Scary Stuff!!!!
 

...taking sandpaper to the inside of the outer lens.

The inside of the lens was badly gouged and had some scratches and the only other option was replacement, so I went for it.

Wet sanding, 500 grit.

http://i875.photobucket.com/albums/a...photos/033.jpg

Wet 1000 grit.

http://i875.photobucket.com/albums/a...photos/034.jpg

Wet 1500 grit.

http://i875.photobucket.com/albums/a...photos/035.jpg

Wet 2000 grit.

http://i875.photobucket.com/albums/a...photos/036.jpg

Wet 2500 grit.

http://i875.photobucket.com/albums/a...photos/039.jpg

Foam bonnet and plastic polish.

http://i875.photobucket.com/albums/a...photos/041.jpg


Wash with warm water, Dawn dish soap, and clean fingertips only! No cloths or sponges.
Shake water off.
Flush with 90% or better denatured alcohol to rinse remaining water drops off.
Use canned compressed air to remove any lingering alcohol.

Fin...

http://i875.photobucket.com/albums/a...otos/042-1.jpg

Easily one of the scariest things I've done :eek:

wow. I wouldn't have ever attacked with 500 grit!

Was there a nasty scratch?

A gouge about 0.5-1mm deep! :eek:
Several, actually.

The headlight had suffered significant internal damage. The lens was only a small part of it.

nice job mate ,its one of those jobs that you never know the outcome till you start ,then after you've made the first rubdown you then have to keep going , no stopping half way through ,well done on a gr8 result

Charles,
Looks great!

Nice job.
What grit did you finish up with, or did you use 500 all the way through?

I wonder how the inside of a lens gets messed up like that? Car wreck?

Nice work, you are the master:cheers:

I've been buying wrecked or damaged headlights on eBay for parts.
This means I can use damaged lenses now, too ;)

I finished up with 2500 grit, then polishing compound, then straight polish.
Afterward, as I posted, the polish had to be washed off, but any type of cloth will just scratch it again, hence the warm water, soap, and fingertips only. Using alcohol and compressed air to flush out the water dries it with 0 water spots and no touching ;)

Thanks for the encouragement guys! :cool:
It was tough setting that sandpaper down for the first time...

Are you going to start selling completed units? If not, you need to. When you compare these to buying a set of stock Litronics, there is no comparison for those of us with the OEM halogens IMO.

That's the plan, Bruce.
A lot of people want the projectors, but can't go the 2-3 weeks without headlights, so I thought I'd convert a few pairs for those who just want the whole unit ;)

I think you are going to be very busy:cheers:

I already am!!! :eek:

Ok, I need to get off of here and get to work :D

You wouldn't ship Int'l by any chance? I've been playing the purist porsche type guy and hidden my crush for the angel eyes for too long ;)

I have a set here that could do well in a garbage can. Lenses were off for a few months and since a few people played with them. They are completely wrecked. I'll try your technique on a hot day here and see if I can rescue those.

If this works I'll report back to confirm that you have found the perfect combination of abrasive grits for lenses restoration!

Fred, if you only have light to moderate scratches, a foam bonnet and polish will do the trick ;)
Maybe some compound first if they're stubborn.

I should have said busier;)

Particle, you should apply a "Core Charge" model so when they get their new set installed and send in their old set they get the core charge back, and then you don't have to go looking for new headlamps on ebay and in theory the quality of the product should remain high because you will eventually be using other folks good lenses instead of ones from ebay that may be a little sketchy sometimes. You could also justifiably raise the price a bit as well if necessary.

The trouble would be the "core". Some would be in excellent shape and some, well, you get the idea.

Bruce, check again, the guy can bring them back from the dead almost.

Got ya now ;)

How does inside of lens get scratched?

Seems mostly unlikely.

My Litronic lenses are crazed. They look perfect until you turn them on. I assume this isn't reparable.

Car accidents, user accidents, etc.
Anything that causes pieces to float around inside.

One problem I've seen is people touching or trying to wash the inside of the lens during retrofit. This causes many fine scratches that can be seen extremely well with the headlights on.

Nice work! It is scary the first time. I remember the first time I wet sanded the hood on my old Red 986. Have you tried skipping past several of those grits. I find with head lights I can start with 600 and jump right to 1500 and then use a medium compound than polish. Of course I'm just getting rid of sun damage, you had a bad scratch.

Again great job!

Thanks Whip!
Yeah, I probably went overboard with the steps, but I was ascared :p

I'll be doing my rear bumper cover if and when I ever get caught up on retrofits. I'm really scared to do that, but nothing ventured, nothing gained!

I use the 3M headlight restoration kits with great success. if you never done this before use this kit with at least a very good drill. If you follow the instruction completely and to the letter you will have amazing results.

The key to this kit is the wet sanding P3000 Trizact disc.

http://japserviceparts.co.uk/media/c...on-system1.jpg

someone backed into me while I was parked and they ended paying for a new headlight, along with fixing the front bumper.
But the new headlight didn't match the old one because of the hazing. I've been to scared to try this myself. :o

As usual, Particle, I'm impressed by your work and educated by your post, nice job!

On the topic of headlight lens restoration, I noted FCP Euro strongly recommends the Sylvania kit, presumedly because it seems to be the only one (that I've noticed) that contains a "uv protectant remover spray." Can anyone with experience comment on whether this is beneficial when doing the outside surface of the lens? And does this layer need to be replaced after refinishing?

Thanks

Thanks BL! :D
I'm just really OCD and kinda crazy. ;)

I don't know about the spray, but sanding takes the UV coat off just fine.

Yes, if you strip the outside of the lens past the UV coat, a new UV coat must be applied or it will quickly yellow again. Buffing with compound or polish to reduce haze usually doesn't affect the coat much, but if sanding is required, that coat is gone.
I've been researching UV coating and curing lights and it seems Opti-Coat 2.0 is the way to go for long lasting professional UV protection.

Have you done any 996.2 headlights yet? How do you remove the lens.

These?

http://i875.photobucket.com/albums/a...77E73135B6.jpg


No, but I really, really want to! :D

Just a side note if you do spray a coating of clear or hard uv spray , there is no need to buff the plastic optically perfect before spraying. If I spray I just final wetsand with 1500 to 2000 before spraying.

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