CapnHyaku Posted 5December, 2021 Report Share Posted 5December, 2021 I am trying to restore a pair of 996.2 headlights. I have twice gone through the following steps and still ending up with fine scratches at the end. The second time around I took longer on each step to be really sure I was not leaving scratches behind. 320, 600, 800, 1200, 1500, 2000, 3000, 5000 grit. Polish and buff. I am using 75mm discs wet with a drill pad. After each step and spray and wipe with a fresh clean microfibre cloth. Any tips? I am finding even at 5000 grit it is still too cloudy to see what step I have gone wrong. It looks OK from arm's length. But up close, I think they are 800 grit scratches still left behind. tomo 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomo Posted 5December, 2021 Report Share Posted 5December, 2021 8 hours ago, CapnHyaku said: I am trying to restore a pair of 996.2 headlights. I have twice gone through the following steps and still ending up with fine scratches at the end. The second time around I took longer on each step to be really sure I was not leaving scratches behind. 320, 600, 800, 1200, 1500, 2000, 3000, 5000 grit. Polish and buff. I am using 75mm discs wet with a drill pad. After each step and spray and wipe with a fresh clean microfibre cloth. Any tips? I am finding even at 5000 grit it is still too cloudy to see what step I have gone wrong. It looks OK from arm's length. But up close, I think they are 800 grit scratches still left behind. Pics did not work, 😢 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CapnHyaku Posted 5December, 2021 Author Report Share Posted 5December, 2021 29 minutes ago, tomo said: Pics did not work, 😢 How about now? tomo 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomo Posted 5December, 2021 Report Share Posted 5December, 2021 👍 CapnHyaku 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter M Posted 5December, 2021 Report Share Posted 5December, 2021 What are you using for the polish and buff stage? I've recently did a pair of Honda lens and had to spend a fair bit of time with my buffing pad using a paint swirl remover type polish to get good results. tomo and CapnHyaku 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomo Posted 5December, 2021 Report Share Posted 5December, 2021 As @Peter M has said a paint swirl, Cutting compound polish might be the answer. Good luck. CapnHyaku 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CapnHyaku Posted 5December, 2021 Author Report Share Posted 5December, 2021 1 minute ago, Peter M said: What are you using for the polish and buff stage? Macguires Plastx. Foam cutting and wool pad polish. 12 minutes ago, Peter M said: paint swirl remover type polish Which product did you use? tomo 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Posted 6December, 2021 Report Share Posted 6December, 2021 I actually used toothpaste and a lambswool polisher on a set of Mercedes headlights. worked a treat but took a while. My neighbour used a head light restore kit and hand polished the dullness out for his wifes mazda 6, also looks great. tomo 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter M Posted 6December, 2021 Report Share Posted 6December, 2021 9 hours ago, CapnHyaku said: Macguires Plastx. Foam cutting and wool pad polish. Which product did you use? Sounds like you are on top of it and maybe just need to persist a bit longer? I used Juice Swirl Remover because I had it on hand. However I was surprised how hard the plastic lens were and the time it took to achieve “clarity”. tomo 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CapnHyaku Posted 27December, 2021 Author Report Share Posted 27December, 2021 I gave up on the scratches. I did use a cutting compound to get the finer scratches out but some deeper ones were left still. They were not deep enough for a fingernail to catch, which was a metric followed by the guy at Repco as being not bad enough for the final 2K coat. So what I found is when I applied the 3M film I am using at the UV protectant, the scratches vanished within the adhesive of the film. Steve996 and tomo 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim45 Posted 27December, 2021 Report Share Posted 27December, 2021 Great result! I did mine by hand and every time I changed grit I just sanded in a different direction. Top to bottom, then left to right etc. Worked well. Did you source the 3M film locally? I'm about to do mine again and want to try it. Cheers Jim. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CapnHyaku Posted 28December, 2021 Author Report Share Posted 28December, 2021 Got the film from Paintgard.com.au Keep in mind the size of the 996 lights, you need a 50cm by 50cm peice of film. Start squeegee at the middle section between the fog and main light as there is a tricky set of shapes there to press into. The brilliant thing is it's so easy to take the headlong on a 996 out to work on it seperate from the car. TwoHeadsTas 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
911CSR Posted 29December, 2021 Report Share Posted 29December, 2021 You can use a headlight or plastic polish to finish off the lenses. Pelican Parts, FVD and Suncoast Parts all sell headlight films that you can get in various colours or clear depending on what you are looking for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coastr Posted 29December, 2021 Report Share Posted 29December, 2021 On 28/12/2021 at 10:27, CapnHyaku said: Got the film from Paintgard.com.au Keep in mind the size of the 996 lights, you need a 50cm by 50cm peice of film. Start squeegee at the middle section between the fog and main light as there is a tricky set of shapes there to press into. The brilliant thing is it's so easy to take the headlong on a 996 out to work on it seperate from the car. That’s why the fried egg exists. The Toyota experts brought in to fix production costs worked out how much time would be saved with a single light unit that went in quickly. CapnHyaku 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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