Headlight Restoration

[flb_78]

I bought a 2000 Mercury Grand Marquis 2 weeks ago and the headlights were horrible on it. I priced new ones and about choked. I saw Walmart did a headlight restoration for $40. I found out it's just a 3M kit that anyone can buy for $20 at VatoZone, Oreilly's,Napa, or Advance Auto. I tried the Meguiar's PlastX and spent an hour polishing them by hand. They looked better but they were still cloudy. I broke down and bought the 3M kit this morning after watching some youtube videos on headlight restoration. This kit works great. My headlights are crystal clear like new. If you have yellow, foggy, or cloudy headlights, this is a MUST!! You don't need the kit to do this. If you have very fine sandpaper (2000 grit or finer), then you could do this yourself by hand. I had no sandpaper nor do I have a polishing pad so the kit was more economical for me.

 

The kit comes with 2 different sanding discs, a 3000 grit sanding pad, a polishing pad, an arbor and Velcro pad to attach the sanding discs and pad to, and some 3M plastic polish.

 

You start out with an 800 grit paper and completely sand the headlight until the entire lens is a uniform texture.

Next, sand it with a 2000 grit paper until all the there is a finer uniform texture.

Then, use the 3000 grit sanding pad and water to sand all the scratches out of it.

Finally, use the polishing pad and plastic polish to bring the headlight to crystal clear shine.

 

Be very careful to keep the sanding discs clean. I apparently had something on one of my discs and now have some tiny little swirlly scratches in my left headlight. I can only see them at certain angles and I can feel them with my fingernail. I could probably sand the lens down some more and polish it out, but I'm very happy with the current results. I also removed three molded tits off the headlight lens. I took a rotary tool and ground them down flush and the 3M kit polished them out smooth.

 

http://img183.imageshack.us/img183/650/1000563small.jpghttp://img265.imageshack.us/img265/8449/1000564small.jpghttp://img176.imageshack.us/img176/4675/1000565small.jpghttp://img269.imageshack.us/img269/6892/1000566small.jpghttp://img176.imageshack.us/img176/406/1000569small.jpghttp://img190.imageshack.us/img190/1906/1000570small.jpghttp://img196.imageshack.us/img196/3530/1000571small.jpghttp://img44.imageshack.us/img44/9899/1000576small.jpg

[flb_78]

Here's 3M's marketing video if you'd like to see the kit in action.

 

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_t1RBw0IGXA]YouTube - 3M? Headlight Lens Restoration System[/ame]

[LilBeaver]

Hmmm...

 

I used to work at a body shop, and we would do that for customers (For free if they were nice to us). It took about [literally] 2 minutes. But, I used a high speed buffer and rubbing compound, then finished it off with a fine polish.

 

I am curious to see which one turns out a more clear headlight...

 

Yours looks great though!

 

Oh yea, and replacements [as you no doubtably found] are a rip... Even the aftermarket ones. Not only are they ridiculously priced, they almost NEVER fit right, or even close...

[flb_78]

You could even do this by hand with some fine grit sand paper and then use a buffer to polish it with, but since I had no sandpaper or a buffer, it was cheaper for me to get the $20 kit.

[Venturous Randy]

Our Dodge Caravan headlights had fogged bad and I did the sanding route before. But a while back I used a kit that not only sanded it down, but had a clearcoat you put over the top. A couple of years later the clearcoat still looks good. I feel you need the kit with the wipe on clearcoat to last very long.

Either way, it was a lot better than before.

RandyA

[timgray]

$5.00 in paint supplies does the same thing.

 

Wet Sand headlights with a 1000 grit sandpaper, sand until all discoloration is gone and they are foggy.

Wet Sand with 2000 grit sandpaper, do this twice once in each direction.

Rub it out with rubbing compound.

Rub it out with polishing compound.

 

All done. works great and looks like new.

[RedRocket]

I have the $ 1 solution.

 

 

Plain, old-style white toothpaste. Rub it in with your fingertips. Watch it turn yellow.

 

Wipe it off, then do it one more time.

 

Finito.

 

[flb_78]

I polished the lens for an hour yesterday with Meguiar's PlastX. It helped some, but the pitting was to deep. It had to be sanded and resurfaced to get them looking brand new.

[RedRocket]

I polished the lens for an hour yesterday with Meguiar's PlastX. It helped some, but the pitting was to deep. It had to be sanded and resurfaced to get them looking brand new.

 

 

I believe it. Mine aren't 'like new' again, but about 90% better. That was fine for me at the time.

[Mike G in SC]

Advance and Wal-Mart and (um? forgot), sell a kit also. The product is CV Headlight Restorer/Defogger.

Comes in a foil bag with everything you need and good instructions.

Their web page is www.myheadlight.com . See their video too.

 

I have used it on 3 cars lately. STUNNING. It was on sale for about $18

One thing different with this kit. I comes with a clear coat finish that will keep it for,,,,,,

well they say "lifetime". I'm not sure how they know how long I will live !!!!!!! I should call them.

 

My before and after pics really do look like the ads.

Wet sandpaper is the key to getting it there, the clear coat will make it stay that way.

( And several years ago, on my wife's Crown Vic, I spent $300 to surprise her with new lenses.

This year I spent $18 on her Lincoln and still got lucky!)