Project: headlight Mod: version 2
02-23-11, 05:58 PM
#48
Lead Lap
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Canada
Posts: 797
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
yea, ebay's the best bet, i have a S1 center aristo part, but it had water leakage in it, no idea from where, but there's no cracks. i gave up trying to find where it was leaking in from, so i just replaced it.
check ebay, and worse case scenario over seas aristo forums
check ebay, and worse case scenario over seas aristo forums
02-23-11, 05:59 PM
#49
Lead Lap
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Canada
Posts: 797
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
ace, it'll be very hard to do that, as you'll burn the lense in no time, trust me, i burnt a little bit in the one lense, but honestly with 180 grit dry paper, the lines come out in almost no time
02-24-11, 05:55 PM
#51
Lead Lap
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Canada
Posts: 797
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
i'm not sure on the exact time, the longset i ever worked on it in one sitting at home was about 30 minutes, MAX, after that i my back couldn't handle it. (these would have been done a LONG time ago if i didn't have major back problems)
I mainly worked at these at work during slow periods when i had nothing else to do. which was usually 5 hours a week, split up in 2 days, and I was still at work, so i would be forced to stop working on them and help customers or salesmen or answer the phones or help the techs in the back if they had any cars in the shop.
In all honesty i can't say how long, cause i dont' wanna tell you one thing, and you start the project and it take longer than i said, but if you are going to do it, get a spare set of headlights, you'd be a MACHINE if you were able to tackle it in a weekend or short period of time. lol
i would say about 10 hours per lense to do/using:
180 dry paper to get all the lines out
220 grit dry
400 grit wet
600 grit wet
800 grit wet
1000 grit wet
1500 grit wet
2000 grit wet
then after that, a couple hours to polish each lense, I used a mothers powerball but found out using your hand, you able to get more pressure on the lense, and the lines come out come twice as good, so i went ahead and used my hand to polish them up.
all the times are guesstimates, as a said before.
and yes, you need to polish them, sandpaper alone (if you go fine enough) does get them clear enough to see through, but nowhere near what you'd want a headlight lense to be (or like they came new) it has also been said if you do it the right way, you can clear the lense with autobody clear coat as well. i didn't have the guts to do that after all i work i put into sanding them, i didn't want them to get ruined
I mainly worked at these at work during slow periods when i had nothing else to do. which was usually 5 hours a week, split up in 2 days, and I was still at work, so i would be forced to stop working on them and help customers or salesmen or answer the phones or help the techs in the back if they had any cars in the shop.
In all honesty i can't say how long, cause i dont' wanna tell you one thing, and you start the project and it take longer than i said, but if you are going to do it, get a spare set of headlights, you'd be a MACHINE if you were able to tackle it in a weekend or short period of time. lol
i would say about 10 hours per lense to do/using:
180 dry paper to get all the lines out
220 grit dry
400 grit wet
600 grit wet
800 grit wet
1000 grit wet
1500 grit wet
2000 grit wet
then after that, a couple hours to polish each lense, I used a mothers powerball but found out using your hand, you able to get more pressure on the lense, and the lines come out come twice as good, so i went ahead and used my hand to polish them up.
all the times are guesstimates, as a said before.
and yes, you need to polish them, sandpaper alone (if you go fine enough) does get them clear enough to see through, but nowhere near what you'd want a headlight lense to be (or like they came new) it has also been said if you do it the right way, you can clear the lense with autobody clear coat as well. i didn't have the guts to do that after all i work i put into sanding them, i didn't want them to get ruined
02-27-11, 12:22 PM
#56
Lead Lap
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Canada
Posts: 797
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
the insides should stay fine, as the other set of headlights i've done, i used the same polish on the inside and outside, you just have to polish up the outside every couple months or so. which i don't mind doing
02-27-11, 02:54 PM
#58
Lead Lap
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Canada
Posts: 797
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
just make sure you have plenty of time to have them out of your car and baked apart. if my back wasn't messed up, i probally could have had them done in a couple months. cause once you've been sanding by hand for an hour straight, you loose (not only the feeling in your arm) but all motivation to keep going, lol
02-27-11, 10:07 PM
#60
Rookie
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: MIyayo, FL
Posts: 50
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Great thread, I had a question my aristo center garnish has a nice scratch right in the middle on the outside part of the plastic, not too deep but deep enough that its noticeable and no longer clear,anyways to remove that scratch? Thanks in advance!