Headlight restoration 986 Boxster

[Cheddar Bob]

I've not managed to start the next stage yet but agree with the milky look until you get to the polishing, reminds me of when sanding paint before lacquer

[stupidget]

I went for the Turtle Wax kit from Amazon for £10.  Did it yesterday and am really impressed with the results.  It's a far more manual process as the sanding pads do not attach to a drill but for £10 it did a grand job of removing 16 years worth of oxidisation. 

 

Edited May 7, 2020 by stupidget

[Cheddar Bob]

I'll be on to phase 2 today. 😁

[Cheddar Bob]

19 hours ago, stupidget said:

I went for the Turtle Wax kit from Amazon for £10.  Did it yesterday and am really impressed with the results.  It's a far more manual process as the sanding pads do not attach to a drill but for £10 it did a grand job of removing 16 years worth of oxidisation. 

 

Looking good

[Cheddar Bob]

That's mine all done. Moral of the story, buy enough sandpaper and do it once not twice 😁

[Cheddar Bob]

https://photos.app.goo.gl/LVjs6SWLVjs6SW7MkoncvWt9

 

Here are the photos 😁😁😎

[MerlinsHat]

Sorry for the resurrection of this thread, but after some pointers...

 

I have got through TWO autoglym kits trying to restore the lights on my 986 S. The lights seem to be covered in some tough residue which has yellowed, but it clogs the sandpaper within a few minutes of drill action.

 

Has a previous owner applied something to my headlights thats making this more difficult, or is this normal for a set of 20YO lights that have never been restored?

[iborguk]

1 minute ago, MerlinsHat said:

Sorry for the resurrection of this thread, but after some pointers...

 

I have got through TWO autoglym kits trying to restore the lights on my 986 S. The lights seem to be covered in some tough residue which has yellowed, but it clogs the sandpaper within a few minutes of drill action.

 

Has a previous owner applied something to my headlights thats making this more difficult, or is this normal for a set of 20YO lights that have never been restored?

Maybe post a pic or two using a link to a photo hosting site such as Imgur/Flickr ? 

[eob]

6 minutes ago, MerlinsHat said:

I have got through TWO autoglym kits trying to restore the lights on my 986 S. The lights seem to be covered in some tough residue which has yellowed, but it clogs the sandpaper within a few minutes of drill action.

 

That yellow residue seems to be normal. Jay here went through several sheets of sandpaper. (22:46 if the link doesnt work properly)

 

Edited October 12, 2022 by eob

[Patt]

With fine abrasives the paper will always clog quicker as there is physically less space between the substrate and the abrasive material, even quicker still if they used cheap abrasives as they skimp on the process.

For example, I can sand the lounge walls with just one sheet of 3M paper, that would be 4-5 of the store branded equivalent.

I usually have an old bucket with some water in and simply run my hand over the paper in the bucket every so often.  Sure, it makes the job much messier, but it works.

 

I am bias towards the 3M kit though.

 

[Terryg]

22 hours ago, Patt said:

With fine abrasives the paper will always clog quicker as there is physically less space between the substrate and the abrasive material, even quicker still if they used cheap abrasives as they skimp on the process.

For example, I can sand the lounge walls with just one sheet of 3M paper, that would be 4-5 of the store branded equivalent.

I usually have an old bucket with some water in and simply run my hand over the paper in the bucket every so often.  Sure, it makes the job much messier, but it works.

 

I am bias towards the 3M kit though.

 

You worked for them didn't you?

Anyway 3M stuff, silly prices, good stuff. See any parallels with our favourite car brand?

[Terryg]

22 hours ago, eob said:

That yellow residue seems to be normal. Jay here went through several sheets of sandpaper. (22:46 if the link doesnt work properly)

 

That headlight polish is pretty poor, he may be happy with it and good luck to him but it can be much better than that.

[Patt]

56 minutes ago, Terryg said:

You worked for them didn't you?

Anyway 3M stuff, silly prices, good stuff. See any parallels with our favourite car brand?

Yep, I spent about 13 years as a buyer there before tax evasion relocated the role to the land of Toblerone . 

Indeed, I would agree, although sometimes you do pay for what you get.  I was very surprised by the sandpaper, although I obviously I made a donation to charity for a ream of the stuff not paying retail.

Some of the car products were more for keeping a car clean, than getting a car clean, ie just not strong enough.  The business manager knew I used their products and competitors too, thus always welcomed by input as a user as well as a stakeholder.  Ironically the headlight restorer is compiled from all 3M products that I had already tried and tested on other cars before we put them together for the kit. Oh, and all made in the UK too, by pure chance.

[Terryg]

1 hour ago, Patt said:

Yep, I spent about 13 years as a buyer there before tax evasion relocated the role to the land of Toblerone . 

Indeed, I would agree, although sometimes you do pay for what you get.  I was very surprised by the sandpaper, although I obviously I made a donation to charity for a ream of the stuff not paying retail.

Some of the car products were more for keeping a car clean, than getting a car clean, ie just not strong enough.  The business manager knew I used their products and competitors too, thus always welcomed by input as a user as well as a stakeholder.  Ironically the headlight restorer is compiled from all 3M products that I had already tried and tested on other cars before we put them together for the kit. Oh, and all made in the UK too, by pure chance.

I thought I had read you had a hand in the kit.

So complaints to @Patt c/o BoXa.net.

[Patt]

I don't work there anymore, so I can't improve the product from your feedback, but it was a fun process to go from requirement, through design and then all the H&S and corporate red tape before release.

If you read the instructions done by the so called "technical engineer" IT was 40 times too long and almost irrelevant for intended use, let alone Joe Public 😝

[Terryg]

17 hours ago, Patt said:

I don't work there anymore, so I can't improve the product from your feedback, but it was a fun process to go from requirement, through design and then all the H&S and corporate red tape before release.

If you read the instructions done by the so called "technical engineer" IT was 40 times too long and almost irrelevant for intended use, let alone Joe Public 😝

You have the wrong end of the stick, there would be no element of positive criticism or feedback, just be good to have someone to bitch at.....😏