Smoking a headlight

[overtwo636]

So here is the situation. Clients bike was wrecked, put a nice 3x4" scratch on the headlight.

example light
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So the light is pretty large, the scratch will not buff completely out because a few of the gashes were pretty deep. Im sure I can polish it up to a decent dull luster but is it possible to throw some "smoke" effect over it to hide the damage a little more? Sand the whole light up to 1500, add some of the dark charcoal to some clear and spray on 2 or so coats? I dont want it to be completely covered but hide some of the damage and provide a decent effect.

[mattcorby]

fist off, you can polish that back to more than a dull luster, you can polish it to a "factory" new shine, just buff and polish like you would paint on a car. But if you DO decide to smoke it, you want to use VERY diluted black, and spray 4 to 6 coats. spraying this is just like spraying candy, spray several thin coats otherwise you will get some terrible mottling. also, sometimes you will get a brownish tinge with your lights turned on, i think it depends on the manufacture of the black color used. to counter-act this add some blue kandy to the mixture.

[overtwo636]

fist off, you can polish that back to more than a dull luster, you can polish it to a "factory" new shine, just buff and polish like you would paint on a car. But if you DO decide to smoke it, you want to use VERY diluted black, and spray 4 to 6 coats. spraying this is just like spraying candy, spray several thin coats otherwise you will get some terrible mottling. also, sometimes you will get a brownish tinge with your lights turned on, i think it depends on the manufacture of the black color used. to counter-act this add some blue kandy to the mixture.

I tried buffing out some scratches on a windscreen but coudnt get it to factory shine, a little hazy. I think it would look pretty good with a smoked finish on it, being that only 1 of 3 bulbs are running lights the right side damage wouldnt be very noticeable at all. I think I'll give it a shot. Worst case, it comes back off. What grit would you recommend to sand up to before applying? 1200?

[style]

wet sand with 800 then two coats of clear.....

anything mores just gonna look off, imean hell if your gonna tint why not drop some yellow in your clear...

i did one similar with paint and clear mixed, two yellow circles and the rest smoke then clear 2 coats it looked good customer liked it,personally looked tacky,leave it original..

[iKONA]

If you put tint in the clear on regular head lights wont the high beams ruin the finish? Burn the paint?

[regg187]

They make a polishing kit for polishing lights that have seen enough sun to dull and yellow, it takes therm back to factory new It should work in these conditions. It is called "5 minute optical polish" from custom chemical packaging llc valley view OH says on the box deeper imperfections may require more work but they will be removed. hope that helps