[Ferencfou]

My 2007 Civic SI is now definitely showing its age. The headlights were yellowed to the point that they were dim driving at night. I figured I'd give one of those headlight restoration kits a shot. So I mask off the paint and go to town.

Everything looks great, until I take off the standard blue painters tape and find that on one section, the paint on my bumper cover pulled off! I'm at a loss what to do. Take it to a painter? Get an autozone clearcoat and just touch it up? I'm concerned that by trying to fix my headlights, I've done more harm than good. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

[mj112588]

All depends on how much you want to spend really. It looks like it was the clear coat that came off. If it is sprayed with more clear coat it would help it look a lot better I'm sure. Unless it was you looking for it probably nobody else would notice. If you have the money and want to get it professionally done then of course it'd look better but in my opinion probably not worth the cost to touch up that tiny spot.

 

[White-out]

👆🏻 he's right.. it depends on what you want to spend to fix it..
If it was me and I cared.......I'd re-clearcoat it.

I've painted and clearcoated a part of my hood and as you can see the clearcoat did really well.( 2k Clear from Amazon 20$)

If you ever want to fix it that's all you need to do just clearcoat it.

 

[White-out]

The process will most likely involve removing part of the bumper to clear coat it, but in most cases it can be done in an afternoon.

If that was my car I would do this.

1. Sanding off the rough edges (where the clear-coat was peeled) with 1000 or 1500 grit sandpaper. Sand paper 8$ for a pack

2. Sanding around the area with 2000 grit. Including were you sanded the peel.

3. Masking with newspaper.

4. Clearcoating 3 light layers or so.(Clearcoat 10 - 22$)

5. Let it dry for 24 hours.

6. Buff the edges (where the new clearcoat ends) with rubbing compound- 5$

7. Polish it afterwards.

If you already have something to buff it or polish it with.
It would prolly be about 40 bucks for all...if ... you get it right.

But yea it depends on what chance you want to take.
That's my 2 cents👍🏻

 

[PocketShark]

So I can tell you where you messed up, is using painters tape. I made the same mistake on mine and found you have to use AUTOMOTIVE tape since it's less likely be, you know, sticky. Any google search can yield what you are looking for, and sorry this happened to you. But did you fix your headlights tho?