manny_g

wow....that looks great. please go over the process. might need to do this myself.

Wachuko

Trip to the dealer was for the steering pump check... still got some 2K miles before I hit the 60K, and since I did an oil/filter change at 50K miles I will wait to the 60K miles before doing the service. That is probably a good two months away based on how little I am using the car in the next months (work travel).

The lights... well... it was easier than I thought, When I got to the dealer yesterday to drop off the car, the service manager tells me that there is a guy they know that could get the lights done for US$50.00. At that point all the work flashed before my eyes, the mess, the wife complaining about not going out the weekend because I am, once again, working on the cars, .... so I gave in and had them do it

jimq

I wish they had told me that before I bought the car from them last year! Do you have his contact info?

Wachuko

Just take it to the dealer... I got invoiced and everything by the Porsche service dept.

Wachuko

Let me find the link to the video that captures the process...

You need to wetsand with 800/1000 sandpaper then polish with plastic polisher... sounds scary to do as a diy... but it is easy.

manny_g

a little off topic here, but somewhat related. can a similar process be done to the winshield to remove some of the pitting? i have heard of glass polishers, but never really inquired...,thanks.

Land Jet

Hey guys, just for your information, Performance Parts sells a very thick, clear 3M headlight shield that I have put on my 993 and 996TT, both with excellent results, and it is virtually invisible. Very easy to put on and no way a stone can break through it

Griot's sells a glass polish for windshields, which I haven't used but would think is a good product. They recommend using it with a random orbit polisher.

Wachuko

Would have been nice for the first owner of this car to have done that... now is a null point... If I ever put new ones on I will use that shield...

Wachuko

Ok, looks like this will be an ongoing project. Every year I will have to setup some time to go over them.

They started to look bad again so I did the job myself.

Here is what you will need.

1500 and 2000 (3000 if you can find it) sand paper
Plastic polish (I used Meguiar's PlastX because it was the only thing I could find at the local autoparts store, but already looking for something better for the next time I do this)

I removed the headlight unit, put some pressured air to the water nozzel to raise it, put some tape on it (I was too afraid to try to snap out the chrome cover and brake it in the process).

Wet sand the headlight with 1500 first. Always keep the sandpaper wet. Clean from time to time the headlight with a wet cloth.

Wet sand with the 3000 grit sandpaper.

Clean.

Polish with Meguiar's PlastX. Clean with a clean rag. And you are done.

A few photos:

This is how it was starting to look again:





so I started to work on them:

Wet sanding:





Now polishing (the haze you see in most of the headlight in this first photo is the area that was wet sanded and still has not been polished):



Looking much better:









Looks so much better again. Like I said, I decided to do this at the last minute today and did not have the chance to shop around for better products. Nor did I use my polisher on it, it was all done by hand. I will search around for better polishing products and tackel it again with the small (3") polisher and post more photos. But for now the look of the headlights has been restored. Sure beats paying 1200.00 for each new headlight unit...

DublinOh

Look great again...curious do you always hand wash? Any idea how they are getting scratched? Thanks for posting this.

manny_g

Jaime...why did you not protect them with the film after you got them restored the first time at the dealer??

Wachuko

Manny, I should have. I will redo the work I did yesterday with some better products (one that includes a good finishing sealant) and then put a protective film on it.

I guess that in the back of my mind I was set on getting a new set (that is, until I made a call and found out the cost of each one )

manny_g

jaime...how long have you been a p-car owner?? you should know better by now..

95FL993CAB

Jaime, looks good. You did it by hand? Wow.

Wachuko

Yup. Should come out better with the orbital. Plan to do that one afternoon or this Saturday.

This is the same thing we need to do to the rear lights in your car. We probably can get good results with just the polisher (without the need to sand them).