@@klamup I definitely did. I didn't realize it was OK for the clear to not look perfectly smooth on the first pass. I never had anybody tell me that until I became an apprentice.
My favorite thing is when people are following a specific process and just go “Oh well I’ll just skip that step because I feel like it.” and then seems surprised when it doesn’t turn out right. The gulf between amateurs and professionals is simultaneously narrow and extremely vast.
I used one of those on my 02 Explorer. I was so impressed with the results. My headlights were so bad that the car looked like it had blindness, but now they’re clear.
My cerakote refinish for my 01 Audi TT lasted only 2 years before it now needs to be redone. Looked pretty good for a while but using 2k clear is the way to go
@@atrell2112 the lights on my Explorer are completely yellow again already. The oxidation and crust is still gone, so it’s still uniformly clear, but my headlights are piss yellow now.
I’ve done this on my friend’s car and it actually turned out perfect especially for the first time. His headlights were basically dark brown at that point which actually turned him down a bit but after a ton of pitches he agreed to try it out. A smooth wet sand with a nice clear coat and a pair of LED’s he fell in love with his car all over again. Has to be one of my proudest moments
In this state, you need 600 Vertically, 800 Horizontally, 1000 V, 1200-1300 H, 1500 V, 2000 H. Compound. Polish. Ceramic coat. OR Stop at 800 H and 2 layers of 2K clear coat, from a car paint shop. Boil some water, let it sit 3 mins, put the can in the hot-ish water. Do that till the can is warm, shake can for 1 min, helps with the orange peel and wont spray droplets. Isopropyl alcohol, tack, spray. NEVER start on the headlight, start on the plastic cover and pressing continiously do 1st pass - LIGHT, let it sit for 10 min, while waiting, warm the can again. Tack it, then 2nd pass clear coat, again from plastic cover, pressing continiously, go over the headlight HEAVY. Tip - Get a hair drier to evaporate the isopropyl alcohol quicker. Dont sand in all the directions, is vertically and horizontally! This one is just a MESS, make sure when you do this, is above 25°C outside and doesnt rain the next day, obviously dont drive the car that day, bugs will ruin the clear coat. Hope this helps anyone, i learnt the hard way, tried all sorts of steps/techniques.
Why sand Vertically with one then horizontally with another? Never heard of this before. I primarily work with Carbon Fiber parts, and rarely hand sand unless it’s in some tight spots or on rounded edges.
YUP, I USED TO OWN A DETAIL SHOP AND THIS WHAT I USED TO DO. QUALITY CLEAR OBVIOUSLY AND NEVER START YOUR SPRAYING ON THE SURFACE YOU WANT PERFECT. ALSO ONLY SAND NORTH TO SOUTH (FOR EXAMPLE) AND THEN WEST TO EAST DIRECTIONS BUT ALTERNATE PATTERNS IN BETWEEN DIFFERENT GRITS. OR YOU CAN JUST USE OFF BUG SPRAY AND THEY WILL COME OUT LOOKING 90% AS GOOD AS SANDING THEM
“A wise man learns from his mistakes and a better man learns from other people’s mistakes’ Thanks for sharing your experience so we can improve upon ours👊🏼
I use a 25$ 3m kit from Amazon, comes with all the different grits you need, and comes with a buffer with buffing compound to get the final mirror finish. Best part is they are drill wheel attachments so your hands don’t get to beat up doing it.
Done this myself, tips I can give you all are 1: use soapy water during the wet sand, especially if it’s a sunny day 2: when you spray give about 15-20 cm between the can and the car to avoid a finish like this 3: don’t even bother doing on a windy day 4: when you spray the clear coat, since you’re about 15-20cm off the headlight some spray will fly past so make sure your car is covered up out trash bags round the lights and an old sheet or tarp over the bonnet and windshield. As I said I done this to my lights and they went from yellow and crusty to brand new.
Best rule to follow when sanding/polishing is 1.5, when increasing grits below 1000 grit, never go beyond 1.5x the previous paper. Ex. Going from 200, don't go higher than 300. Once you hit 1000 it can be okay to double grits, so 1000 to 2000 will be okay, although if you can find grits in between, it will always be better to. My typical order in sanding anything is 80, 120, 180, 240, 320, 400, 600, 800, 1000, 1500, 2000, 3000... Starting or stopping where ever is appropriate. If you're missing a grit in between, don't skip it, unless it is a dire need project, wait. And if you're out getting supplies anyways, your final product will thank you for the extra stop at another store. I'm a watchmaker / weekend woodworker, both requiring high attention to detail, but I've found even little projects like this will thrive from that same level of attention
Honestly respect uploading a vid like this. We all start somewhere and ypur confidence is super helpful. Good luck to everyone who tries this themselves!
Didn't see anyone else mention this, but don't use denatured alcohol. You want isopropyl. Denatured has a ton of additives to make it taste and smell bad, which is probably what messed up your clear coat. I'll footstomp using 2k clear. It's way better and will last significantly longer. I also only went up to 800 grit when i did my headlights and they turned out fantastic.
I did the same exact thing! Cracked clear coat and all! Sure, my DIY job didn't come out too great, but it landed me a job as a painting apprentice. I've spent 8 years on my painting career and I couldn't be more thankful for ChrisFix and all other the other influences I had in my love of cars. Thank you!
I did the same with 1k clear coat. Came out with slight horizontal cracks but from more than a meter you dont really see anything. Overall the clearcoat ahould do a good job to prevent further damage do my BMWs headlights. Defs in a better state now
I just did this procedure to my headlights which were very yellow and foggy... Which is probably why I'm being recommended this video. Here is the ACTUAL best way to do this... I promise you by god, this is the absolute best way. 1. Wet sand with 600, rinse, repeat. 2. Wet sand with 2000, rinse, repeat. 3. Wet sand with 4000, rinse, repeat. 4. Polising compound on a sponge pad drill attachment at maximum speed. Rinse, Repeat. 5. Wax with a soft pad drill attachment on medium speed. Wipe excess wax off with microfiber towel. 6. Use UV protective film (NOT CLEAR COAT PAINT!) UV Protective film is easy to replace and will protect the headlights not only from the sun but also from scratches and debris. My headlights went from very foggy and yellow to looking practically brand new. Chris has many amazing videos, but his headlight video might actually be the only one that is genuinely not great.
Anyone doing this, pay attention to what's on the lens's surface. Some have worn clear coat on top of the plastic that's partially peeled off, spotty and may have cracks in it from shrinkage, etc. This clear coat is harder then the clear plastic underneath and takes more time to spot sand to remove before you get to the clear plastic lens for refinishing. I opted to put 3M clear paint protection film for longevity and low maintenance.
I recommend the 12-15$ 3m ultra restoration kit. It tells you what to do in the manual in great detail, as well. Only thing is you should have a chucked electric drill. My headlights turned out clearer than 190 proof ethanol 👍
For most people I'd recommend using the 3m brand for this and let a power tool do most of the work. It comes with low, medium, and high grit sandpaper, a buff pad, and polisher. The 3m instructions on the box are pretty informative, and there are plenty of videos using the 3m headlight kit.
Your right the sanding disk are perfect p500, p800 and trizact p3000, That's 3 steps, I have seen utube headlight restoration streams where people are using 6-10 sanding steps???I think for the secret in the sanding steps it's only the lightest of pressure and moderate speed, In other words let the disk do the work!! What impressed me more is 3M kit is they give at least 6 p500 to remove the worst oxidation + Old flacking Clearcoat!!!🤔👍
This isn't orange peel. He just didn't remove enough of the original headlight with the sandpaper first. He needed to cut in with the 400 grit much longer until its smooth and uniform.
Sand again with 1000, start spraying on the car then cross it ending the spray at the other side. Do not start the spray on the headlight. That's still fixable! Edit:I looking closer there's cracking in the clear.. get proper 2k clear coat please.. knock it back with 700 and repeat. Too fine of a sanding can make it so the clear won't latch on.
Griots Garage Ceramic Headlight restorer did it for me after using two terrible kits! And it leaves a protective hydrophobic ceramic coating behind which is awesome!
For some weird reason, with my old hyundai elantra it was basically cheaper to just buy whole new headlights.... The bulbs plus a kit and gloss would've been more than just getting the headlights. They came with bulbs too!
Been doing this for over 10 years now, best to just sand it like a normal paint job. No need for fine sanding as the paint will fill it in and you need a textured surface for the paint to grab onto. After you let it cure (harden over a few days) and you lightly sand it once more and give it a single thin coat it comes out smooth as glass without having to buff
Everyone cracks on about diy headlight restoration but honestly, I went to a professional detailer and paid them $150 AUD and they look way better than anyone's home job. It was definitely worth it. They are absolutely perfect and look brand new. Not 'brand new' that people say they look after diy jobs.
Same. I watched project farm's comparison and Sylvania was by far #1. I actually had to use some other sandpaper because the included amount wore out before finishing my admittedly incredibly sun damaged lights, but I doubt many other people had that issue. Super clear instructions written by someone who speaks English too!
I used a 3M kit the first time I refinished my headlights; came out very good but only lasted 18 months. (Including UV coat). This year I just used sand paper, then OOO steel wool, and sprayed with clear lacquer - came out similar to yours, but not complaining. Headlights are much brighter. Lacquer is cheaper and I have enough left over to do it many more times.
I like the fact this guy is honest about his mistakes and that he shows the screw ups that he's made. The only thing I can say is so long as you learn from the mistakes, they are ok to make. Try not to repeat them, and you can get better results. Try one of those "can handlers" because it stops the "paint curtain" you get from having your finger on the nozzle. Also, it looks like you didn't get the cleaner off completely before you hit it with the clear coat. It's all good though, because of the saying "you live and you learn"
I tried Chris's method twice, following his instructions exactly. Didn't work at all. Spent 5 mins on each headlight with an armourall headlight kit, which is a 2 step wipe, and they turned out great.
I recently did my headlights with Minwax Helmsman Indoor/Outdoor Spar Urethane clear gloss. Used a foam brush to apply One light coat after all the sanding. Looks like new and still holding like I did it yesterday. Really think you should give this a try.
That's about how long the sealant included in those kits tends to last in my experience. Take a picture (with a piece of paper laid across the housing to white balance) and keep an eye on it in case it starts to yellow again in the coming months. Hopefully they've improved the coating since then but if it starts to go hazy, catching it early and quickly touching up twice a year ain't that bad. New housings can get real spendy and aftermarket ones are always slightly worse than OEM in one area or another
I tried Chris' method on my sister's Honda Fit first then on my bro's Toyota Corolla (in prep for sale) and they came out great. Couple of things, though, the clear coat isn't necessary and also if you have a polisher and correct pads, you'll get better results. The clear coat is to make it more permanent but polishing after will get the same results and you could do that while polishing the rest of the vehicle.
I feel like if the head light glass or plastic is cheap enough I would buy that. But I also like redoing my 03 mustang headlights. They come out great it as long as u get the right stuff. Rims and clean headlights really make a car look better
@@djtrax909 And then when the clear coat dries and it has orange peel, you wet sand it with 2000 grit and buff it out and you get a perfectly clear surface that will last for years to come.
Using clear coat has it's disadvantages. It will look pretty good initially, but I found it will tend to yellow over time. I changed to simply wet sanding the lens face with 320 until all of the clear coat is gone. 400 for 3 minutes or so. 400 for 3 minutes more. 800 or 1000 for 3 minutes. 1500 for 3 minutes. 3000 for 3 minutes. 4000 for 3 minutes. The goal is to sand until the scratches from the previous sanding are gone, for me it was 3 minutes or so. When the sanding is complete and there are no scratches the lens will look slightly cloudy. Simply apply some rubbing compound and buff it off, rinse and dry. apply car wax, buff, rinse and dry. they will be perfectly clear without clearcoat paint to discolor over time.
My headlamps come out clear very simply. A good coating of PlastX by McGuire's. Let it haze over. Give a good buff and polish. Doing this twice a year meant that the 34 year old lenses on my 1990 Volvo remained clear. I replaced the Volvo with a 2004 Carolla, and after 3 treatments with the PlastX they are very nearly as good as new.
I did this and had the same result. The spider cracks are due to heavy coats or also not getting all the debris off the light. So then I took it to my friend at a body shop and he sprayed clear coat on them, now they look mint! Brand new
I bought the McGuire headlight revamp kit and it’s like 18-25 bucks. I’ve used it on 4 cars, and the first time I spent way too much time on prep like you did. Taped everything around the headlight to perfection, added trash bags around to cover the car, and they came out looking like shit because the sun was going down by the time I was actually working on the headlights and I was rushing to finish. The next time I added the tape, skipped the trash bags, and started with a lot more daylight allowing me to be patient with my moves. I’ve used it on 3 more cars and the headlights come out looking brand new everytime!!
I made this mistake too. What I found was sanding must be consistent. Its easier if you divide headlight into two or three parts and take enough time. Apply 2 or 3 coats of clear and buffing in between helps with irregularities
It’s actually the clear coat he used. Don’t use cheap parts store clear it’s a hit or miss I found this out over years. I’d spray one and it would fail everytime from the same bottle. But as soon as I’d use my paint gun with clear it would come out flawless on the same other headlight even though they were sanded the same. Don’t get me wrong I’ve had cheap aerosol work before but like I said every failure has come from aerosol for me.
I’d recommend popping the hood, it’ll make sanding and taping easier. I’d also go 600 - 800 - 1000 - 2000 and then spray. Looks like you’re on the right path either way.
Clear coat is the problem. I’ve been doing them on my car lot for years. Buff them with a mild rubbing compound instead of clear coating them and use a uv protectant on top to prevent further yellowing.
The thing is that the clear coat will peel over time due to the heat. So you have to reapply it. A car I bought had it done and I decided to just polish the headlights instead and now they look much better imo.
I have a few problems with Chris's tutorial with all due respect: 1. You don't necessarily need to sand your headlights to restore them. Sanding is subjective to the level of damage. Just buy a headlight restoration kit/cream first and see how much that'll take off if it solves your problem THEN try to sand. 2. The level of sanding paper is subjective to the level of damage on ghe headlight. You can judge that better with experience by if you're unsure, go HIGHER on the grit than you think you need (so, if similar damage to yours said start with 600, you start with 800). This is so you don't accidentally damage the headlights further by choosing a grit that is too much. If 800 is not doing it, then go lower. If it 800 is working but slowly, I'd say stick to it even if it takes longer. 3. Clear coat doesn't work as well as a atomizer vapor kit. Spend little extra money on your first time and olay it safe. You'll learn better and still be cheaper than runing your headlights.
One feedback I can give you is to do detailing works under a shade, like in your garage. Heat and direct sunlight just make detailing works so much harder.
I just never got the clear coat to work on any of the headlights. But a lot of sanding + rough + fine polish ALWAYS did the job and the results hold for longer.
I bought this 3M headlight refinishing kit off Amazon, comes with a polishing wheel that goes into a drill or impact driver, a few grits of sandpaper, and some polishing compound. It worked very well, using a drill instead of sanding by hand really speeds the process up. No clear coat though.
Ive detailed cars for many years. Wet sand the headlight with 2000 grit then 3000. Buff with a foam pad and a heavy or mid cut compound and they look brand new without getting discolored again. You can even put a sealant over top if you want like meguiars polyseal or whatever. Used to charge my clients $50 for both lenses takes a half hour.
All is good until the clear coat part. It needs to be designed for headlights. But the best thing to use is acetone base vapor with uv protection. Clear coats will always crack and is difficult to repair afterwards.
320 wet and dry paper to remove the uv coating You will start to see two layers when doing this Just keep going until the coating is completely off and one remains Follow with 400 and 800 don’t need to go higher because clear stick and covers 800 or 1000 scratches The more you go finer the harder for the panel and material to cross hatch clean with methylated spirits or prepsol plastic primer 1 or 2 coats Helps the clear stick to the plastic Just a extra method of insuring better binding Then use 2k clear the acrylic clear never really dries hard always remains tacky just lightly do the first coat and let that flash off for a min then apply 2 wet coats let 5 min in between coats If you start to bomb coats you will get runs
Pretty sure I just did the exact same thing with mine as well. Bought a used vehicle and it needs some small work here and there. But as you said, my headlights also do look a TON better than they did prior. But I’m pretty sure I also applied clear coat a little too close, a little too thick, and it was runny and windy so. I literally have the same cracky looking finish that you do 🤷🏽♂️ although I did use 600 grit and follow all the steps. The situation just was what it was. I’m told by another friend to just re-use the 2000 grit and then add some wax to it like Chris also suggested at the end of his video. My buddy said that’ll pretty much fix it.
You can also use acetone or fingernail polish remover, no sanding required, just make sure you use a cotton cloth and remove the excess VERY quickly from the headlight
Start with 1500 grit and wet sand evenly for 10m or so then move to 5000 grit and do the same. Then use a random orbital polisher with a cotton buffing pad and some wax and buff until it comes out clear. Did it to my car and it came out looking brand new
Use polishing paste instead of clearcoat and polish it by hand. But don’t use a hard polish. Take a softer one it’ll be more work but the finished product looks better. Afterwards you seal it a bit of clearcoat it’s way better that way in my opinion. But you did a good job 👌🏼
So little tip here if you have a car that sprays the headlights with wiper fluid, i reccomend you, disconnect the solenoid activating those sprayers otherwise your newly cleaned headlights will be yellow again in no time.
Tip. Use toothpaste not gel Spray headlight with water take some toothpaste apply a little then with a brush Using small circles rub over the lense let it stand a little dry then use a little more water And rub into lense then rinse it off And dry with a rag. Apply more water to remove remaining paste until off It works an is a lot cheaper than other Methods. Redo when needed
I did my little turn signals just like he did. My mistake is i used brake cleaner on the lens. So i resanded and cleaned them properly and clear coated them. They look great .
Bought a bundle pack of sandpaper on Amazon for $15, got a drill polishing kit for $15, and a big bottle of polish for $20. Took around an hour and now my Yukon’s headlights are crystal clear
People overthink this sometimes. You can wet sand with 2000 grit if the headlights are just almost 100% a different color. Most of the time, a buffer with a blue coarse foam pad & and a cut polishing compound will clear them right up. Just go slow over the headlights with 5 or 6 passes. Wipe your compound off and seal your headlights
Rubbing compound works too. It's not gonna be perfect, but it does work. And a lot of the times that fading happens in the actual headlight, but it can be wiped out with a microfiber and some kind of rod to wipe it off
just get the UV spray and spray it over the top of the headlight. there’s no need to sand it, that’s usually what caused the mistakes. the spray will eat the exposure and stick on just fine
i used to work at sam’s in the tire center, and i always hated doing the headlight renewals. it’s super time-consuming and tedious with all the surface prep. however, the kits we used did a great job, and it was basically made up of exactly what chrisfix said to use. sometimes you can even just use the 400 grit instead of both the 600 and 400 depending on how cloudy your clear coat is.
Two notes from someone who has done various versions of this a number of times. 1. If the opaqueness of the lens is more than just the surface, buy new light units. Just treating the surface is just cosmetic and the acrylic underneath will still weather and crack. After a few treatments, you will spend more tan buying a good quality pair of after market lights. 2. No matter how good the spray on clear coat, none you buy cheaply from hardware stores last more than a couple of months, so you will have to reseal them after a light sand as they will start peeling. Buy new light units. The best quick and dirty method I have used plenty of times is to thoroughly clean the lights, dry, clean again with isopropyl alcohol, polish with a ceramic stove top compound, clean, clean with iso again, and then finish with some WD40 on a rag, lightly rubbing on and leaving for a minute before buffing, or use a good mineral oil, or clean motor oil. Plastic being oil based is rejuvenated by the oils in those products. Lasts a few weeks, but is quick and easy to redo.
If you have buffing compound you can put some on a rag. Doesn’t make them as new but gets rid of the yellow and most cloudiness. Takes $5 min and costs $10 and doesn’t damage paint or anything so no need to tape anything off since it’s meant to be used on car paint
1) 1000 grit side to side sanding no water 2) 2000 grit wet sand up and down until previous sanding marks are gone 3) 3000 grit wet sand side to side until previous sanding marks gone 4) compound 5) polish 6) coating I’ve done this on several cars and it works every time, all you’re doing is removing the factory uv coating smoothing the surface out and applying a new uv coating. If you don’t want to sand it steps 4-6 get the job done but the results won’t look as clear or last as long
Wet 3000 it after wet 2000 and use a buffer and buffing compound on it.... worked at a body shop we did it all the time... just be careful not to get it to hot or you will burn it... tape the paint around your headlight with two layers of painters tape in case you hit the paint at all.... paint on the edges will become bare easily due to how thin it is on the edges... use buffing compound and buffing polish after and wipe gently after... wash excess compound off soon after or it will dry and stick to paint.... water based degreaser work great for removing buffing compound and polish
Use a spray can 2K clear if you want it to last as long as you can possibly get it to without having an actual paint setup. Also ditch the 2,000 grit. Wet sand with 800 and clear it for best adhesion, it will still come out clean in the end
Btw, Detailers are now just buffing and using a ceramic coating to restore headlights, it's quick andbeasy to eat through faded headlights with polish, and compound before polish if you have some tougher spots like mine did. The ceramic costing are used bc you can get 3-10 year ones, I believe there's a 5 and 7 year consumer grade (companies don't sell their "professional" grade ceramics without certification, requiring something like 5 years of detail experience), and people seem using it bc it doesn't look like crap, and once they do wear off, you can polish and repeat. They can take the place of clearcoat on headlights, and you could also do a light wetsanding to remove old ceramic if you don't want to give it a chance to fog the headlights after wearing off. It's far better than trying to find a clearcoat that won't crap out in the amount of time a consumer ceramic Coating does. FYI, when you apply and buff a ceramic coating, you have to trash the rags bc the ceramics crystallize and basically turn into micro shards of glass that'll scratch paint.
I just did this on my 3000gt, minus the clear coat. I went 220grit, 600, 1000, and finally 2000. I finished it off with Meguiars PlastX polish/cleaner. The trick is make sure you get all the deep scratches from the previous grit out before moving to the next. I had to redo 1 headlight for failing that. Also I removed my headlights instead of doing it on the car.
Don't use clearcoat, it will distort the light. After using a nice cut with the orbital, I just seal it with a headlight coating spray. Protects against uv rays, and your polishing job will look mint, minus the cracks (if you had any) in the headlight plastic itself. The current one I have been using is from Miguirs on 2 cars so far. Just like spray paint, don't let objects like dust, hair, etc. get in it until cure. The reason not to use clearcoat paint as after curing the paint naturally forums an orange peal look as factory coats have them too, to minimize scratching looks as car naturally over use will incure them. The orange peal bends the light more, decreasing its concentration on the intended course designed by the reflectors or projectors in your headlight.
Wow thanks for being honest about messing it up rather than blaming Chris fix. Personally I’m a strong believer in the Ammo NYC method of restoring headlights. Clear coat is less than ideal for plastic. There are actual anti uv headlight coating products you can buy that cost about the same.
I generally lay down a light coat of clear plastic adhesion promoter. Same used on plastic bumpers. And them apply two coats of 2 pack clear. They come out looking brand new and are good for the life of the car.
In my experience, this method works best with a flat nozzle and spraying in a linear motion with about 20% overlap. I'd been doing this for 2 years with this method, and the one time I tried it with a 360 degree nozzle yielded similar results.
Couple mistakes, yes start at 320-400 take it to 800 in steps. Light coats, use a 2k clear and allow about 10 mins between coats. 3-4 light coats should do. Also ambient temps plays a big roll in a good rattle can paint job. You don’t want to go all the way to 2k, the surface is to smooth for the clear to grab too. I found 800 a good place to stop.
Try cerakote headlight repair. It's basically as easy as what you did, but comes in a kit ready to go. Crystal clear headlights in 30mins. And the clear coat is wipe on - single pass, self levelling, hard to overapply...
For headlights in that state 1000-2000-3000 grit. Car polish with any kind of rotary tool and a polishing pad. They will look better than new. No need for a clear coat.
I used the 3M kit from my local auto store - had three grades of “wet and dry”, a 2000 grit polishing pad and a spongy Velcro thing to turn my drill into a sander/polisher. Kit included clear coat on a “baby wipe” - spectacular results for about $30.
I did the same thing with my car, and the headlights looked like yours, but with no cracks in the clear coat. My big mistakes were forgetting the isopropyl alcohol hand having one of the wrong grits of sandpaper. Regardless, I just left it as is because it was still better than my old yellowed headlights.
