To sand or not to sand headlights

[sanguissaevus]

Ok, so I have completed about 8-10 sets of headlights sanding and polishing playing with the system everytime. Im just a car enthusiest not a pro. Regardless, i tried something new to me which was skipping the sanding entirely and doing what I usually do on my paint...DA with orange pad and Meg 101. I planned to also use 205 with white, again, like I do with my paint, but it looks damn good with just 101! So, basically it took 5min or so to get all the yellow and haze out and now Im thinkn, why ever sand at all???

So, i feel dirty right now by skipping the sanding, but all that hand sanding now looks to me like a beating in a box for minimal return. I mean, i get that it gets the little rock dings out and the deeper scratches, but after looking at the good solo compound results it makes those look trivial and begs the question, why sand at all? After all, if the lense has crows feet or anything else that sandpaper cant even get out, then they will never look perfectly new.

Maybe its cause I hand sand? Maybe I upgrade to sanding with power so its not such a chore? Or do I accept my results as shinier-than-normal mediocrity?

[tropicsteve]

a clear lens is a clear lens, i don`t think it matters if it`s from sanding and polishing or just polishing. sometimes the severe frosting requires sanding first, but i like it when i can just one or two step polish and skip the sanding. once the initial protective coating is gone, they all will degrade again unless protected.
btw, welcome to AF.

[ShakingHorizons]

Joined 6 years ago and this is your first post? Wow, lol.

In my 18 years or so of detailing, I`ve only had one set of headlights that required sanding. Microfiber and heavy cutting compound on the worst of them worked incredibly well. 205 is where I start and only go to 101 5% of the time. Follow with a high quality polish and finish with Feynlab ceramic for long-term results!

[sanguissaevus]

Interesting. Everything I read or watch, they always sand. Glad to hear im not crazy for thinking its not always needed.

Oh, i dont post much in forums because i usually just poke around to gain knowledge and most subjects have already been touched upon. Thanks for the replies. Good info.

That said, why is it most posts and videos I find always start with sanding? Am I just not searching well enough? Are they all just covering worst case scenarios? Are they all perfectionists trying to get every last scratch out? What am I missing?

[glen e]

I`ve done six or eight sets and I`ve never sanded. I use a flex rotary, a hybrid foam pad, rubbing compound, and then Meg`s 205. They always come out perfect.

[Setec Astronomy]

That said, why is it most posts and videos I find always start with sanding? Am I just not searching well enough? Are they all just covering worst case scenarios? Are they all perfectionists trying to get every last scratch out? What am I missing?

The ones that I`ve sanded had partially failed factory coating, where there is an area where it transitions from coated to uncoated which is very rough. So I`ve had to sand off the remaining factory coating to get a uniform surface.

[SWETM]

I think that the thought is to sand through the factory coating. So you either can apply a uv resistant clearcoat or a ceramic coating that last you a long time. When the factory coating starts to fail it still does it if not removed completly. And after just compound polish the longevity of either you do is not so long and needs to be doing all over again rather soon. If you get through the factory coating and start over with clear plastic and either uv resistant clearcoat or a ceramic coating you are not going to do it over the next couple of years.

How is the longevity when compound polish and protection where done?

[Setec Astronomy]

If you get through the factory coating and start over with clear plastic and either uv resistant clearcoat or a ceramic coating you are not going to do it over the next couple of years.

Ha...you people at high latitudes. I`ve only used Opti-Lens, but it needs to be redone every year for cars that are outside. Maybe DLux or another coating would last longer, but for me it`s almost not worth coating, since you have to polish them so soon anyway.

[dcjredline]

McKees headlight polish. Since using it I havent had to wet sand. Try it you may find the same thing.

[Accumulator]

Interesting. Everything I read or watch, they always sand. Glad to hear im not crazy for thinking its not always needed...

That said, why is it most posts and videos I find always start with sanding? Am I just not searching well enough? Are they all just covering worst case scenarios? Are they all perfectionists trying to get every last scratch out? What am I missing?

Welcome to (active posting on) Autopia!

Beware of "info" on the internet, as it often deserves those scare-quotes.

And remember that people want what *they* put on the internet to be special, so aggressive processes and seemingly miraculous results (in no time!) are kinda par for the course.

So IMO what you`re missing is....that the vast majority of such stuff on the internet is bull. Sorry if that sounds like a rant or if I`m otherwise being offputting, but you just have to be *so* careful about such stuff.

Your first post tells me that you had it all figured out with regard to whether you needed to sand (you figured out easily enough that it wasn`t necessary), but allowed [stuff] on the internet to make you second-quess yourself.

Consider what we`re discussing here- Sanding is just another version of polishing. If you`re willing to put in the time do do something gentle for hours you basically *never* have to sand anything...abrasion is abrasion, some forms are just more/less aggressive than others. Heh heh, there are sandpapers that are much *less* aggressive than some compunds!

Regarding the now OK-looking headlights, if the oe UV protection is compromised, you`ll have to replace it with something.

[ShakingHorizons]

How is the longevity when compound polish and protection where done?

5 years is the longest I an attest to - everyone else has sold their vehicles and I`m not able to track them anymore.

[Accumulator]

Wonder how well a quickie approach like using OCW will keep (aggressively corrected) lenses from clouding up again...works fine on the ones I`ve compounded/etc. but my vehicles aren`t out in the sun for very long.

[Dan]

This stuff isn`t really rocket science. You`re cutting the surface to make it smooth again. If the surface is rough or you don`t have a good polisher, then yeah, sanding is great. If you get the results you want only from a single polishing step, you`ve found a winner.

[RANGERBAY]

There are times you have sand, and times you don`t. The condition of the lenses will dictate the procedure. I just tried mckees on a Mercedes, but couldn`t get the lenses as smooth as I want, so did a multistep sanding and polish, and that`s what it took. No one process will work everytime.

[DaveT435]

Joined 6 years ago and this is your first post? Wow, lol.

In my 18 years or so of detailing, I`ve only had one set of headlights that required sanding. Microfiber and heavy cutting compound on the worst of them worked incredibly well. 205 is where I start and only go to 101 5% of the time. Follow with a high quality polish and finish with Feynlab ceramic for long-term results!

I`ve got some I`m working on right now that I had to start with 500 grit. Someone obviously put some kind of varnish or something on them. And if course they are Range Rover headlights so you have two raised areas that overlap and make another small edge where they overlap. Good thing this is just part of a much bigger job.