To sand or not to sand headlights

S

sanguissaevus

New member
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?
 
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.
 
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!
 
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?
 
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.
 
sanguissaevus said:
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?
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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.
 
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?
 
SWETM said:
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.
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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.
 
sanguissaevus said:
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?
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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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
ShakingHorizons said:
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!
Click to expand...

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.
 
I’ve been using Megs microfiber cutting pads with CGs V32 (bought it before I knew it was terrible) on my Rupes mini. I get nice clear lenses on my old Mazda truck without sanding. I’ve got some Megs headlight clearcoat that I’m going to try out soon. I used some leftover CQuartz the first time and got about 6 months use out of it. I’m hoping for 12 months from the Megs headlight clearcoat. I should probably just buy new headlights but I’m cheap. Lol.
 
Wow! Bunch of replies since I last checked. Lots o good info. Thanks. Yall have convinced me just a compound is good to go. I just wanted to be sure I wasnt crazy because if enough people say you are you then start to believe it. I read and watched so many how tos on this amd all said to sand so I thought i must be missing something. I like the results so im stickn to it. Im sure it is needed in more extreme cases but not this one.

Ive used opti lens thus far but all reports say it only lasts a year (i havent been able to testify to that cause i keep selling the cars too quick to find out its longevity). I watched some vid where a guy used Rust-Oleum 249117 Painter`s Touch Multi Purpose Spray Paint, 12-Ounce, Clear, and was curious to try it. He mentioned it orange peals so Id have to knock it down probably if i tried this. Anyone tried this? Is it foolish? I havent tried any of these "ceramic" coats. They sound like opti lens.
 
FWIW, I can`t recall *ever* thinking anything made by Rustoleum was All That. I wonder how the UV protection of KBS`s Diamond Finish Clear is....I don`t know but stuff like that is in a whole `nother league than Rustoleum IMO.
 
Most of the clear consumer grade spray paints yellow pretty bad if outdoors 24x7. If someone knows of one that doesn`t, bring it on!
 
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