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Headlight Polishing?

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  #1  
Old 05-26-2006 | 11:21 AM
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Exclamation Headlight Polishing?

So the headlights on my 02 are starting to look like crap...kinda yellowish and they look very dull, not like the use to look a few years back....so i've heard that polishing makes them look like new again...Anybody know what materials are needed and what the precedure is for doing this? Let me know guys..
 
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Old 05-26-2006 | 11:40 AM
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flitz it... works great.
 
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Old 05-26-2006 | 11:43 AM
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Originally Posted by r3dn3ck
flitz it... works great.
Where can i buy this product?
 
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Old 05-26-2006 | 11:46 AM
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kragen/checker/shucks or pep boys or whatever your local parts hut is called. It's a polishing buff ball you chuck onto a cordless drill (cordless only... corded will polish a hole in them), schmear a little flitz polishing past onto it and go to shiny-ing up. Takes about 1-5 minutes per light. Remove them from the car before you do it.
 
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Old 05-26-2006 | 11:50 AM
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Originally Posted by r3dn3ck
kragen/checker/shucks or pep boys or whatever your local parts hut is called. It's a polishing buff ball you chuck onto a cordless drill (cordless only... corded will polish a hole in them), schmear a little flitz polishing past onto it and go to shiny-ing up. Takes about 1-5 minutes per light. Remove them from the car before you do it.
Good advice...but i don't have a a cordless drill...why would a corded drill put a hole on them?
 
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Old 05-26-2006 | 11:53 AM
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corded drill too powerful im sure...
 
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Old 05-26-2006 | 12:04 PM
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Originally Posted by mstg97
corded drill too powerful im sure...

unless its variable speed.
 
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Old 05-26-2006 | 12:07 PM
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Corded drills are way faster than your average corded model. Just keep the polishing speed to a reasonable level. You're polishing not grinding. If you can vary the speed it's fine. Keep the thing moving and you shouldn't have any trouble at all.
 
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Old 05-26-2006 | 12:51 PM
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Originally Posted by r3dn3ck
Corded drills are way faster than your average corded model. Just keep the polishing speed to a reasonable level. You're polishing not grinding. If you can vary the speed it's fine. Keep the thing moving and you shouldn't have any trouble at all.

Yeah, that what i was thinking...thanks i'll stop by autozone this weekend!
 
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Old 05-26-2006 | 12:52 PM
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Originally Posted by r3dn3ck
Corded drills are way faster than your average corded model. Just keep the polishing speed to a reasonable level. You're polishing not grinding. If you can vary the speed it's fine. Keep the thing moving and you shouldn't have any trouble at all.
much like buffing your paint... not too hard for too long!
Mothers makes a ball that they say will work for tailight+headlight(its main purpose is polishing rims etc.), but my understanding is flitz comes with some kind of creme?
 
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Old 05-27-2006 | 09:20 AM
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yeah... the flitz compound is a non-embedding fine abrasive. It doesn't leave deep scratches but since the media is really really fine grain and there's plenty of it, it'll build up heat fast at the surface and wear through the plastic if the ball is spun too fast. the ball is meant to be spun at 120rpm or so... 1500 is bad.

Flitz is a rim polisher too but I think it's more aggressive than mothers.

There's also the thought of simply replacing the headlight housings. You can usually find em' on ebay for under a 100 a set.
 
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Old 05-27-2006 | 10:55 AM
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Originally Posted by r3dn3ck
yeah... the flitz compound is a non-embedding fine abrasive. It doesn't leave deep scratches but since the media is really really fine grain and there's plenty of it, it'll build up heat fast at the surface and wear through the plastic if the ball is spun too fast. the ball is meant to be spun at 120rpm or so... 1500 is bad.

Flitz is a rim polisher too but I think it's more aggressive than mothers.

There's also the thought of simply replacing the headlight housings. You can usually find em' on ebay for under a 100 a set.
Not 2002+ headlights...the clear ones are junk and the smoked ones are a pretty penny...
 
  #13  
Old 05-27-2006 | 11:29 AM
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Originally Posted by 4.6 Love
Not 2002+ headlights...the clear ones are junk and the smoked ones are a pretty penny...
Thats 2001+
 
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Old 05-27-2006 | 12:17 PM
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I got mine for 50 bucks off ebay and they're OEM ford from an 01 cobra. Blanket statements like that scream of a lack of effort in the search. look harder. I find em on craigslist every once in a while for well under 100 too. You don't have to buy em if they cost too much... just wait for a better priced set.

for i in `cat quitters.txt`
do
echo "${quitters} never win and winners never quit" | mail 4.6love@mustangboards
done
 
  #15  
Old 05-27-2006 | 12:59 PM
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Originally Posted by r3dn3ck
I got mine for 50 bucks off ebay and they're OEM ford from an 01 cobra. Blanket statements like that scream of a lack of effort in the search. look harder. I find em on craigslist every once in a while for well under 100 too. You don't have to buy em if they cost too much... just wait for a better priced set.

for i in `cat quitters.txt`
do
echo "${quitters} never win and winners never quit" | mail 4.6love@mustangboards
done
I didn't mean anything by it..I don't know what the hell the ending of your post is about.....
 
  #16  
Old 05-28-2006 | 08:15 AM
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oh come on... I'm ribbing you. Simply translated.. don't quit. Look harder for a deal on a set.
 
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