Question: Do you guys think that the visbella liquid will self level? or will it create problems for me (e.g. grooves, gaps, waves,) when I try installing the PPF on top of it?
Report:
I think I am getting to the desired outcome.
Working on the right headlight since yesterday, which was the first one I worked on, I discovered that those shiny lines could actually be removed. I quickly found out that 1000 grit was not enough and that loads of elbow grease was required. Took be about 4 hours working only with the 800 grit. This is strange because if they were created by the 800, 7 days ago, they would logically be easy to remove with 800.
This leads me to suppose that they were either there from the factory and the clear-coat was hiding them, or they were cracks in the plastic due to stones or aging, or my previous sanding was rubbing large particles onto the surface.
I think it most probably was stone cracks... possibly because some of these lines after getting sanded, ended up as a single dot along that line which I could not remove because it would be so much harder than the rest of the line (which was already a PITA!). Just a hypothesis.
Today I sanded from 1000/1200/2000/3000 and then polished with DA, yellow rupes & visbella compound, red spta pad & sonax cutmax, black spta pad & 3d one.
Tips on sanding:
0. TAPE AROUND THE HEADLIGHT!
1. ALWAYS turn headlights on fully and keep a charger on the battery. It will allow you to do a much better job.
2. Keep moving your point of view - plastic is hiding its problems from you.
3. Do not be afraid to sand, but do not dig holes into the plastic. Both Fear and Stupidity are your enemies.
4. Do not go to a low grit paper unless it is necessary. If you can remove a scratch mark with 1000 grit in a few minutes then stay there. If you cannot, then go lower and try again for a few minutes before going glower. The lower you go, the harder it will be to smooth those grooves out.
5. If your mark or line is hard to remove by moving the paper in one direction, then try the other direction or even a circular pattern, but keep it local...very local...Do not be afraid to use force but not stupid force and only if you see that it is necessary! Some marks only need 3000 grit gliding softly over them for a few minutes!
6. Use a small piece of sandpaper... I usually worked with 1/16th of the sheet and sometimes found it more prudent to use half of that.
7. When sandpaper is new it leaves deep scratches, even 3000grit. So in the beginning take it easy and just glide it without pressure until it gets a bit blunt... and then you can push it down more.
8. When changing sandpaper to a higher grit, e.g. 800 to 1000, change direction e.g. vertical to horizontal. Use your eyes and try to flatten the previous highs, without creating new lows. e.g. if a huge sandpaper is coming down to flatten Everest, we do not also want it to open a new ocean also!
9. PATIENCE - if you do not have this, your results will be rushed by default! I think that realistically, if I had to start from the beginning, I would require 5-8 hours non-stop on each light, because I removed all clear-coat and went for a (near)mirror finish because I wanted PPF straight on plastic.
Tips on polishing:
0. TAPE AROUND THE HEADLIGHT!
I went for a slick finish, so I used thick compound with medium pad or wool pad as 1st step. I used cutting-polish with medium-soft pad and then a one step with soft pad.
1. Do not be afraid to push down on the plastic, with a bit of force, with your DA. It is beneficial
2. Do not be afraid that the heat will melt your plastic. This will only happen if you leave the DA on one spot for quite some time. I think moving the DA 1 inch a second is very reasonable.
3. Go over it again until all that cream/compou. nd is no longer looking like butter on the surface, but looks like it is gone!
4. If you still can see marks after polishing, go over it again... assess the marks and if they are too deep, get that sandpaper and help that DA out.
5. Careful with your MF cloths... sometimes they will mar your plastics.