headligh lens not buffing

[edean37]

not sure if this would go here but ill give it a whirl

I ready the howto's on restoring headlight with the wetsanding and the buffing

well i went a got 2000g and wetsanded my headlight lens

then i procceed and buffed it with Meguires plastx well to my surprise it didnt work

i tried little elbow grease, lots of elbow grease nothing, and its not like i dont know what im doin i have been doin body work for over 6 years

i dunno what the deal is i tried applying it and letting it sit, then wipe it off, i also tried taking it off right after i buffed it

it just still as dull i mean i got a little bit but still its yucky, ive used half a bottle so far with no results

im thinking somone had it apart before and tried cleaning it with some harsh chemical alsmot something like paint thinner

The body shop my car is at is waiting for this new headlight resto kit from 3m to try on it

Do any of u have any idears on what to do??

Cause on the howto's everyone is turning out with great results and im not

any advice would help

Erik

[MOMO]

iirc, those headlight lenses are relatively soft plastic which should be cleaned (not polished) using soap and water, just like camera lens.
or are you talking about the clear headlight housing?

[madcustomz]

i think hes talking about the housing and the only thing i can think of doing is taking them apart and using plastix on the inside to and see if that works

[kevxr2002]

I actually wasnt having much luck with the sandpaper so I went and got a nice rubbing compound from turtle wax. I applied serveral times as in probably about 4. After each time I used some plasticx on it as well. They still arent perfect but much better than they were with the sandpaper.

[kustomcougar]

when i did my girlfriend headlights with the sandpaper you could see the haze coming out in the water dripping down, so i dunno

[GTownCougar]

Use a coarser grit, 2000 is like notebook paper. I use 1500 IIRC and rubbing compound. Just use coarser grit and work your way finer, like with anything. Those headlights are pretty thick.

EDIT- Are you using an electric or pneumatic buffer, or just by hand? A power one works wonders.

[edean37]

well thanks for all the replies

i used hand at first then i used a little foam pad on a drill

but anyways the body shop used this new 3m headlight resto kit

it made it 100 times better then what i did with plastx

[matemorh]

How $$$$ is that 3M resto. kit??

[edean37]

no clue ill ask the shop what the kit costed

it came with buffing compounds and pads and a little air tool to apply it with

[2girls1fork]

I'm having some work done on my car (bumper, fender, headlight, door dent) and he said he can get them looking like new, and he mentioned using 2000 and then buffing them. He's an old timer who has been doing it since sand paper was just sand on a rock. I trust him, we'll see how it comes out!