Headlight Restoration – The ONLY 2 Ways To Restore Your Headlights!

Hey, it’s Tony with another live stream. Today’s topic is all about Headlight Restoration – The ONLY 2 Ways To Restore Your Headlights!

Thank you for joining me (and Mayah) tonight. We’re doing a quick demo tonight with my BMW Z3 M Edition.

I already buffed out the headlights. It will only take six to seven minutes for you to do this.  I hope you notice the difference between the two headlights.

The other looks brand new while the other side looks hazy. It will only take six to seven minutes to do this.  The light is 16 years old.

If it’s out in the sun a lot, you’ll get a yellow color and dingy looking lights. You are going to get rock chips and you can’t do anything about it.

However, you can wash off the grime with 2000-grit quickly then buff it out. There are two ways to buff headlights and I’ll share you the pros and cons for each.

The first way is to clear coat them. Some use 1K clear coat which is basically rattle can clear coat. While others use the automotive clear coat (2K). You need to sand it with 1200-grit to 1500-grit, then give it two coats of clear coat.

The only problem with clearing headlights is if you don’t do it properly, sand all around it, you’re going to get chipping in a year. It will start to bubble up and peel.

If you use 1K clears, it will probably last about a year and a half before it starts to get dingy. I don’t really like to clear my headlights, but if I do, I’ll use the automotive clear coat.

If you get any reaction, then you have a lot to take off and sand if you want to redo it.

The other way is to wet sand with 2000-grit. What I like about this is you don’t need to mix any clear coat, mask up and take the part out. It’s quick and easy.

You just need to wash off the grime and dirt with 2000-grit. Then, buff it off with your regular wool pad.  You can use any compound with it. It doesn’t really matter.

I have been doing this for 15 years with all my projects before they even came out with headlight refinishing products.

The only time I like to clear coat is when you’re tinting and you want to black out your lights. I plan to black out my tail lights on this BMW.

Check out the video as I demonstrate sanding and buffing the headlights for you. It’s nice to mask it up so you won’t have grime all over the place. I’m just doing this by hand.

Then, give it a quick wipe. Now, you can see it looks foggy. I’ll be using my Auto Magic, the same stuff that I color sand and buff with. We’ll get a little of it on the lights then start buffing.

I’m using the yellow wool pad that has a synthetic string which makes it a lot softer than the white one. I like these yellow pads a lot more than the white ones.

Then, we’ll put a regular swirl mark remover on the lights, the use our foam pad with air vents on it. Make sure that to match it up to the buffing wheel.

We’re almost done. The final step is to wax it up to seal on the pores. I use Wizards Mystic Spray Wax. The headlights looks brand new again. I’ve had really yellow headlights in the past and made it look brand new.

I’m thinking of blacking out my grills. What do you think? I’ll be dipping them flat black. Then, put the brand new logo on it. It’s going to look really awesome.

The back part of the BMW is plasti-dipped, just so I can get an idea of how it looks. I can easily peel it off then sand it down and paint it gloss black if I want to.

I plan to black out my tail lights. It will look like a big black bar at the back. It’s not really black, more of smoked grey color. I’m ordering a Euro Spoiler then paint it red.

If you want to tint, just mix a little bit of black base coat in your clear coat. I have videos of it within the LearnAutoBodyAndPaint VIP Program. I have step-by-step videos within the course, so go check out VIP.

I still have the sides of the car that need to be painted. I was thinking of doing gloss black for the side. I’m also planning on dropping the car one-inch with some H&R Suspension. I think it’s pretty much done after I buff out the hood. It will look like a really hot car.

It’s Tony from LearnAutoBodyAndPaint. I hope you guys enjoyed tonight’s show. Join me again next week, Thursday at 9pm Eastern.

For all of you newbies out there, grab my FREE 85-Page Auto Body And Paint Manual and get a lot of information to start your car project. Please Like, Share and Subscribe to my videos.

Cheers! Talk soon!

Tony

P.S. What do you think about Mayah’s drawing? She’s pretty good, huh!

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