Fog Light Sanding Picture Tutorial

[zincman]

Fog Lights

First off, sorry this is not in projects, I do not have a high enough rank to post there, if someone could move it, that would be good.

This is a step by step of how to sand your headlights or foglights. There are many ways to do this, this is just the way I did it. My SiX's fogs' were very pitted and looked crappy so I decided that I would try to refinish them as well as put some new bulbs in. The results are quite impressive considering you can do the whole process in about 3-5 hours.

First off you have to remove your fogs, to do this jack up your car and get to the back of the lights. There are two nuts that you have to get off (size 10), one on each side. Once they are off simply pull back slightly and then tilt them forward through the front, simple as that. Now there is the wire going from the back of the fog, follow it up until you find a clip, on the top of this clip there is a small button, click it down and wiggle the plug out...there you go. Now repeat for the other side.






As you can see the lights are very pitted, probably becasue they are only a few inches off the ground, and fairly cloudy when I took them out.

Alright, now that you have your lights out, get all materials needed for the project. I used;
- 320 grit wet/dry sandpaper
- 1000 grit wet/dry sandpaper
- 2000 grit wet/dry sandpaper
- Novus Fine Scratch Remover





So now all you have to do is start sanding...progess through the various grits of sandpaper until you are happy with the pits you get out. For me, I sanded with the 320 grit paper for about 30 minutes, trying to get most of the pits out (some deeper ones wouldn't come out). Do not worry about the fact that you can't see into your lights, they should be white. Next is the 1000 grit, make sure you have lots of water and keep sanding. Once your happy, get your scratch remover of your choice and rub it in. The difference is just amazing, like a new set of lights...I didn't think that it would be as effective as it was.








These are the pictures comparing the light I did and the one I hadn't started yet...there was such a huge difference, I was so happy that I just took the time to do this instead of paying a couple hundred for a new set.









So now that thats all done, you can change your bulbs if you desire. The stock lights are 35W H3 bulbs and to change them, just remove the three screws on the back on the foglight (mine were rusted to crap, so it took a bit of convincing). The part just pops off and then the light clicks out. Carefully put you new bulbs in, I put in 55W H3's, be sure not to touch the bulb! There are two wires to connect, the ground goes down under where the back of your bulb is and the other connects to the piece you unscrewed. Connect them and screw the top piece back on nice and tight.













Once you are all finished getting everything together, get under the car and insert the fog light. You have to put it in from the front. Screw on the nuts and connect the electrical wire up to the plug. Repeat for the other side. (The nut on the right side of the fog light on the passenger side of the car was tricky to get on becasue theres not much room to fit your hand.)

[nelac]

very nice write up.. one of my lights went out the other day so this is actually really convient.. haha thanks

[rscircuitcity]

did you even use the 2000 grit???

[Car-InsanE]

wow awesome man, good work!

[xIFallout]

very good work! and faq ill porbley do mine this week

[95_Black Riider]

hey my new 6 's headlights and foglights need some TLC, I will give this a try!

[Chefsp0t]

I used the same wetsanding technique but I used mequiar's plastx from my local pep boys. It's a great product that makes lenses clearer the same way scratch removers do and it also repels water.

While you've got the fogs out, you could bake them at 250 degrees (F) for around 10 minutes, pry the lenses off (there's a thick white glue around the whole outer edge that softens with heat), and unscrew the little glare shields that cover the bulbs. My fog lights are a lot brighter now.

[BShark]

Final product looks great, and nice job doing the writeup! I'm always so lazy to take pictures in between steps when doing a project, so props for putting in that extra effort

[Stealth]

Nice work, copied to projects for you.

[Lambera]

I can say I didnt get these results.