My headlights were moderately scratched up. I wanted to know how to make them look new and found a threat here. I did not follow the instructions and used the wrong sandpaper.


Materials used: 150 grit sandpaper with soap and water. Immediately my headlight got worse.
I continued using the sandpaper with soap and water. Most of the scratches are undone but the headlight still looks hazy even though I tried using Mother's Plastic Polish.
I’m thinking if I start all over again with the correct sandpaper, maybe it will get better.

Any suggestion?

 

OMG! do you know how rough 150 grit is compare to grits in thousands?
I would consider 600 to be too rough to work on headlight, and let alone 150!
Go to AutoZone or PepBoys and get some 1500+!! You definitely need to start over again.

 

yyyyeaah you used a sandpaper that is more than 3 times as rough....no wonder you still have scratches (i think you may have made it worest). it will be better to use the 600 for a longer period of time, meaning use a lot, then slowly go up as the instructions say....also pics would help.

 

Go get 800, 1500 and 2000 grit and get ready to sand a lot...

You are going to have to work them out the correct way.

 

Hahaha i did the exact same thing. I cleared my blinker lenses and then used 100 grit for approx. 5 min. on one headlight. It looked like hell. I couldnt even see the inside of the headlight at all after putting Mothers PlastX on it. Dont worry, you can get it all out. It took a lot of work and 2 wet sands and most of the scratches are all gone. I used 600, 1000 and 2000. Theres just a little bit of haze left. The untrained eye couldnt tell the diff. Im gonna wet sand again and get it all out. I was scared shi'tless when i first did it though. Be persistent, get a nice shoulder workout and youll get em all out.

 

I would go even more gradual than that - if 150 was used, I'd go 300, then maybe even 450, THEN 600 onwards. So that you're working on a consistent surface.

 

Wonder whos going to be the first to sand a hole through their headlight.

 

I should have never touched the headlights in the first place. Driver side is still very hazy. I'm not sure what to do even though I emptied almost the entire bottle of Mother's Plastic X. I think I'm going to have to buy new headlights.

 

Its hazy still because of the deep 150 grit scratches ,which wont get polished out by the plastic x.Ive never wetsanded plastic but Ive done plenty of wetsanding on clearcoat.Get some, I would guess 800 grit, sandpaper and
wetsand all the deep scratches out.Once those 150 grit scratches are sanded out with the 800 use some 1500 grit to get the 800 grit scratches out.Then move on to some 2500 grit to get the 1500 scratches out.Afterwards those 2500 grit scratches should come out with the plastic x.

Its a gradual tedious process but as long as you got plastic left to polish,meaning you dont sand a hole through the light, its repairable.

 

I was looking at trying this to my headlights. But whenever I went to get sand paper, I asked them about wet sanding headlights. Everybody I ask thought it wouldn't work and that it would ruin my headlights.

I also have a lot of moister in my headlights that I want to get rid of. The only way I read you could do it was by "baking" the headlights to break the seal and then cleaning them and then re-sealing them.

Any suggestion or ideas?

Thanks

 

I have a strong feeling that your method may work.

 

I have brand new headlights. THANK YOU.
I did what you said and it worked flawlessly.

What is your name?

 

Youre welcome.