How long?

[t4k]

Wow, I was expecting alot more feedback from people using deltas hard coat.

Yep, me too.

[just chippen away]

Go to a Chevy dealership and ask them what they think about a dodge. Are going to get the true answer you want to hear? Or maybe the highlights from their side...? Sales. Like Brent says. We will agree to disagree.

I am not going to down Delta, but they have their product, and may still be making changes as they see things that need it, or may not. Do not know.

Another company has there way of doing theirs. They may be making changes also.

I have use 3 or 4 different systems and just took the best of all and done it my way. It may not even be the right way. I have been doing this over 5 years and see my work all over.

I looked at one of my trucks that was done with the 2 part Dvelup system in Oct and a friend I done a year ago with the same system . I do know they were still tweaking their mix for the UV after we spoke many times, they look like I did not do anything to them. I am going to have to grind down and redo both.

I did my other truck another way and they look and feel brand new. I know one brand of lights can and will turn bad faster that another. I am taking that in consideration also...

Look at it this way on a sealer, If you have sun screen on, you will not get burned. If you are out there with out any skin protection you will get burned. In some States you do not even need the skin protection.

In general one can not really tell you how long restored lights will last...
You had one guy in your State what was doing HL's, But I have not seen him on line any more, He would be able to give a good idea. He may have shut down do to a bad back from what I heard. He may charm in soon.


Sorry this is the best one could answer the question without being bias.

[Brent Deines]

hls 2010,

Hopefully some Delta Kits Coat2Protect users will chime in, but in the mean time you can test it yourself. Get a really bad headlight from a wrecking yard and put a piece of tape down the middle. Follow our instructions and apply our coating on one side. Do whatever you want on the other side but do not apply the coating, then put the light out in your yard or up on your roof and check it every few months. Be sure to date the light first and mark the sides so you know which one is coated and which one is not.

Unfortunately this will not help you immediately, but it will give you the "seeing is believing" answers you seek...eventually. Until then I think Jonathan's suggestion is a good one. If you can get customers to come in for an annual headlight maintenance, you will have the opportunity to see how well the restoration is holding up, and can make a little extra $$ every year for your time while ensuring that your customers remain happy with the job you did for them.

As a side note, I'm a skin cancer survivor so I recommend you check with your dermatologist to see if there are states where you don't need to wear sunscreen rather than get that information from a headlight restoration forum. I can tell you what mine says.

[just chippen away]

hls 2010,

As a side note, I'm a skin cancer survivor so I recommend you check with your dermatologist to see if there are states where you don't need to wear sunscreen rather than get that information from a headlight restoration forum. I can tell you what mine says.

I am not going to make this long winded. Just a link from Cancer .org. This is a good reference tool for all in our field to read... http://www.cancer.org/docroot/PED/conte ... Can_Do.asp

Brent I am sorry you had skin cancer, We have a few friends out here that died from Melanomas. As it said in the write up Light skinned people are more prone to skin cancer.

All I was doing was to make a small point. about the lenses, not about us in general....

[hls2010]

Brent,

I did purchase a headlight from a junk yard a few weeks back and I did the restoration to one half of the headlight, but I use this for demonstrations. I think putting a junk yard headlight in your back yard or on the roof is not a good way to test it. What I did was I did a few friends and relatives cars, this way I can check them in a year from now. This is the best way to check on the clear because the headlight will be exposed to all the elements that have been mentioned sun,chemicals,car washes,exhaust from vehicle, etc.
But like you mentioned I have to wait a year to check on the results. In my area their is alot of people offering very low prices on headlight restoration at gas stations and not to mention all the people on craigslist. Its hard for customers to understand the difference from a $20 buff and polish and an a professional restoration using a clear hard coat.
Customers dont understand that this cheap prices are just a temporary fix. Now I want to be confident that my service using delta kits will outlast this cheap $20-$40 services.
Thats why I was hoping other companies using deltas hard coat would share their experiences.

[Brent Deines]

hls 2010,

As a side note, I'm a skin cancer survivor so I recommend you check with your dermatologist to see if there are states where you don't need to wear sunscreen rather than get that information from a headlight restoration forum. I can tell you what mine says.

I am not going to make this long winded. Just a link from Cancer .org. This is a good reference tool for all in our field to read... http://www.cancer.org/docroot/PED/conte ... Can_Do.asp

Brent I am sorry you had skin cancer, We have a few friends out here that died from Melanomas. As it said in the write up Light skinned people are more prone to skin cancer.

All I was doing was to make a small point. about the lenses, not about us in general....

I knew you were not giving sun screen advice; I was just messing with you to lighten things up a bit. I've been fortunate so far but after a few minor operations my Dr. is pretty adamant about the use of sunscreen and floppy hats for this fair skinned fella.

[Brent Deines]

Brent,

I did purchase a headlight from a junk yard a few weeks back and I did the restoration to one half of the headlight, but I use this for demonstrations. I think putting a junk yard headlight in your back yard or on the roof is not a good way to test it. What I did was I did a few friends and relatives cars, this way I can check them in a year from now. This is the best way to check on the clear because the headlight will be exposed to all the elements that have been mentioned sun,chemicals,car washes,exhaust from vehicle, etc.
But like you mentioned I have to wait a year to check on the results. In my area their is alot of people offering very low prices on headlight restoration at gas stations and not to mention all the people on craigslist. Its hard for customers to understand the difference from a $20 buff and polish and an a professional restoration using a clear hard coat.
Customers dont understand that this cheap prices are just a temporary fix. Now I want to be confident that my service using delta kits will outlast this cheap $20-$40 services.
Thats why I was hoping other companies using deltas hard coat would share their experiences.

I understand and agree that the best test is in real world applications, which we have done as well. The headlight in the backyard is not a perfect test by any means, but it is very easy to keep track of and does eliminate some of the variables that are found in real world testing so I think it is valuable as an addition to your real world testing.

We did a couple of years of research before selling any headlight restoration products, then entered the market place on a limited basis to make sure we did not have any problems that didn't show up in our testing. Only then did we start selling to our distributors and are just now ramping up with a Headlight Restoration marketing campaign, so frankly there are probably very few Delta Kits customers who have been using our headlight restoration products for 2 years or more. We also made several changes to our recommended tools, processes, and coatings based on customer feedback and continued testing in an ongoing effort to provide the best possible products.

I believe there is a huge difference in the appearance of a professionally polished lens right off the bat, and don't seem to have much trouble convincing my service customers of that. We have a Wal-Mart right up the street doing restorations for about 25% of what we charge! I also believe there is big difference in the longevity of the restored lens when using Coat2Protect, but it's just too soon for most of our customers to be able to verify that from personal experience.

For just chippen away's benefit I will add that just using a hard coat does not make the job professional, nor does not using a hard coat at all. How the job looks when you are finished and how long it lasts is what matters, and we don't all agree on which method offers the best longevity.

I understand your frustration. I was very skeptical at first as well and very nervous about offering my customers a 2 year guarantee. Although I am now very comfortable offering that guarantee to my service customers I still hesitate to tell you or anyone else what your guarantee should be for all the reasons mentioned previously in this topic. If I lived in Phoenix or LA I would probably offer a 1 year guarantee with an option for an extended guarantee with an annual maintenance agreement, but again I'm afraid I can't tell you that is what you should do.

Sorry I can't give you anything more concrete than that at this time.

[hls2010]

Thanks for all your help Brent. I will go with a 1 year guarantee for now and see how things go.

[Brent Deines]

Keep us posted

[just chippen away]

[/quote] I knew you were not giving sun screen advice; I was just messing with you to lighten things up a bit. I've been fortunate so far but after a few minor operations my Dr. is pretty adamant about the use of sunscreen and floppy hats for this fair skinned fella.[/quote]

Brent
Now days I can't tell if you are messing with me or others, or just trying to get the final word in. At least it was not in CAP LOCK.
I know you are laid back person, but will prove your point at any means, and you know I am almost the same, and will do the same to prove my point.

The only problem is, this is your site and lively hood so I will have to give you the last word. (That is going to hurt ).. We both know we will not see eye to eye on a lot of things, But we all have our own option to what works best for us. If not, we all will have the same products and will be doing the same thing as others and there will not be anything different from each other. That is what individualizes all of us.

I can tell you, I do have a great sense of humor on a lot of things, But I take my work to heart and do my home work before I voice up... like others should.

Well, what can we differ on now?