s3/a3 headlight restoration-GPK method

[gpk_gti]

hey guys,

whoever in their right mind thought having plastic headlights was a good idea(obviously so we can ripped off replacing!)...
the headlights were heavily oxidised and I did try DANS method,but my arm nearly fell off after 2hrs on one side,and the results were not that good tbh.

I did notice the headlights had a slight film,whether that is a clear coat from factory or someone has had a go repairing them im not sure,but there was blotchy patches that was the hardest to get rid of.
http://i951.photobucket.com/albums/ad360/yiorgok/s3047.jpg

http://i951.photobucket.com/albums/ad360/yiorgok/s3048.jpg

So I went to bunnings and bought a ozito DETAILING sander $36
and all I could find in fine sand paper was 400grit $4.50 and a pack of bosch abrasive foam pads which fit the sander $8
http://i951.photobucket.com/albums/ad360/yiorgok/s3050.jpg

so,obviously its better to mask off the headlight and cover the engine bay to stop your wax flying around everywhere(as I found out on the first side)
http://i951.photobucket.com/albums/ad360/yiorgok/s3046.jpg
http://i951.photobucket.com/albums/ad360/yiorgok/s3045.jpg

place the 400 grit paper on the detail sander and with light pressure sand the whole headlight.
http://i951.photobucket.com/albums/ad360/yiorgok/s3049.jpg
http://i951.photobucket.com/albums/ad360/yiorgok/s3052.jpg
make sure to go over well with the 400 as thats the grade that will remove most of the blemishes and damage.

I couldnt find a finer grit paper that has the velcro stuff on the backside so I used superglue and glued it to my finer paper.
http://i951.photobucket.com/albums/ad360/yiorgok/s3054.jpg

http://i951.photobucket.com/albums/ad360/yiorgok/s3051.jpg
put some pressure onto it after glueing and cut away.
I used paper from my jewellery workshop but im sure you can use any brand.
I used 1200,1500 and 2500 to finish
http://i951.photobucket.com/albums/ad360/yiorgok/s3053.jpg
use each grade untill you start to not see the deeper marks from the 400 grit.
http://i951.photobucket.com/albums/ad360/yiorgok/s3057.jpg
http://i951.photobucket.com/albums/ad360/yiorgok/s3059.jpg
and finally I used the bosch foam pads on the sander.

[gpk_gti]

http://i951.photobucket.com/albums/ad360/yiorgok/s3056.jpg
on my first headlight I just jumped from here to polish and the result wasnt as good,so I used 1500grit paper DRY first and then used 2500grit paper WET and the results were much better.
http://i951.photobucket.com/albums/ad360/yiorgok/s3060.jpg
http://i951.photobucket.com/albums/ad360/yiorgok/s3062.jpg
you will notice after slight pressure when using it wet the residue goes milky as its removing the marks.
http://i951.photobucket.com/albums/ad360/yiorgok/s3063.jpg

after drying with a towel,
http://i951.photobucket.com/albums/ad360/yiorgok/s3067.jpg
http://i951.photobucket.com/albums/ad360/yiorgok/s3066.jpg
http://i951.photobucket.com/albums/ad360/yiorgok/s3069.jpg
http://i951.photobucket.com/albums/ad360/yiorgok/s3070.jpg
look closely and make sure you cannot see any scatches or marks,if so take a step down in the paper grade and go over it.
fianlly I used a 3m sandpaper which is like a type of fabric,sorry im not sure where I got it but its such a fine paper id say its over 6000+grit,when I use it on gold it hardly does anything but used wet like this it really buffed it up perfect!
http://i951.photobucket.com/albums/ad360/yiorgok/s3071.jpg
should look like this after dry,
http://i951.photobucket.com/albums/ad360/yiorgok/s3072.jpg

[gpk_gti]

then finally I used the MOTHERS powerball $70 and meguiers PlastX $15.
The powerball you can use on other applications so it wasnt so much of a waste of cash!!
http://i951.photobucket.com/albums/ad360/yiorgok/s3073.jpg
dont put too much pressure on the ball and make sure you have enough stuff on it.I placed the polish on headlight first and used the ball to rub it around first.
I started off using medium speed first and built up towards the end using highest speed which was about 3000rpm.
http://i951.photobucket.com/albums/ad360/yiorgok/s3075.jpg
http://i951.photobucket.com/albums/ad360/yiorgok/s3079.jpg
keep checking your progress and if you find a blemish that you missed(like I did,see above shot) use the 2500 paper dry on the spot and then continue with your polishing.

http://i951.photobucket.com/albums/ad360/yiorgok/s3076.jpg
http://i951.photobucket.com/albums/ad360/yiorgok/s3077.jpg
http://i951.photobucket.com/albums/ad360/yiorgok/s3078.jpg
http://i951.photobucket.com/albums/ad360/yiorgok/s3085.jpg
http://i951.photobucket.com/albums/ad360/yiorgok/s3083.jpg


my results are not perfect as I think the polish used after the final paper should be more gritty.I might try a cutting compound on the weekend and post the results up then.
This is obviously a more expensive method than others on the net,but it took about 3 hrs for both headlights and that was with alot of screwing around and going backwards and forwards in the steps.
also my arm felt alot better than other methods!!! hehehe.

happy to answer any questions or any advice for a quicker&easier way!!

[XXX-1.8T]

looks great George good work!

[gareth_oau]

would look even better with a cupra lip attached to your front end!!:_b:

[gpk_gti]

heheh:_b: I KNOWWWW!!! but the wife drives it weekdays to ferry kids and you need truck clearance for the girls!!!:big_wink: