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Arrakark 
Next, I did the headlights. I used 1000 grit sandpaper to roughly sand the UV damaged clearcoat and plexiglass underneath. There was a lot! About 20 minutes worth of hand-sanding for each headlight with the 1000 grit only. Then I moved up in increments of 500 grit all the way to 3000. But then, just before putting the clearcoat on, I realized that such a smooth surface probably wouldn’t hold the clearcoat on very well. So I went back and roughed up the surface with 1500 grit before masking, cleaning with isopropyl, and clearcoating with some 1-part Rust-Oleum clearcoat. And the results were disastrous! There were spider-web like cracks all over the headlight. I read online and it was most likely due to wrong type of clearcoat and improper application. I waited way too little between coats (about 5 min) and didn’t do a light enough spray. The photo you see of the cracks below is after I had left the clear coat dry and I already started sanding it off again.
So I sanded down the old clearcoat down again, and this time I went out and bought a respirator and some proper 2-part clearcoat. I basically followed this tutorial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKNn24Afv5g from Ratchets and Wrenches and I was very happy with the results! I waited about 10-15 minuites between coats this time, and did a very light coat at first, with heavier coats going forward. I did about 4 coats in total. There was some orange-peel on them now but it’s very subtle. It shows up well on camera but you can’t feel it at all if you drag your finger over it. I think I will wait a month and then polish and wax these guys and I’m fairly sure it will go away. Either way it makes the car look like new again!
Here’s before the first coat:
After first coat:
After second coat:
After third coat:
After fourth coat:
Closeup of orange-peel:
It’s not perfect by any means, but I’m still happy with it.
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