hi guys

i will be restoring my headlight lenses soon, i am getting the kit but i need to use a drill. so i need to get a good mask.

i am torn between these 3:

jsp force 10

gvs elipse p3 rd

3m 6800

reason for full face ones is because it is taking me ages to find a half face mask and then taking me ages to find good glasses/goggles too.

many thanks guys

3 hours ago, froggy8 said:

... so i need to get a good mask...

You'd have thought there'd be 1000s of masks reduced to almost nothing these days 🤣

I do wonder if you might be overthinking these car jobs a little.  

I don't mean that in a horrible way.  Just that most of us wouldn't go for professional levels of equipment for a one-off DIY job.  

1 minute ago, TomsFocus said:

I do wonder if you might be overthinking these car jobs a little...

 

I restored the headlights on my old Mercedes, I wore nothing on my face, and I'm OK... cough...cough...cough.. Oh, dammit...

My work involves a fair bit of using angle grinders with cutting, grinding and flap discs. I work on clean, painted and rusty steel depending on what I am doing. Rust dust is the worst one as it floats in the air.

For most of these jobs, a cheap disposable FFP3 dust mask is more than enough. It will be fine for headlight polishing if you are concerned. However, I can't see it producing that much dust, especially while using the polishing compound. 

These FFP3 masks should be available anywhere nowadays, as so many have been made over the last few years and demand is now lower.

The masks you mentioned in the OP are apparently suitable for high risk work such as asbestos removal. There is no need to spend that much money for this job.

I would think that eye protection would be more useful here. I have once had to go to hospital with a metal grinding spark in my eye.

I am surprised your headlights are deteriorated. The Mk2 Focus ones usually look a lot better than some similar aged German and Japanese cars. Japanese ones seem especially bad.

 

 

as long as your not getting your face very near to where you grinding polishing a covid mask should suffice, once the sanding bit has finished youll be using burnishing pastes in varying degrees of fineness till the required result. I'd be more concerned about wearing the wifes apron to stop splatter on your clothes.

24 minutes ago, AntonovAN12 said:

I am surprised your headlights are deteriorated. The Mk2 Focus ones usually look a lot better than some similar aged German and Japanese cars.

Actually, gotta agree with that, my ancient headlights are crystal clear...

 

25 minutes ago, AntonovAN12 said:

 

I am surprised your headlights are deteriorated. The Mk2 Focus ones usually look a lot better than some similar aged German and Japanese cars. Japanese ones seem especially bad.

 

 

When I had a mk2 the top parts of the lights started to go yellow so the uv protection must of deteriorated over time.

34 minutes ago, StephenFord said:

my ancient headlights are crystal clear...

That must be because of your model being an "ST" 🤣

thank you for the comments guys

ok, i agree i do over think it sometimes.

when i looked at my headlights few weeks ago, it looked cloudy but when i went out just now to have another look, its not even that bad. no idea how the cloudyness just went.

 

i think i will just leave it for now.

the left one has a cloudy line down it and on the right, it has some mist inside but that should go soon.

24 minutes ago, froggy8 said:

thank you for the comments guys

ok, i agree i do over think it sometimes.

when i looked at my headlights few weeks ago, it looked cloudy but when i went out just now to have another look, its not even that bad. no idea how the cloudyness just went.

 

i think i will just leave it for now.

the left one has a cloudy line down it and on the right, it has some mist inside but that should go soon.

Shove a couple of silica gel packets into the back it should help.

Also, the advantage of owning an old car is that often, parts can be obtained really cheap. You can find excellent condition headlights for a Mk2 on Ebay from £15!

5 minutes to simply swap one out...

I picked up a pair of PFL with black linings for £30.00 from the local scrapper. I think these have previously been refinished [or not] as some times in certain lights they have a rainbow hue type petrol on water look to them on the plastics. Which i've never seen on any headlights i've ever seen. Everytime i catch it i debated polishing them, but then again i sit behind not infront and i'm kinda lazy LOL

4 hours ago, StephenFord said:

You can find excellent condition headlights for a Mk2 on Ebay from £15!

and also a respirator mask .....

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2380057.m570.l1313&_nkw=162508213414&_sacat=0

2 hours ago, unofix said:

and also a respirator mask .....

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2380057.m570.l1313&_nkw=162508213414&_sacat=0

Guess they're selling them all off now because they won't be needing them anymore in Ukraine as they're getting their ars* whipped! LOL