2001 x5 Headlight Lenses Re-Do

[bpowa]

damn.. looks better than mines.. I have the lines... so I need to sand them down completely and redo.

I hate sanding..

Did I put too much dab of urethane on the coats?

[jc1surf]

Originally Posted by bpowa

damn.. looks better than mines.. I have the lines... so I need to sand them down completely and redo.

I hate sanding..

Did I put too much dab of urethane on the coats?

Thanks. I gently applied the coat. I would try to add a little more of the spirit and add a another coat. Maybe ur mixture was too thick. Previous post mentioned 50/50 but I used 60/40 microf clothe and the lines blended in
I feel your pain, sanding is hard work lol.
I tested the 50/50 on seperate plastic and I see what your talking about.

[sunny5280]

Originally Posted by jc1surf

please ignore my previous post. sorry
thanks sunny and everyone else

here are some pics of the first layer. immediately, i was amazed at the result. I does look new. just the first layer. i'm going to wait and finish up with 2 more layers. the 60/40 is a good mix. I used microfiber clothes as suggested, and it worked great. the first 20-30seconds, you can see grooves left by the clothes, but then it will fade and blend in nicely.
after the first layer cured, the haze dkl and myself are having are somewhat still visible at a certain angle. not as bad as before.
all in all, the urethane did bring that gloss and glaze.
thanks fellas

Glad to hear it worked out for you. The difference between pre and post application is quite apparent. Glad you found so too.

[sunny5280]

Originally Posted by bpowa

damn.. looks better than mines.. I have the lines... so I need to sand them down completely and redo.

I hate sanding..

Did I put too much dab of urethane on the coats?

A thinner mixture (more mineral spirits to urethane, I recommend 60/40) should solve that problem.

[Russianblue]

Guys, check out what this fella says about BMW headlights.

Headlight Restoration Kit For BMW Cars

"The sealant on the BMW headlights are extremely tuff and using #400grit sometimes skids off the sealant with very little effect. For that reason I recommend starting with #220 grit sandpaper when you are restoring partially foggy headlights or headlights that are just starting to get foggy or cloudy on BMW cars."

I used the 3M kit and ended up with somewhat hazy lights myself. I'm going to try again but this time will be starting with some 400grit or even more aggressive.

[gruppeM3]

OMG! What a difference. Like night and day.

[sunny5280]

Originally Posted by Russianblue

Guys, check out what this fella says about BMW headlights.

Headlight Restoration Kit For BMW Cars

"The sealant on the BMW headlights are extremely tuff and using #400grit sometimes skids off the sealant with very little effect. For that reason I recommend starting with #220 grit sandpaper when you are restoring partially foggy headlights or headlights that are just starting to get foggy or cloudy on BMW cars."

I used the 3M kit and ended up with somewhat hazy lights myself. I'm going to try again but this time will be starting with some 400grit or even more aggressive.

I used 320 -> 600 -> 1200 -> 2000 grit sandpaper on the lights I did. I definitely believe the lower grit sand paper is a good starting point. Initially I started with 600 and felt it was not doing a good enough job so I went and picked up the 320. Let us know how it goes as I'm interested in hearing how the sandpaper works compared to the kits. The kits appear to be less expensive so I'm interested in knowing if they do just as good / better job than the sandpaper route.

[Russianblue]

i ordered $70 worth of 3M wetordry from Amazon and a pint of spar. with what i already have at home, that will give me 220-400-600-800-1200-1500-2000.

also ordered Meguiar's m105 and M205 for polishing. still have one 3000 grit trizact disk from my 3M kit which i may use too, but the M105 is supposed to polish up 1200+.

I'm using a Makita 9227 so hopefully i won't burn straight thru the poly ; ). I'll take some before and after pictures with my Nikon and make this a good 'data point' project.

I am thinking I might try to remove the lights from the car. It's bound to make wetsanding easier. Are there any DIY's for removing the entire housing?

[bcredliner]

Originally Posted by Russianblue

i ordered $70 worth of 3M wetordry from Amazon and a pint of spar. with what i already have at home, that will give me 220-400-600-800-1200-1500-2000.

also ordered Meguiar's m105 and M205 for polishing. still have one 3000 grit trizact disk from my 3M kit which i may use too, but the M105 is supposed to polish up 1200+.

I'm using a Makita 9227 so hopefully i won't burn straight thru the poly ; ). I'll take some before and after pictures with my Nikon and make this a good 'data point' project.

I am thinking I might try to remove the lights from the car. It's bound to make wetsanding easier. Are there any DIY's for removing the entire housing?

The process is different depending on whether your X was made before or after October of 2003. When was your X built?

[Russianblue]

5/2003