$150 to buff a headlight is crazy! So what’s the real pull here? Is it a few years guarantee? I quoted a faded out Buick the other day at $130 and guy was like too much lol. $150 on a frontier is nuts. These lights are small. Normally I charge $95 or sometimes I’ve went aroubd $80 bc they can literally be restored in 30 min or less. So what’s the value point of how you package your wording is what I’m wondering? I’ve had many turn down a solid price with guarantee included and show before and afters. Since this is the normal for you and Jason, I’m wondering if I’m missing something to tweak.

Nice job. Just a word of suggestion and I hope you take it constructively… don’t use any kits on customer vehicles. It’s very bad practice and you won’t get far using kits. They cannot handle majority of headlights needing restoration and it’s a bad look if you’re charging good money using something they can try to figure out using themselves. Good luck with your neighbor. Keep us posted.

Polishing will depend on the type or coating you use. Most coatings will need a slightly scuffed light anywhere between 800-3000 grit sanding marks left in order to really bond to the plastic. Garbage 1 and 2K clears bond at 600/800 grit sanded surfaces. The coating I use which is Meguiars bonds at 3000 grit (I use to polish and I’ll share why I don’t anymore). Others can bond to a polished light but the prep to ensure there’s ZERO residue left behind is 1,000 % important!! I use to polish to perfection after 3000 grit and stopped for two main reasons. #1 - I save time not polishing and don’t have to be concerned with battery life on my drill, keeping pads clean and saving money on product. # 2 - After I ran out of my fav polish which is Meguiars M205 (could be 105, one of them is compound the other polish) I Used another polish which was phenominal in terms of hydration, and appearance… HOWEVER, this particular polish left behind thin residue that you cannot see or feel even after prepping. And it affected the longevity of the coating causing the lights to oxidize prematurely. I figured this out by mistake… Because I go D2D, I’ve revisited certain areas where I’ve had customers before. Nearly 9 months later o notice two vehicles I did after switching polish and they began to look a bit hazy, some minor yellowing when the sun hit. It deeply bothered me although I’ve never had a customer ever contact me about premature yellowing after explaining the coating lasts 13-15 months. Partly because I set real expectations, but secondly because they probably just didn’t care to bother since majority of my time doing this I hadnt offered any guarantee. So I completely cut polishing and I find in truth that the finished look really didn’t make any difference. Still crystal clear. The difference however is now the coating bonds better to the light which is actually instructed to use with zero polishing steps. So if you polish, I’d choose wisely. A polish that has a lot of lubricity and is more oil based is going to leave residue. Even using alcohol to prep it’s hard to really tell if you’ve cleared it probably of any oils left behind before coating.

@Brenden LeMaster the coating does nothing if your sanding skills aren’t dialed in. You want to produce the best results? Dial in your sanding skills. The coating just protects. Sanding is where the restoration happens.

@Brenden LeMaster just saw this. Sorry for delay. I’ve machine sanded before and for me it’s faster by hand. I don’t need to worry about keeping batteries charged and what not neither. The way you get swirls out from machines sanding is simple… let’s say you use 800 grit disc via drill. After you’ve sanded the entire light, you hand sand horizontally with 800 grit and you’ll have zero swirls left behind. You’d do this with each grit stage.

If you give a coating warranty or guarantee - then this voids the terms and breaks that agreement. Depending on the coating you use, it could be easy or it could be work to remove and re-do… I would charge a small fee like $30 or something for example. Why? Because time is money, materials aren’t free, and neither is transportation. Now if this happened while you were still on site, I’d do it for free and advise he broke the terms of the warranty and is now void for any future re-dos. You can advise you have the right to charged but I’ll retouch it free since I’m still on site. That’s how I’d handle it. People try to play ignorant and you already made it clear. There was zero reason for customer to touch the light and get curious. If it were to create friction, you have the right to leave and advise they breeched terms and are-do is void. You don’t have to put up with peoples attitudes or push back. (Another example if it went sideways).