Sealer or no sealer

[Brent Deines]

Is the Develup sealer water based or solvent based?

[gt_repair]

I am thinking solvent based.
Becuase even when wet they say to use mineral spirts. and the stuff will not come off your hands with soap and water.
Would I be right?

Don D.

[Chips-B-Gone]

It is a solvent based sealer... Here is a reason to use a sealer. When the lense is sanded you are thinning the lense. When you apply the sealer, not only are you adding UV protection and making it look great, you are also adding strength to the lense.

[GTECH]

Brent,
I use IPS System, their sealer is the best, I have been using their sealer for years, and I never had a call back or customer complain,they still look as good as the day I restored them.for the sealer to perform at its best, you have to prep the headlight as to remove all the damage,epically scratches and gouges, then polish it and then seal it.IPS sealer is self leveling, it works very well when you have to seal deep gouges, so my advice to you is IPS sealer, seeing is believing.

[chips1144]

I wish IPS would attend the show, I was hoping to see them but from what I know they have never been, they are located in Florida just 200 miles from the show.

[gt_repair]

GTECH

It is hard to see to believe. They do not show anything on there web. and they will not sell to you unless you go to FL. to have him hold your hand.
I know he is protecting his product. but a lot of us have proven ourselfs that we can read and or watch a DVD to see what to do step by step... ( I can't type worth a darn though)

The only one they are hurting is themselfs for not letting us see what it can do... It could be the cats meuw and I would buy it in a heart beat. But I do not have the money and the time to have them show me what they can do in person. show it on a DVD edited would even be good. That is what sold me with DVULP. I saw it and tryed it.. The same with the POLYHOG, It was on DVD also.

******Let me ask you... If it was on DVD could you do the same thing as you did flying to FL. to have them hold your hand?

GTECH
If you have so much pull and faith in their product, maybe you should talk to them and let them know what they are loosing buy restricking the sale only if we go to them...

THERE IS NOT A D #^& THING IN FLORADA that I would want to see...

nough said... The ball is in your court to help sell there product if you want.. If not, OH well DVULP looks good to me also. with a mix of GT's Polyhog system.

You know the posts I had in the past when I did try to talk to them and said I use the polyhog. CCCC OOOOO LLLL DDDD shoulder at that point.


Don D.

[chips1144]

First off it was a real pleasure to meet you Brent, my wife and I enjoyed your demo and chat.

The headlight restoration subject is big, after seeing maybe 7 or more systems at MTE I'm still confused, Headlight restoration was certainly flavor of the month at this show, many vendors have some type of system.

I would have to agree with Brent that Micro Mesh and 3M systems looked great, like brand new in my opinion, My wife loved the 3M results over all, the lens was so clear, unfortunately they only have some plastic polish to finish and I'm not sure how long it will last, 3M will not take a back seat on this, Im sure they will research and develop a better coating.

Micro mesh used cushioned sanding pads and offered a Da attachment with a 3 inch head, it looked like a quality item to me.

I did see a Dvelop demo, to see the headlight restored before my eyes was good, they did have the worst looking yellowed headlights while others only had mild surface damage, I did like his 3 inch electric DA sander, it can remove heavy corrosion very well, his results were good.

I saw a Headlight doctor demo on a Jag but the lights were hardly faded, It was all hand sanding, it looked good and was fast. I left my sample kit as I figured it was risky to take the chemicals onboard an aircraft.

I wanted to see and touch the Jepson sander/buffer I saw one over on the LR stand, its nice and easy to hold, a lightweight buffer, it was being used for demonstrating IPS glass scratch removal, LR were using a manual pad and 3" hook and loop sanding system with polish for headlights.

The Renu system from headlight restoration professionals uses UV light to cure their aerosol clear, the UV light seems expensive to me at $1500, the aerosol is $150 a can, you can do a lot of cars with one can, I cant remember the amount they claimed, it was ten or twenty cars, it takes 5 minutes to cure, the lights looked good but I only saw the after results.

I think most customers would be happy with the results of the systems I saw, they all did a fair job. Longevity is a real concern to me, I think we need to use a sealer.

Here in Oregon we may not see as many badly faded headlights but we do get them, people move here from the Southern states plus we get auction cars from Arizona.

[mrchip]

IPS has been to the show....

[chips1144]

Mr Chip, I stand corrected, thanks for that, I wish they gone this year, I would love to see their demo up close.

[Brent Deines]

Originally Posted by chips1144

First off it was a real pleasure to meet you Brent, my wife and I enjoyed your demo and chat.

The headlight restoration subject is big, after seeing maybe 7 or more systems at MTE I'm still confused, Headlight restoration was certainly flavor of the month at this show, many vendors have some type of system.

I would have to agree with Brent that Micro Mesh and 3M systems looked great, like brand new in my opinion, My wife loved the 3M results over all, the lens was so clear, unfortunately they only have some plastic polish to finish and I'm not sure how long it will last, 3M will not take a back seat on this, Im sure they will research and develop a better coating.

Micro mesh used cushioned sanding pads and offered a Da attachment with a 3 inch head, it looked like a quality item to me.

I did see a Dvelop demo, to see the headlight restored before my eyes was good, they did have the worst looking yellowed headlights while others only had mild surface damage, I did like his 3 inch electric DA sander, it can remove heavy corrosion very well, his results were good.

I saw a Headlight doctor demo on a Jag but the lights were hardly faded, It was all hand sanding, it looked good and was fast. I left my sample kit as I figured it was risky to take the chemicals onboard an aircraft.

I wanted to see and touch the Jepson sander/buffer I saw one over on the LR stand, its nice and easy to hold, a lightweight buffer, it was being used for demonstrating IPS glass scratch removal, LR were using a manual pad and 3" hook and loop sanding system with polish for headlights.

The Renu system from headlight restoration professionals uses UV light to cure their aerosol clear, the UV light seems expensive to me at $1500, the aerosol is $150 a can, you can do a lot of cars with one can, I cant remember the amount they claimed, it was ten or twenty cars, it takes 5 minutes to cure, the lights looked good but I only saw the after results.

I think most customers would be happy with the results of the systems I saw, they all did a fair job. Longevity is a real concern to me, I think we need to use a sealer.

Here in Oregon we may not see as many badly faded headlights but we do get them, people move here from the Southern states plus we get auction cars from Arizona.

It was a pleasure to meet you as well. Did you see any ghosts at the hotel?

I agree with everything you said, but like you I am still confused about the sealers, mainly because the reps from 3M and Micro-Mesh both said that a solvent based sealer should not be used, but that seems to be what most of the others do use.

After talking to a number of body shops and seeing the results at the MTE, a good DA sander makes the most sense to me for fast high quality sanding. I sold air tools in a previous life so I am fond of Chicago Pneumatic (CP) and Ingiersall Rand (IR) products, but I'm sure many brands work just fine.

I didn't see the demo on the Jag, but some of the headlights in the Headlight Doctor's booth were pretty bad before he started, and I did watch him do one in his booth. It took about 15 minutes and looked pretty good, especially for a hand sanding job. I would love to see a good sealer on the light that 3M sanded.