The UK Hyundai Coupe Club

Funnily enough I just did one of mine this weekend (ran out of time for the other).

What I did was remove the light

Start of sanding with 1200 grit wet and dry (used water of course and a squirt of fairy liquid for lubrication), then moved to 1500 grit when they were getting cloudy.
After that I bought some G3 scratch remover from halfords (I had some T-cut as well but I read that the G3 was better)

Although I haven't got all the laquer lines and scratches out they are a lot better (I need to get a polishing head for my drill and then I can probably get all the laquer lines out)

Ive always used clear tcut mate. Does a grand job if you take your time

Hi guys. one of my many trades is detailing and what deadgoodundies is right but ive got a few more tips to make them a showroom shine.

First a caution.
Modern plastic head lights have a UV coating. This coating helps stop the suns rays turning your headlights milky then eventualy yellow.
If you have light scratches and the head light is still clear and not milky dont use deadgoodundies method as 1200 grit will remove all the uv protection on your lights. start with 1500 or 2000 and then work your way up.
If you do remove the uv coating its not the end of the world it will mean you will be doing this process every couple of years.
shopping list:
1200,1500,2000,2500 grit paper one sheet of each is fine for one head light
rubbing compound any brand what evers cheap
Meguiars plastic rx this is the most important product in the list. T-cut is a mild abrasive polish which will only mildly do the job. meguiars plastic rx is a abrasive designed specifically to restore "optical" clarity to clear plastic.
microfibre cloths to polish or drill with a sponge polishing attachment(this is best)

wash your light in soapy water

dry it off

get a bucket and half fill it with water and a large squirt of washing up liquid.

put all your sand paper in the bucket of water.

get a spray bottle fill it with water and washing up liquid.

*TIP(if you have flat head lights dont sand by hand, wrap the sandpaper in a flat flexible rubber to make the sanding even).

get the highest grit first 2500 and sand the scratches in one uniform direction(horizontal or vertical) whilst contantly spraying the area with the spray bottle.
Wipe dry and check if your orginal scratches remain. If they remain go down a grit to 2000 and repeat sanding in the same direction continue wiping and checking. keep going down a grit till your orginal scratches are removed.

Once you have removed your orginal scratches its now time to work your way back up.
for example if you had to go down to 1500 sanding horizontaly now sand your whole light with 2000 verticaly till you have removed the scratches made by the 1500. Then sand with 2500 horizontaly to remove the 2000 sounding marks.

wash and dry your light after every step

you should now have a frosty light.
now use the rubbing compound and polish the light with it. This then removes the 2500 grit sanding marks.

wash and dry your light

you should now have a perfectly even frosty light with no lines or scratches in it.

Now my holy product meguiars plastic rx.
polish the whole light till your arm falls off and sit back and marvel your new looking light.
or
use a drill with a polishing sponge attachment to polish with plastic rx. keep the drill moving around the light at all times as it will generate heat and if you stay in one place advance directly to step one and if you pass go you dont get 200.
the drill option will leave you with a ultra shiney and clear new looking light.

TWO CAUTIONS
1. if any of these product touch your paint it will generate alot more work. so mask any thing around your light

2. If you have done the steps correctly your light will look so good you will unfortunately now have to do the others.

Thanks for the long/full guide . I've still only done the one so i'll use your guide for doing the other.
In addition to the 1. Caution - it is probably best to remove the headlight. it's only 3 bolts and they slide out easily so then there is no risk of any accidents

best of luck with the others deadgoodundies. if you get a chance maybe you could take some before and after shots it might help others have the confidence to do theres.

There's a thread with pics in the DIY section

wish i knew that before i sat with a coffee for half an hour writing that lol

try this!

omario93 wrote:try this!

Just brought this to try to get rid of the "halo" when my lights are on.Will let you all know of the results

deadgoodundies wrote:it's only 3 bolts and they slide out easily so then there is no risk of any accidents

Oh how I wish this was the case on a Gen2...

Adamski wrote:

omario93 wrote:try this!

Just brought this to try to get rid of the "halo" when my lights are on.Will let you all know of the results

I can now confirm theat this works a treat.It even brought my front fogs up nice.Def easier than the wet n dry method.Didnt even have to take the lights out!Good stuff.

nice to hear that, how much did you get that for? now you can use that on pretty much anything form car to house! if you have scratches on the interior i would do them too!

omario93 wrote:nice to hear that, how much did you get that for? now you can use that on pretty much anything form car to house! if you have scratches on the interior i would do them too!

I must admit that is wasnt cheap @ about 30 quid but the results speak for themselves.You can buy just the solution for a lot cheaper but I wanted to get the kit so that I did it properly.The beauty of it is you DONT need to rempve headlights or mask bodywork and I even managed to clean up the small front fogs with it.Took about 20 mins to do the lot.
Treat your coupe - shes worth it!

kevin wrote:Nice think a myt get some myself and give it a go

Go for it mate - you can get a bottle for roughly a tenner and just buy a buffing pad which would prob work out cheaper.I just brought the kit so nothing could go wrong!

i normal bodywork buffing pad will not work! you need the pads that you can attack to a drilling handheld high powered machine things! just thought i should add that in before you buy!

omario93 wrote:i normal bodywork buffing pad will not work! you need the pads that you can attack to a drilling handheld high powered machine things! just thought i should add that in before you buy!

Adamski wrote:

omario93 wrote:i normal bodywork buffing pad will not work! you need the pads that you can attack to a drilling handheld high powered machine things! just thought i should add that in before you buy!

was typing on my phone and auto fix made a few errors! should say "a normal" attach instead of attack,

Also great to do the front fogs with as these get a load of punishment being so low to the ground.It has made a real difference to mine

just be carefull about running pads at high speeds

you will cause friction which equals heat,which equals disaster

best is wet n dry 1500,then 2000,then 3000 grit

then polish up with a variable speed polisher and you can use a bodywork pad

i usually do mine with car polish and get great results mate