Cheap fix 12 very ugly headlights
Posted: Tue Jan 19, 2021 3:07 pm
There is already a good post on treating the mild UV damaged headlights but this post is aimed at the really bad ones and fixing them long term. 
I remove them from the car and wet sand them first with 400 grit sandpaper keeping the headlight wet then I move up to the 600 grit . During the sanding process you will want to change directions to try to keep from making low spots. Then 1200 then finally 2000 grit. On the last sanding you want to go horizontal to try to Deter runs. Now wash the headlight down multiple times with rubbing alcohol and paper towel while the headlight is wet with alcohol you can look into the plastic to see what it will end up looking like once it’s clear coated. 2K clear coat
is what you want to use going on eBay at $20 a can. It has a Hardner in it that must be activated before use. It is supposed to be used up within 48 hours of activation. My experience with it is you’re lucky to get that time before spray turns crappy and no longer layers on the surface correctly so I try to use it up when I open it.
One can will do five or six pairs of headlights. That’s with giving them three coats. You want them to be wet coats but not heavy. If you do happen to get a run in it, you’re better off to let it dry for a week before wet sanding and buffing it. This is the after shot of the same headlight in the first picture.
They can be wet sanded with 3000 grit and then polished but I was happy with how they looked after spraying.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk I wanted to update this post. I now sand them with 600 grit and I still use the clearcoat. I find that the clearcoat needs a little bit of roughness to stay attached and it’s just a whole lot faster. Typically when your headlights aren’t too bad, they can be sanded in about five minutes each. I recently finished a pair of headlights that were the worst ones I had ever seen. They were so rough. You could feel the cracks with your fingernail. If they were just a common headlight, like a Camry I would’ve just thrown them away. That’s not the case with a kizashi part . Sometimes these headlights used in good condition are $200 plus each. Anyway I thought I’d give it a try on fixing them. Here is a picture of when I started with them.
I used 325 grit and then finished with 600 grit. I limited myself to 10 minutes a headlight. This clearcoat method made these junk headlights quite usable and nice looking now.
This clearcoat is now costing around $20 a can. It must be used up in a couple days after opening . It is two part clear. I can do 10 pairs of headlights with one can though, so basically with the sandpaper and the clear it isn’t costing no more than three dollars of material to fix a pair of headlights. This method lasts a year or two before it starts to chip away. They can be redone.
I remove them from the car and wet sand them first with 400 grit sandpaper keeping the headlight wet then I move up to the 600 grit . During the sanding process you will want to change directions to try to keep from making low spots. Then 1200 then finally 2000 grit. On the last sanding you want to go horizontal to try to Deter runs. Now wash the headlight down multiple times with rubbing alcohol and paper towel while the headlight is wet with alcohol you can look into the plastic to see what it will end up looking like once it’s clear coated. 2K clear coat
is what you want to use going on eBay at $20 a can. It has a Hardner in it that must be activated before use. It is supposed to be used up within 48 hours of activation. My experience with it is you’re lucky to get that time before spray turns crappy and no longer layers on the surface correctly so I try to use it up when I open it.
One can will do five or six pairs of headlights. That’s with giving them three coats. You want them to be wet coats but not heavy. If you do happen to get a run in it, you’re better off to let it dry for a week before wet sanding and buffing it. This is the after shot of the same headlight in the first picture.
They can be wet sanded with 3000 grit and then polished but I was happy with how they looked after spraying.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk I wanted to update this post. I now sand them with 600 grit and I still use the clearcoat. I find that the clearcoat needs a little bit of roughness to stay attached and it’s just a whole lot faster. Typically when your headlights aren’t too bad, they can be sanded in about five minutes each. I recently finished a pair of headlights that were the worst ones I had ever seen. They were so rough. You could feel the cracks with your fingernail. If they were just a common headlight, like a Camry I would’ve just thrown them away. That’s not the case with a kizashi part . Sometimes these headlights used in good condition are $200 plus each. Anyway I thought I’d give it a try on fixing them. Here is a picture of when I started with them.
I used 325 grit and then finished with 600 grit. I limited myself to 10 minutes a headlight. This clearcoat method made these junk headlights quite usable and nice looking now.
This clearcoat is now costing around $20 a can. It must be used up in a couple days after opening . It is two part clear. I can do 10 pairs of headlights with one can though, so basically with the sandpaper and the clear it isn’t costing no more than three dollars of material to fix a pair of headlights. This method lasts a year or two before it starts to chip away. They can be redone.
