Headlight Restoration Shop?

[quincyb11]

Hey guys! I've searched and I could not find a thread about this.

Are there any shops in Calgary that do headlight restoration?

I would do it myself, but from now until the new year I am going to be really busy, and I'm leaving for Toronto on the 1st of January for 6 weeks. I would like to get this done before I leave.

Anyone have any suggestions??

Thanks!

[rc2002]

What do you mean by restoration?

If your headlight lenses are plastic (I assume it's for the 99 ek hatch in your profile) and are getting cloudy because of scratches, any body shop (and most detailing shops) will be able to wetsand and powerpolish them for you.

Prices will differ so I would call around and get some quotes if I were you. Detailing shops might be the best bet as I bet the body shops are pretty busy with collisions right now.

[Eken9]

Do you mean your headlights are clouded??

http://www.autodetailingsolutions.co...astX_small.jpg

Try meguiars plastx. My headlights were clouded like no tomorrow. All I did was put it on the headlight and took it off. Made it look brand new without any sanding. You can use it with a lot of plastics, great stuff.

I had sanded a pair of headlights in the past and it took out the blemshes but when you do that it's taking off clearcoat from your headlights. Yes it will look new, but it will be clouded more frequently. I've heard of people just spraying clear after sanding.

Edit: If we meet up I'll bring you mine and you can try it out

[quincyb11]

Originally posted by richardchan2002
What do you mean by restoration?

If your headlight lenses are plastic (I assume it's for the 99 ek hatch in your profile) and are getting cloudy because of scratches, any body shop (and most detailing shops) will be able to wetsand and powerpolish them for you.

Prices will differ so I would call around and get some quotes if I were you. Detailing shops might be the best bet as I bet the body shops are pretty busy with collisions right now.

Originally posted by Eken9
Do you mean your headlights are clouded??

http://www.autodetailingsolutions.co...astX_small.jpg

Try meguiars plastx. My headlights were clouded like no tomorrow. All I did was put it on the headlight and took it off. Made it look brand new without any sanding. You can use it with a lot of plastics, great stuff.

I had sanded a pair of headlights in the past and it took out the blemshes but when you do that it's taking off clearcoat from your headlights. Yes it will look new, but it will be clouded more frequently. I've heard of people just spraying clear after sanding.

Thanks alot guys!! The headlights are plastic and yes from a 99 civic. They are getting a bit cloudy not too bad but there are a bunch of light surface scratches that I would like to get removed... I dunno, just anal like that. If I can find the time I will do it myself, its not hard at all... just time consuming which is the issue right now.

I'll give a few places a call, get some quotes and see what I come up with. Obviously price won't be an issue as long as the job is done right!

Thanks for the input guys, very much appreciated.

And Eken9 I will be in contact with you with regards to Saturday.

[bighead2267]

sorry to jack your thread.
any suggestion how to clean inside the headlight. i think there is some marks from condensation inside the headlight(cheap aftermarket lightbulb didn't seal properly).


thank you

[sr20s14zenki]

The easiest way to do your headlights, and its going to make you cringe, i know. Start with 800 grit, then 1000 grit, then 1500, then 2000 grit, running water over it the whole time. Theres lots of tutorials about it. Then use megiuars plastc-x as mentioned, squirt it on, and do swirls all over with a rag. I did this to the headlights for my s14 that came from japan. One was yellow, the other was scratched to shit. They look new now.

[crez]

It stupid easy to do yourself, just use a compound same as you'd use on your paint of the car. You can even sand as course as 400 grit if you do it right.

[Cooked Rice]

Go to Princess Auto. They sell a headlight restoration kit by Permatex, same company that makes liquid gasket of all sorts. Its like $8-9

[sneek]

400 Grit sounds like a bit much. I think you might be talking about a different 400 grit. IIRC 3M uses some weird system such that 400Grit = 2000 Grit

http://forums.beyond.ca/st/222557/fu...on-headlights/

[JZS_147]

i used 3M trizac 1500 disc on my orbital sander, wet sanded it, then just polished it up with the powerball, looks great

[BlackArcher101]

No, 400 grit isn't too much. Hell, I start with 200 grit on mine then end up at 2000 grit in 5 stages. By the time I get to the Plast-X, it's nearly clear by itself. With the plast-x it's like glass.

[crez]

Totally true it doesn't matter what you start with, as long as you end up fine enough. The coarser the grit the more defects they will take out, and look even better.