

theres the original thread on it...last week I attempted to take on this project...I did exactly what the instructions told me to do....it didn't seem like rocket science...so I went for it...results turned out to be cloudy...and I mean, REAL cloudy....

I stepped up and this time...went 400-600-800-1000-1500-2000 grit sand papers...I also went 5 minutes each for EVERY grit....the results were much better than the 600-1000-2000 grits...headlights became more clearer...I buffed it using my random orbital and terry cloth bonnet....came out much better...but i'm still having problems...check out the pix





Today I went out and bought some Mothers Plastic Polish....someone said that it helped him rid of his cloudyness (after he wet sanded and polished)....so i try it out, and to my suprise, didn't change a thing...I'm extremely pi$$ed cuz I spent so much money...only to get results WORSE than what I started with....any help would be appreciated!

 

i hear ya man, im gonna buy that damn mothers powerball and try taht cause headlights are kind of hard to get at with a buffer while they are on the car.

 

I actually had them removed when I did the job...

I would have gone with the PB by now...but you know what, I don't have the money for a PB and a 3/8th drill at the moment...I blew away $35 worth of products tryin to get this thing cleared out

1. 6 grits of sandpaper (400,600,800,1000,1500,2000) $3 a piece
2. Meguiars Scratch X $8
3. Mothers Plastic Polish $7
+sales tax for each

a PB will run me $20 something at walmart...then who knows how much a 3/8th drill will be ...i'll see if i can just borrow one

 

i hear ya, mine are slightly cloudy too after the wetsanding its driving me insane. i figured if the pb doesnt work im gonna just wait until i can get a good buffer

 

it's just driving me absolutely crazy...!! anybody in here was in the same situation I was? what did you do to fix this?

 

Idk man, maybe you went to long and aggressive on the low grit, and not enough on the high grit. I think your best bet is to go back and wetsand more, and then use the polish. You have probably hazed your headlights too much using the low grit paper that the polish isn't aggressive enough to take out. Just go back and wetsand somemore, and it *should* take care of some. And if that doesn't work, go up another grit.

Edit...wait man...you used the plastic polish with a generic random orbital? To be honest, you're probably not getting the full potential out of the polish if that's the case. Put soem elbow grease into the polish, and it should at least be better than RO procedure.

 

Thanks for the reply...I used both elbow grease and a random orbital for the BOTH polishes (scratch x and mothers plastic polish)...it didn't make a difference whichever route I went...I put some extreme amounts of pressure, or go lightly, and the cloudy-ness would still be there...

I dunno man...i've wet-sanded THREE times...yup, three times over and over...to be honest, i've probably wetsanded 5x all together....first two times were the 600-1000-2000 route...and the last 3x were the 400-600-800-1000-1500-2000....the first route was absolutely terrible....the cloudyness was REAL BAD.....when i added more grits, it became alot better...but still cloudy...

It seems like my polish isn't strong enough...like, everytime I apply some, it becomes super clear...then it fades away like 1 minute later and goes cloudy again....the other people in the other thread said my tool needs to be stronger....like a mothers powerball...what can ya say about this?

 

noo casue i only used 2000 grit with soap and water and tha shyit is cloudy'rrr then drews

 

Wow...haha, well, I don't really know then. I have no experience with the powerball, so I can't comment. People have seemed to like it. Sorry I can't be of more help - free bump

 

you cant expect to take out the marks left from sandpaper, even 2000 grit, with a random orbital polisher and this "scratch x" - whatever the ghey that is.

get a rotary buffer, wool pad, and some heavy compound. if you dont feel comfortable not burning the plastic, bring it to someone who does. wetsanding plastic is ultimately like wetsanding paint. its going to take a hi grit cut to take out the scratches, which are even more noticeable on a transparent lens.

i buy xenon and high line headlights from swap meets and refinish them for profit. usually i just use 1000 on deep scratches, and 1500 on smaller scuffs, then jump right to a wool pad and compound. 7-10 minutes and i am done.

 

At this juncture, I would recommend getting the full Novus kit to remove the haziness. Novus has a three step kit that will get rid of the cloudiness. In fact, I am going to order it for my gf's Neon with yellowed headlights.

 

hey steven, i had the same problem, as you know, and at first, it seemed like the mothers powerball helped a lot, but it turned out that the haze came back the next time i washed my car...i talked to tom (bluesbrekr) at maxus and he told me to get a more abrasive pad for my PC (if you don't have one yet, get one..they're awesome)

i went to autopia and ordered this pad:
http://www.autopia-carcare.com/son-daspad-or.html

when i received it, just for good measure, i re-wetsanded it and hit it with scratch-x with that pad....they're perfect now! I wish i had the charger for my camera so i could take pics, but i don't....

If you do happen to go this route (not sure if you're going to just go out and buy a PC because of your hazy headlights) don't start with the 400 grit like you did before...1000 is fine and work your way up to 2000....also, i'm not really positive, but it seemed like using soapy water helped a bit....good luck!

 

we used #0000 steel wool and 3m fine rubbing compound. From your pics, it looks as if ours came out just as well.

 

thanks colin...i'd appreciate the help...dude, we gotta meet up for sure when you come down...i mean, i just wanna get this problem fixed...and forget the rest u know? I'll eventually get a PC down the road...but right now, I'm broke as a joke....

 

+1 on novus. bit pricey, but a quality product.