Here is is! my write up for wet sanding and buffing plastic headlights.
Materials you will need:
Power drill
Mothers Buff ball mini
Micro fiber cloths
paper towels
plastic headlight restoring gel
1500 grit sandpaper
2000 grit sandpaper
bucket with water and dish soap
masking tape
first begin by masking off the surrounding paint and trim around the lights, you do not want to run the buffer or sandpaper on the paint, it might scratch.
next, you begin by wetting the light with soap and water, its good to keep lots of water to lubricate the sand paper.
then begin by soaking a piece of sandpaper in the water until it is more a bit softer.
***** ONLY USE A SMALL PIECE OF PAPER, YOU WANT TO FEEL WITH YOUR FINGERS AS YOU GO ALONG AS TO NOT SCRATCH THE SURFACE TO MUCH*****
with that one piece you can do your entire headlight! begin buy very lightly sanding in a circular pattern the entire headlight, be sure to keep the paper and headlight wet, you do not want to make scratches, just remove the top layer of oxidation.
repeat the sanding process as many times as necessary using gradually softer grits of sandpaper, it depends on the amount of oxidation on the headlights
what you will notice happen, is that if you dry the light off, it will instantly haze to almost all white, this is normal due to you exposing the fresh plastic to air, that will later come off after buffing.
closer view of oxidation:
after you are happy with the wet sanding and you have made a smooth surface, its time to buff!!
when you are applying compound to the headlight, don't be stingy use plenty of compound.
with the buff ball, first without turning the drill on, rub the compound across the entire light and let it sit for a few seconds,
with the drill set on low speed, buff the compound into the light, this will create a slight haze, but rub it until most of the compound is buffed in. repeat this twice for a great shine, then use the micro fiber cloth to wipe off the haze, and the light should come out crystal clear.
Remove the masking tape and wipe off any excess water and buffing compound residue.
repeat the above steps on the other headlight.
PIC OF FINISHED WET SANDED HEADLIGHTS!!!:
If you saw my car not so long ago you would know how bad they were, they were yellow, now they are crystal clear!!!
