Stutopia Posted May 29, 2016 Share Posted May 29, 2016 This comes up regularly and I've now had two goes at it, so I thought I'd post up a thread with my experiences. I've heard anything from toothpaste to compound to metal polish can be used to clear up the hazing, and a variety of different approaches to sealing them. I'm hoping members will add in their methods and the products they've used. If you do, it'll be pinned as a superguide. I learnt some lessons from last time: 1 - Do use a dust sheet - or spend ages cleaning your engine bay afterwards 2 - Do have a stool to sit on while you work 3 - Do use a good UV sealant afterwards, or you'll be doing this annually 4 - Do be as aggressive as you dare 5 - Don't use this sealant (https://www.amazon.c...7038051_TE_dp_1) It's no good. The Problem This is how I finished up last time (Nov '14) And how it looked this morning. You can clearly see the hazing is back and looking awful. Masked up and ready to have a go. It looks so bad Clearing The Haze Last time I tried Meg's Ultimate Compound, also one of the soft paint menzerna cutting goops on a cutting pad, all attached to my basic Megs DA. I found that this took loads of passes and only the Megs ultimate got me anywhere, and even then, slowly. This time I put the soft paint stuff to one side and went in deep and hard first off, using some Poorbooys SSR-2 to prime the pad and add some lubrication, then a liberal topping of this. I already can hear the screams out there of putting this on a DA pad, but I wanted to mow down the hazing, not tickle it in to submission. Needless to say, one medium pressure pass dealt with it rather nicely Not sure how many mills of plastic I lost, but you can certainly tell the difference. I don't even need to say the one on the right is the tidied one. I couldn't get to all the tiny little buggers but they're innocuous at further than 6 inches away. I have turned up the definition quite severely on these images to pick them out. Both sides done, wiped down, dust sheets & masking away. UV Protection Having failed to protect them sufficiently well last time, I threw away the amazon offering and switched to EXO v2 this time. I didn't use this last time as it's a bit fussy about being applied outside and it needs to be kept dry for 6 hours and I have no garage, but I decided to wait for a very dry day and risk it. Dead easy to apply, just do it out of the sun and wear gloves and breathing equipment. Wipe down area with IPA (or Gyeon Prep in my case) Apply on the provided applicator pad in vertical lines Apply in horizontal lines Wait a few seconds Wipe off with a clean microfibre Flip the microfibre and wipe again Now do the other headlight Then go back and do a second coat on the first one Then go back and do a second coat on the second one Keep dry for 6 hours or more I might do a third coat on each tomorrow, if this weather holds. I'm assuming that the solvent colour/light effect (which wasn't there before) is evidence that this stuff is in place. How to vid for EXO: Anyway, that's my version two method. It's probably not as good as the 3 grades of sandpaper version I've seen but I'm not sure I have the minerals for that. Don't forget to throw away the pad if you put metal polish on it, I don't think it'll be any good for paint any more Pease do post up your methods, products and pics - ideally it would be good to have a few options for people, particularly one that doesn't involve a DA. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ilogikal1 Posted May 29, 2016 Share Posted May 29, 2016 The prism effect after Exo should clear up a fair bit as the coating cures and the solvents evaporate fully by the way. No photos from me, largely because I'm on my phone at the moment, but my method for moderately deteriorated lights was to use Scholl S20 Blue on a Crimson Lake Country pad by DA to tidy up. Always followed by an IPA wipe down prior to dealing. Sealants that I've used include; - FK1000P, lasts a month or two on headlights but needs to be reapplied regularly to keep further damage at bay. - Hubikote Hubitrim, lasted about 6 months but within a year the headlights were starting to deteriorate again. - whatever wax or sealant was going on the rest of the car, lasted a month tops and needs constant reapplication to top up the protection. Currently using GTechniq C5, applied about 3 weeks ago so I'll update accordingly for as long as I own the car. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BulletMagnet Posted May 29, 2016 Share Posted May 29, 2016 Used GTechniq C4 12 months ago, still looks like I applied yesterday 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mopedmark Posted May 30, 2016 Share Posted May 30, 2016 Very good little write up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max-Read Posted May 30, 2016 Share Posted May 30, 2016 I used a bit of megs ultimate compound yesterday, they came up an absolute dream! Just need to get my hands on some sealant now... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BulletMagnet Posted May 30, 2016 Share Posted May 30, 2016 I used a bit of megs ultimate compound yesterday, they came up an absolute dream! Just need to get my hands on some sealant now... Make sure it's UV resistant sealant, as it is the UV rays that cause the haze 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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