HLR new No Polish Method

[candyman]

I got a PH call this week from Jonathan reference to stop using the liquid/paste polish as a final step. I did a HLR on a 2005 Toyota Tucoma pickup yesterday. I used the 320,600, 1500 & 3200 sanding disc. I was not satisfifed with the looks of the lens after the 3200 was used. I resisted polishing and applied the UV coating. It looked really good and the owner and his brother were amazed after I applied the UV coating. I've done more than 150 Headlights now and I was not sure how it would turn out by not using the polish. I called Jonathan and let him know as soon as I finished. When I used the paste polish I didn't use any disc above 1500. The paste gave the lens a nice shine, and I normally wipped it down with a cloth towel prior to using the UV coating. I didn't see that same quality look after the 3200 disc. The lens felt smooth, but was sligtly cloudy looking. I am just glad that it worked out ok. I was in another part of the state last week and observed a day worker using a Delta Kit on a street corner. The vehicle lens was slighhtly discolored on the top portion of the lens. He used 1 pad and a scouring pad to sand the lens prior to using the UV coating. It looked ok but my question is this for other Techs. If the lens is not stripped down and smoothed out, will the new UV coating adhere and bond to the lens properly? I would not want to give a two year limited guarnatee for a job I don't feel was complete. I have seen lens that look good but have slight blimishes. After using the prep spray the lens looked really good without sanding. Could the UV coating also be used in this sistuation without sanding? I feel like this would be taking a short cut that may come back to haunt me down the road. Some of you that have done this for a long time, let me know what you know or do in these cases. For now I will continue sanding the lens down and appling the UV coating. Candyman

[Brent Deines]

I know you are looking for input from other techs and not from Delta Kits so I will keep this short, but I do want to clarify something that I feel is very important so people reading your post do not get the wrong impression about what Delta Kits recommends and why.

Delta Kits is constantly evaluating new products and techniques, so when we find something that is "proven" to be more effective we will upgrade products and/or techniques. As you know we used to use a polish to get the lens looking very clear before applying the UV coating, but what we discovered was that the combination of getting the lens too smooth and using a polish that is designed to keep anything from sticking to it was minimizing the longevity of the coating. In some cases customers were reporting that the coating would flake off around the edge of the lens. A temporary solution was to use a scuff pad to rough up the surface of the lens after polishing but that still did not completely reverse the effects of the anti-stick qualities of the polish, and it was difficult for technicians to get the edge of the lens properly scuffed. Using Clean2Prep after the polishing process also helped the coating to adhere better but did not completely remove it, and again it was difficult to remove all of the residue from the edge of the lens. Having the brilliant scientific minds that we do, we eventually figured out that we were putting an awful lot of effort into removing the polymer polish and it would be much simpler to simply not use it in the first place.

After months of testing we determined that using a polish did make the lens look better prior to applying the Coat2Protect, but after applying Coat2Protect we could not see any difference in appearance what so ever. We restored headlight samples using the new technique on one side and the old technique on the other side, and no one could tell the difference, and most importantly, the coating adhered far better. The result was a simplified, less messy process that lasts far longer than when using a polish.

We also made another important change since you purchased your system. We switched from a 3200 grit sanding disk to a 3000 grit polishing disk. Although the 3200 grit disk did a sufficient job of prepping the surface for the Coat2Protect, under magnification the 3000 grit disk we now use does a far superior job! In fact, we just tested a very expensive 4000 grit polishing disk against our 3000 grit disk, and without question the 3000 grit disk out performed it. Not all sanding/polishing disks are created equal!

I'll close with this bit of advice that we had to learn the hard way. If you are not applying a protective coating you should still highly polish the lens with a polish containing polymers formulated specifically for polycarbonate, however, when a coating is to be used the process is different and there are two things you must keep in mind. 1) The better the coating sticks to the lens the better it will protect the surface. 2) The end result after the coating is applied is what is important, not how the lens looks prior to applying the coating. A highly polished surface is not the optimum surface to apply a coating to.

Okay so I did a poor job of keeping this short. Sorry about that!

[candyman]

I could not tell the difference either after applying the UV coating. I just checked that HL out I did yesterday and it dried and looks great. It just concerned me how the lens looked prior to applying the coating. What you say makes sense. I dont have any 3000 grit disc. I will order some on my next order. I have about 25 of the 3200 & ABOUT THE SAME FOR 2400. i WILL USE THE POLISH TO MAKE THE REAR LIGHTS LOOK GOOD. Brent was that answer also good for the second half of my post. I see people do some odd things out here.

[Brent Deines]

Sorry for the delayed response. I was without Internet access for a couple of days.

I often use Clean2Prep on the tail light lenses and then apply Coat2Protect without sanding or polishing and they look great. I have also used Clean2Prep on headlights and found they look so good I don't sand them. In those cases I have just polished up the lens and let it go at that. So far I have not personally applied Coat2Protect to a lens without 1st removing the original coating. I don't think it would hurt anything if the original coating is still in good shape, clear and no pitting, I see no reason to sand and/or apply a new coating.

As I said, unless you look under a magnifying glass you won't see any difference after the headlight coating has been applied so you can still use the 2400 and 3200 grit sanding discs until you run out. Where you will notice a significant difference is before the coating is applied. The polish is still great for periodic maintenance and will not discolor or harm plastics like most waxes do. If people would use a good polish every couple of months their headlights would stay looking good far longer.

[candyman]

I got the new 3000 pads Friday. It a odd type of pad with more cushioning. I will let you know how my next HLR turns out using that pad.