MEGUIARS Medium Cutting Compound [oxidised headlight restoration]

[tiksie]

Just throwing up this review since I recently cleaned up my headlights after putting it off for a while.

My headlights are have a dull/yellow look to them, I'm guessing due to being plastic and the heat from the HID's wouldn't help either. It's just oxidisation after a long period which is seen on a lot of cars.

I've seen plenty of cars suffer the same thing, so I thought I'd give this a shot.


http://vimeo.com/34190181


Equipment used:

800 Grit wet/dry sandpaper
1200 Grit wet/dry sandpaper
MEGUIARS Medium Cutting Compound
MEGUIARS Swirl/Scratch Remover
Bucket of water

How it currently looks:
http://i.minus.com/jWm0U7S6C3fJ9.jpg
http://i.minus.com/jbxAJRlPEQTiYH.jpg

Some of the products I used (didn't use the turtle wax though, will do it after I get Plastx):
http://i.minus.com/jbbtK5Ue4dDWwu.jpg


Started off by sanding the back the headlight to remove all the excess crap on it.
[NO IMAGE] Quite self explanitory. (check out the video if required)

Then simply wiped on some MEGUIARS Medium Cutting Compound:
http://i.minus.com/jKnOVTledXfoF.jpg


Let it haze and simply buffed it off:
http://i.minus.com/jbuTHOtYgwCmUi.jpg
http://i.minus.com/jbbDJYUIoEWrOZ.jpg

Still not good enough..

Applied another layer of the cutting compound to go over it again:
http://i.minus.com/jKnOVTledXfoF.jpg

Buffed:
http://i.minus.com/jbgu45iBjRFoWL.jpg

Looking a bit better.

Then applied the Swirl/Scratch remover (not that I needed to, a polish would have been better but I didn't have any lying around.)
http://i.minus.com/j91Gjs5x3JZ0R.jpg

Buffed:
http://i.minus.com/jupBIscUCmKH2.jpg

That's a bit better. But can still get better with better products.

The reults will be much better with a plastic polish such as:
http://www.meguiars.com.au/images/products_shots/G12310_large.jpg

But I didn't have any and most shops were closed today so the swirl remover played the role of polishing and it didn't do a bad job either!

See the difference for yourself:


BEFORE:

http://i.minus.com/jWm0U7S6C3fJ9.jpg
http://i.minus.com/jbxAJRlPEQTiYH.jpg

AFTER:

http://i.minus.com/jQvbuNTWaNzVo.jpg
http://i.minus.com/jupBIscUCmKH2.jpg
http://i.minus.com/jbjC6Den1VZAHQ.jpg


I'm sure there are other products you can use, but if you are tight on a budget, you can use any cutting compound/polish that you have lying around. Most of the work is done when you sand it back.

All in all, not bad for 10 minutes of your time for each headlight.

[r3ckless]

Nice dit as always dude. And that trtle wax is great for the car too imo!

[Newtype]

Nice DIY, how much and where did u get the products from?

[JDM-EGG]

nice aytac !!!

[tiksie]

Nice DIY, how much and where did u get the products from?

Cutting compound was $19.99 from memory from supercheap auto, swirl/scratch remover was around the same price.

Keep in mind that it would be cheaper to just get PLASTX which is currently $19.99 from SCA and you will get better results, guaranteed.

[TGW92]

Nice DIY, results turned out quite nice....

There are also quite a few kits available to do just this...

Turtlewax offer a headlight lens restoration kit which I've used; sandpaper pads, spray lubricant to use with sandpaper (basically water), a strong plastic polish, and a 'lens sealer wipe' to stop contamination from returning for one year...

Permatex also offer a similar kit: sandpaper, plastic polish and a very good flannel wipe to use with the plastic polish.

Turtlewax kit is about $29 from supercheap, Permatex kit is around $31. I have used both and both do a very similarly good job... The turtlewax sandpaper pads are longer lasting (ie you should be able to get a few cars out of them) and the sealer wipe seemed to work pretty nicely...

After both I used Meguiar's PlastX (as recommended by the OP) and it worked very nicely as well, although I will definitely have to consider using an orbital polisher as it is simply too hard to get rid of the very last bits of oxidation by hand...

Great thread, I hope I helped a little with my input....

[tiksie]

Thanks for the input TGW92, definitely helps me and others following the same path to restore their headlights.

To add, an orbital buffer DEFINITELY helps and brings out much better results (and faster!).

[CKL2]

Nice job mate. I'm looking into getting an orbital buffer. Can you tell me what you have and what you think of it? Cheers

[aaronng]

Thanks for the input TGW92, definitely helps me and others following the same path to restore their headlights.

To add, an orbital buffer DEFINITELY helps and brings out much better results (and faster!).

You are supposed to apply the Meguiar's medium cut compound with the orbital buffer and work it in with multiple passes until you get some dusting. Then you wipe off the residue with a microfibre cloth.

Applying it by hand, letting it dry and then buffing off does not do much, hence the poor result that you got.