So I had some time today and wanted to try something out. My passenger side headlight was cloudy and that base model trim under my drivers headlight that had most of the chrome pealed off was gettin to me. Plus I wanted some touch up paint so I went to the place that said they could make me the paint since its discontinued.
The lady was really nice and said that she could get close but I would need the paint ($9) and some catalyst ($9) as well as the brush and that really for rock chips I should get Deep Jewel Green since its the same color (mix wise) but has more metallic flake. Upside is its still available so its cheap. So I went to Autozone and bought a touch up bottle/spray can and some 1000, 1500 and 2000 gritt sand paper for the lense and some 800 for the trim piece.
I tried the touch up paint on my chips and was bummed cause it was lighter but after 15 minutes it dried to such a good match that I couldnt see them unless I was a foot away and looking for them. :wrench
So I felt confident and prepped the trim piece to spray paint it. Sanded with 800 then 1000. One piece of the chrome just did not want to come off and I didnt want to hurt it and my arms were sore cause I had done the headlight already so I said "screw it, aint gonna come out good anyway. :lol: I should point out that I cant paint and every time it sux so my expectations were low. It was worse after I did one light coat and realized I forgot to get primer.
Screw it, I let it sit about 10 min between coats and put 6 coats on it. After I put it together I finnished reading the can (yes I am a tard) and see they want to use clear too.
So in a few days after it cures a bit I will just glaze and wax it with the professional stuff I have. I also touched up the big rock chips in the bumper.
Before:
After:
The headlight was also new teritory for me and I followed some advice I read on here. (yes I use the search function sometimes) :lol:
So I sanded them with 1000 gritt untill I couldnt see the haze in the lense and then did 1500 gritt and finnished with 2000 gritt. I then put a Lake Country orange pad on my Porter Cable on speed 3 and hit it with Meguires professional scratch/deswirl product. After that I hit it with Meguires clear plastic polish on speed 4. Still wasnt clear enough so I put on a finnishing pad and used Meguires professional glaze on speed 5 and that got it about as good as I can get it.
So let me know what you guys think.
Before:
After sanding:
After polishing. I couldnt seem to get the glare form the chrome reflection down in the pics. Plus it still is not as nice as my drivers side that has a new lense on an old housing. I need to find a new passenger lense and a new drivers side reflector as mine is spotted and pitted.... yet the passenger sides reflector is perfect.
I will take some pics tomorrow in the daylight so I can really see how bad the mis-match is. With the light on it it looks pretty damn close but daylight will tell all.
The lady was really nice and said that she could get close but I would need the paint ($9) and some catalyst ($9) as well as the brush and that really for rock chips I should get Deep Jewel Green since its the same color (mix wise) but has more metallic flake. Upside is its still available so its cheap. So I went to Autozone and bought a touch up bottle/spray can and some 1000, 1500 and 2000 gritt sand paper for the lense and some 800 for the trim piece.
I tried the touch up paint on my chips and was bummed cause it was lighter but after 15 minutes it dried to such a good match that I couldnt see them unless I was a foot away and looking for them. :wrench
So I felt confident and prepped the trim piece to spray paint it. Sanded with 800 then 1000. One piece of the chrome just did not want to come off and I didnt want to hurt it and my arms were sore cause I had done the headlight already so I said "screw it, aint gonna come out good anyway. :lol: I should point out that I cant paint and every time it sux so my expectations were low. It was worse after I did one light coat and realized I forgot to get primer.
Screw it, I let it sit about 10 min between coats and put 6 coats on it. After I put it together I finnished reading the can (yes I am a tard) and see they want to use clear too. So in a few days after it cures a bit I will just glaze and wax it with the professional stuff I have. I also touched up the big rock chips in the bumper.Before:
After:
The headlight was also new teritory for me and I followed some advice I read on here. (yes I use the search function sometimes) :lol:
So I sanded them with 1000 gritt untill I couldnt see the haze in the lense and then did 1500 gritt and finnished with 2000 gritt. I then put a Lake Country orange pad on my Porter Cable on speed 3 and hit it with Meguires professional scratch/deswirl product. After that I hit it with Meguires clear plastic polish on speed 4. Still wasnt clear enough so I put on a finnishing pad and used Meguires professional glaze on speed 5 and that got it about as good as I can get it.
So let me know what you guys think.
Before:
After sanding:
After polishing. I couldnt seem to get the glare form the chrome reflection down in the pics. Plus it still is not as nice as my drivers side that has a new lense on an old housing. I need to find a new passenger lense and a new drivers side reflector as mine is spotted and pitted.... yet the passenger sides reflector is perfect.
I will take some pics tomorrow in the daylight so I can really see how bad the mis-match is. With the light on it it looks pretty damn close but daylight will tell all.
