Headlight Correction (VX220 content)

[DanFreemanPhoto]

I'm after a bit of advice on these. I know it's not a Clio, but I know all the pros hangout here

This is what they look like:

Can I fix these with the normal procedure? Wet sand followed by a damn good polish?

I've been told these have some sort of UV coating on them (which I think is the bit that's gone crap). What do you need to do in terms of aftercare?

And lastly, can someone just give me a quick guide to wet sanding? What should I start out at then finish at (grades)?

I've got a G220, so I assume I could just blast it with that after?

Thanks!

 

[kevin.s]

it looks the same as whats happens to the clio if im honest. id give it a go as the clio one have a uv protection layer too but that doesnt stop anyone.

 

[DanFreemanPhoto]

Yeh I've seen the same sort of thing a lot on here where people have corrected them.

Just after a bit of advice before I potentially screw them up!

 

[Bluebeard]

I did my 307 last week.

Used 3 different grades of wet and dry paper, my machine polisher and some G3, then 3m fine cut, then Auto glym super resin to finish off. (ITs all I had in the shed! lol)

Came up like new and took less than 2 hours.

 

[DanFreemanPhoto]

Thanks Dan.

Do you remember what grades you used?

 

[Laura]

yeah my vx220s were minging, just wet sanded and polished up and they were fine

 

[Kane.]

I done 1200, 2500 then finished at 3000. The finer the grit, the easier it will be to polish out. I also wax my headlights to protect them

If I was you I'd start at the highest grit too then work your way down if it doesn't remove it with high grit.

 

[Bluebeard]

Thanks Dan.

Do you remember what grades you used?

YOu've met me dan, i'm sure you already know the answer to that question! lol.

My painter gave them to me and wrote on the back 1/2/3 so I knew which ones to use. (TBH, they all felt/looked the same to me)

 

[kevin.s]

i did mine the other week using 1500 wet and dry then 2000 wet and dry then polished them up with some g3 on a machine polisher.
went from this

to this

its worth doing it with a machine polisher if you can get hold of one as mine only took me about half an hour to do both but by hand, you will be there for hours.

 

[DanFreemanPhoto]

Yeh I've got a machine polisher.

I'll buy one of those assorted packs from Halfords later, got next week off so I'll have a go then

 

[Gaz.]

The assorted packs only go up to 1500 IIRC. Anything finer you'll have to buy separately.

 

[DanFreemanPhoto]

Thanks. I'll have a go tomorrow hopefully.

Is there anything that can go wrong? Or would you have to do something pretty special to bugger something up?!

 

[VIICarCare]

i wouldn't go any lower than 1500 wet n dry

 

[AKFM1]

this thread is helping lots !!

 

[Bluebeard]

Thanks. I'll have a go tomorrow hopefully.

Is there anything that can go wrong? Or would you have to do something pretty special to bugger something up?!

Just make sure you use plenty of tape around the lights to stop you coming into contact with the paintwork.

And take your time! You can always sand more back but you can't put it back on!

 

[richy22]

And make sure you use lots of water to lube the lamp whilst sanding...heat build up from both the sanding and polishing stage could cause issues.

 

[Gaz.]

Considering the heat these lenses take from bulbs, you'd have to be doing something spectacularly OTT to start melting them.

 

[-Jason-]

Halfords do 1500, 2000 and 2500 that's what I used.

 

[AKFM1]

so 2000 and 2500 is all i need? i was going to order some 3000 but seems pointless if noone else is using it plus paying delivery for one sheet kinda annoys me lol

 

[DanFreemanPhoto]

Had a go this evening instead.

I started of with 2000 grit, as I didn't want to go nuts!

This is the offside light, which was/is the worst:

Before:

During:

After:
​

It's not 100% corrected, I struggled with the bits near the edges, like here:

The other side wasn't as bad to start off with, but I started with this one, so I went easy, and didn't actually do that much lol!

Before:

After:

The car's still in the garage, so I'll do another pass tomorrow to finish it off.

Thanks to those that helped!

 

[Kane.]

Definitely needs another go over. Don't you have any spot pads?

 

[DanFreemanPhoto]

Compared to what it looked like before, I would be happy to leave it there but as I've got oodles of time next week, I'll give it another go.

I just used 1500, 200, 2500 grit wet and dry, followed by G220 with menzerna power gloss.

 

[AKFM1]

good job there, how long did you spend on them? think it needs more polishing! but looks great compared to before mate

 

[DanFreemanPhoto]

Probably about 30-40 mins on each one.

Then about a minute with the G220 to polish lol!

I'll polish it better tomorrow, just need to be a bit more thorough with the 1500 grit tomorrow.

 

[richy22]

Considering the heat these lenses take from bulbs, you'd have to be doing something spectacularly OTT to start melting them.

The heat build up from a Dual Action can be pretty high..and depending how much of a spanner you are you could cause some slight melting (I have seen it done before!) . Plus the bulbs are mounted quite a way from the outside so of course it wouldn't cause heat issue's with a bulb.

Even more so with a rotary.

 

[Gaz.]

Well I was banging at them with a spot pad on nigh on full bore using the DA without any issue. You'd need to get them pretty damn hot, as they can take some abuse before they melt in an oven (been there, done that.)