g-50cab

Most paint has a two cycle cure rate = one for when it's safe to touch/tape/etc - usually 24/48 hours

The 2nd cycle is for hardness - good quality paint usually is fully cured at the end of week 2 - if it's cold out - it can take longer - paint is still soft and can be scratched easily

s65e90

within a few hours it's ready to sand. Some wait one day, 24 hours. Paint will still be curing for up to 30-60 days after though.

manimal

Kudos, that looks amazing.

Drinaldis

Yeah, it was more of a "gotta wait til next weekend" thing rather than super-long cure time. BTW, that surface was wicked hard. The P1500 skated over the top.

FRUNKenstein

Looks great. I'm so "headlight polishing challenged" it's sickening. Nice job! Very jealous.

Drinaldis

I think there's a support group online for that.

s65e90

Yes, after a week it's tougher. It's easy to sand within 24 hrs as the paint is still soft. They really came out great. Should last forever!

SleepyCyclist

Great results! Need to do this, but never done before so pardon the newbie questions.

Sand progressively to 800 or 1k grit, planning to use drill attachments:
or should be done by hand?

Then clearcoat? Planning 2k, better to use primer+clear:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Spraymax-He...sAAOSw23td0wfw
or straight to clear?
do 2-4 coats?

Then polish with polishing compound?

Thanks.

s65e90

Scuff lights 800-1000 grit, then shoot 2k clear right over the lights, 2 coats. Then polish back flat.

SleepyCyclist

Thanks!

PPF of any value over refinished headlights? or instead of clear coat?

kamlung

depends how bad your lights are i went down to 600... then 800, 1000, 1500, 2000... alternate horizontal and vertical sanding as you change grit... you want to end with horizontal strokes on the light... it will help prevent runs when you spray the clear... i use that 2k clear you linked... it's a two part mixture and has a pot life before it goes bad (~48 hrs) i did one very light coat (the lights will look brand new crystal clear... when you do the second coat it will blur the light a little (orange peel)... don't worry just let the light set and fully dry properly, then you can cut and buff it with some polish... once polished i even coat it with some UV protectant (like aerospace 303)...

you can see my passenger light on the left was starting to yellow compared to the driver side which was new....



this was the light removed, before sanding...


after sanding...


here is the light prepped for clear... wipe down with alcohol...


this is the orange peel i mentioned earlier...


here is the finished light next to the driver light i compared in the first photo...


let me know if you have any questions...

patrickrolfsen

@ kamlung: What was your process for getting rid of the orange peel? I'm seeing mixed reviews on how to eliminate it. Did you use only a polishing compound?

s65e90

Spray it heavier. You can spray this stuff pretty heavy before it runs. It doesn't atomize like a real spray gun, but it's very good. So as you're spraying, stuff in the outer areas will get that texture, so it's best to spray it heavy. It won't run, unless you sit there with it. Orange peel is easily eliminated (if seen once cured) via sanding with 1500-200 (wetsand) and then polishing.