Civic Headlight Restoration Rayview

[RaysWay]

When you work at PBMG, everyone expects a level of gloss and shine on your vehicles. Since I purchased this 97 Honda Civic, friends, coworkers, strangers, and family members were not shy at pointing out the oxidation on my headlights. I had to endure two weeks of daily ridicule before I had the time to restore my headlights.



Enough was enough. It was time to polish them out. Here`s a before pic.



Drivers side closeup.



Passenger side closeup.



I decided to completely cut away the oxidation by sanding the headlights. I may have been able to restore the headlights by using a headlight polish, but I wanted to completely cut away all of the oxidation to ensure full clarity for as long as possible. I began by masking off the paint around the headlights. I used 3M Premium Automotive Masking Tape 48mm x 32m.



Then I opted to use a Griot`s Garage Professional Random Orbital 3 Inch Polisher. The small 3 inch polisher is a perfect size for sanding headlights. I added a Meguiars Unigrit 3 Inch Foam Interface Pad and started with Meguiars Unigrit 800 3 Inch Sanding Discs. I used a spray bottle filled with water to damp sand and used the 800 grit until I saw all of the yellowing had been removed.



Then I followed up with Meguiars Unigrit 1000 3 Inch Finishing Discs.



Then Meguiars Unigrit 1500 and finally 3M Trizact Hookit 3 Inch Foam Discs P3000 - 02087



To bring them back to full clarity and remove the 3000 grit sanding marks, I used Detailer’s All In One Headlight Restoring Polish on a FLEX PE14-2-150 Rotary Polisher with a 3.5 inch DuroWool 100% Twisted Wool Cutting Pad (coming soon).





For protection, I had an open bottle of GTechniq EXO on hand which is a perfect headlight protectant. I know it has tons of UV inhibitors (actually double the amount of UV inhibitors as GTechniq C1).



Who`s laughing now?





Slowly but surely she`s coming together. Thanks for reading!

Products used:
3M Premium Automotive Masking Tape 48mm x 32m
Griot`s Garage Professional Random Orbital 3 Inch Polisher
Meguiars Unigrit 3 Inch Foam Interface Pad
Meguiars Unigrit 800 3 Inch Sanding Discs
Meguiars Unigrit 1000 3 Inch Finishing Discs
Meguiars Unigrit 1500
3M Trizact Hookit 3 Inch Foam Discs P3000 - 02087
Detailer’s All In One Headlight Restoring Polish
FLEX PE14-2-150 Rotary Polisher
3.5 inch DuroWool 100% Twisted Wool Cutting Pad
GTechniq EXO

[Old Pirate]

Great review and work done there Vega! Now how bout that engine area?

[Angus]

Man that turned out great! Nice work Vega!!! Makes me what to drive civic down to PBMG just so I can learn from/ see your results in person. Whats your plan for the front grill? Mines pretty faded out too. I`m thinking BF Total Trim Sealant would revive it nicely.

[RaysWay]

Great review and work done there Vega! Now how bout that engine area?

Hahaha! I knowww! I actually ordered a new AEM Air Filter and my order was cancelled because it`s on backorder. So I placed a new order on Amazon. I already have oil, an oil filter, spark plugs, and spark plug wires. I want to give it a little tune up and clean the engine bay the same day this coming weekend. Engine bay detail rayview coming soon!

[kaval]

Nice job! Headlights look great. I need to look into those small sanding discs
Regarding the filter: Get a vibrant velocity stack and air filter!

[RaysWay]

Man that turned out great! Nice work Vega!!! Makes me what to drive civic down to PBMG just so I can learn from/ see your results in person. Whats your plan for the front grill? Mines pretty faded out too. I`m thinking BF Total Trim Sealant would revive it nicely.

Thanks! You`re welcome anytime Angus. I bet we would both learn from each other. About the grill, I actually plan on replacing the grill with a simple black mesh one. Then adding fog lights and a simple lip to the front bumper.

Nice job! Headlights look great. I need to look into those small sanding discs
Regarding the filter: Get a vibrant velocity stack and air filter!

Thanks. Those small discs make it super easy and they actually last awhile too. I`ll look into that filter option. Thanks!

[trashmanssd]

It`s about time!

[GettingStarted]

Yay, its been awhile since the last Rayview