Trying to take out scratches on my headlights but all I get is blurry circles :/

So I was told in this forum, in order to take out scratches from headlights , I needed wetdry sanding paper , polish and compound . So I purchase those items and even got myself an adaptor for my drill so it could be easier . For some reason it's not working , I did notice the scratches did get smaller but now I'm left with blurry circles and it looks even worse now :/. Does it mean I over did it with the dry/wet sand paper or do I need to take more time for the polish or either the compound ? I'll appreciate any help . I will add a picture of the items I have in order to be more specific on what I'm using .

If you used the 1500 paper wet, the Ultimate Compound SHOULD be able to get the sanding marks out. Go at it with the Ultimate compound and see if they get smaller, then polish out the marks from that with the polish.

If the Ultimate compound can't get all the marks, you might need to go to a 2500 grit paper (make surei t's wet) and then to the compound. But if I remember correctly, the compound shold remove 1500 grit marks.

During wetsanding process did you keep the surface relatively wet?
I wouldn't use an electrical appliance to make the job of wet sending easier, always use hands.


Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Bimmer App

your probably should have just gotten a kit... you need to get higher grit paper. i would use 2500 and 3000 grit before you go to the polish.

Originally Posted by Orient330iNYC

your probably should have just gotten a kit... you need to get higher grit paper. i would use 2500 and 3000 grit before you go to the polish.

Yes, do this. Then make sure you use a polishing compound followed by a sealant with UV protection otherwise you will be repeating this procedure every year. I learned this the hard way by using a cheapo headlight restoration kit from myheadlight.com. The 3M one has a UV protectant compound in their sealant formula and the results are much longer lasting.

The kits have essentially the same thing you have, perhaps some finer paper. You do need a sealant, but any sealant you use for your paint (i.e. Klasse SG, BFWD, WGDGPS, etc) will work.

Did you make sure the paper had been soaked in water before you used it, and did you keep it wet?

I'd get some 2500 grit paper, let it soak a few hours in water, and use it (by hand, as noted above) to get the thicker lines out, and then use the compound followed by the polish.

As mentioned polishing this out is what is needed.
I use Klasse AIO on the entire car since it does also help the plastic by protecting it. I use this in place of a dedicated UV protector. I agree if you don't seal the headlights (thus some product that is designed to seal) it will hazy over in a few months again...

Originally Posted by andrew b

If you used the 1500 paper wet, the Ultimate Compound SHOULD be able to get the sanding marks out. Go at it with the Ultimate compound and see if they get smaller, then polish out the marks from that with the polish.

If the Ultimate compound can't get all the marks, you might need to go to a 2500 grit paper (make surei t's wet) and then to the compound. But if I remember correctly, the compound shold remove 1500 grit marks.

Oh boy I was happy to read your comment . You were right, it did remove the blurriness using the ultimate compound non-stop. I did a huge mistake using to much of the wet sanding paper with the adapter/machine .

Originally Posted by lqaddict

During wetsanding process did you keep the surface relatively wet?
I wouldn't use an electrical appliance to make the job of wet sending easier, always use hands.


Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Bimmer App

I did keep the area wet ... I try my best but You were right about not using the adapter for the wet sanding process. I guess I over did it , I was able to get the blurriness out by using a huge amount of compound . I will take your advice and just do the wet sanding process with my hands .

Originally Posted by Orient330iNYC

your probably should have just gotten a kit... you need to get higher grit paper. i would use 2500 and 3000 grit before you go to the polish.

I did the get the kit first , couldn't find the adapter for the drill . The kit only had one 800 wet sanding paper :/. Will get the 2500 , will post before and after pic.

Originally Posted by andrew b

The kits have essentially the same thing you have, perhaps some finer paper. You do need a sealant, but any sealant you use for your paint (i.e. Klasse SG, BFWD, WGDGPS, etc) will work.

Did you make sure the paper had been soaked in water before you used it, and did you keep it wet?

I'd get some 2500 grit paper, let it soak a few hours in water, and use it (by hand, as noted above) to get the thicker lines out, and then use the compound followed by the polish.

Wait .. Let the wet sanding paper soak for a few hours ? I usually just quickly wet and use it immediately .

Originally Posted by fun2drive

As mentioned polishing this out is what is needed.
I use Klasse AIO on the entire car since it does also help the plastic by protecting it. I use this in place of a dedicated UV protector. I agree if you don't seal the headlights (thus some product that is designed to seal) it will hazy over in a few months again...

Thanks for the heads up on the Klasse AIO product.

Originally Posted by BmwLifestyle

Wait .. Let the wet sanding paper soak for a few hours ? I usually just quickly wet and use it immediately .

Yes, let it soak at least an h our. One of the better body shops in town always has their wet paper in buckets, rotate it every day, so the paper used has been soaking for about a day....