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Headlight Restoration: 2004 Grand Prix


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I've been dying to do this for quite some time... The headlights on the 04 GP were very hazed over and really put a damper on the cars looks, so I thought I'd fix them up. Here's what I did:

 

Here are the before pics. As you can see, they were very hazed over.

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I started off by pulling the headlights out of the car and removing the rubber surround gaskets around the headlights and wetsanding the lenses with 400 grit.

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Then 800 grit:

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1000 grit:

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2000 grit:

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After hitting it with some rubbing compound:

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Then the final product after rubbing compound, scratch remover, glaze, wax, and buffing:

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Definitely makes a huge difference in person :cool:

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I used Meguires medium rubbing compound, Mother's Scratch Remover, 3M Perfect-It Glaze, and Meguires NXT 2.0 Tech Wax

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You might want to look into clearing them. Since you sanded (or rather mother nature) all the UV protection, once the wax burns off they'll just fade again. But the wax is good for temporary protection.

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Looking good. On a side note I did NOT see all 10,000 lakes in Minnesota, maybe like 15 tops.

You didn't look hard enough then! :lol: Seriously though, if you leave the Twin Cities, you literally can't drive more than a couple miles without hitting a lake anywhere in the state. They are EVERYWHERE.

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You might want to look into clearing them. Since you sanded (or rather mother nature) all the UV protection, once the wax burns off they'll just fade again. But the wax is good for temporary protection.

I polished them clear before putting the products on there, so it should be okay. But yes, I would like to put some kind of clear on there eventually. For the time being, it'll just motivate me to wax it more frequently. :lol: It needs a detailing pretty badly right now... I'll probably do that this weekend here.

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You didn't look hard enough then! :lol: Seriously though, if you leave the Twin Cities, you literally can't drive more than a couple miles without hitting a lake anywhere in the state. They are EVERYWHERE.

 

I did! I drove all the way to North Dakota!

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learn from others mistakes: test shoot the clear on something pure white before shooting on the lenses themselves and potentially having to do a lot over again from not-quite-clear clear.

 

otherwise, looks good.

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Looks good Nick. This is near exactly how I've done them. I never clear them and they've lasted years this way. It's mostly the sandblasting that starts to make them look bad over time. I actually was able to remove a 1/16' gouge/ scratch across the width of the headlight of my brother's '06 Galant this way. Although I started block sanding it with 80 grit in that case. It turned out perfect afterwards, with the scratch completely gone

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Thanks guys. And that's good to hear! It'd be nice to have the results from that time consuming process last a long time. I just came in from giving the car a full detail, so it's all nice and waxy now. :cool:

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