I got nothing but old cars; the newest one is the 2008 bus. All of them except the bus have yellowed headlights. I used different home remedies, toothpaste, bug spray, WD40, and other polishing compounds, and they help a bit, but none work like the products for sale advertise with their sparkly pictures. It appears that the surface of the lenses on my cars are pitted from road grit sandblasting them, so even after cleaning, new dirt lodges in those cracks in a short time. I expect I'll have to buy new ones - some are too bad for driving safety - but maybe there's a product one of y'all have tried that "re-coats" the surface to fill in those cracks.
This is a good comparison.
I used the 3M product and they looked new. Every 6 months or so i by a pad of the protective liquid and reapply. Over a year now with no problems.
Good stuff, thanks Xman. Looks like they can work. The Sylvania stuff was $30 online, whereas you can get two new headlight lenses for just $60. But the 3m product as just $16, that's prolly a better price point.
Good stuff, thanks Xman. Looks like they can work. The Sylvania stuff was $30 online, whereas you can get two new headlight lenses for just $60. But the 3m product as just $16, that's prolly a better price point.
The 3M kit comes with enough sanding disks to do multiple vehicles. The only perishable piece is the final coating you apply when you are done. If you do several vehicles at the same time you can use the coating before the pads dry out. They can also be purchased separately
I like the 3m kits although I do deviate from the instructions a little and start with some 100-grit sandpaper on a DA to get the crap knocked off, then some 220, then I start following their instructions. It’s worked pretty good for me a few times, here are some Ford Superduty examples.
2005 Excursion
2010 F250
Every year when I renew the registrations I go over the headlights again with one of these wipes to keep them looking good, been working for three years so far in the harsh Texas sun.
Whoa, that looks awesome. There's my mistake - I thought I didn't want to scratch the surface, that there was a magic chemical that would take the yellow off, lol. All these kits sand the heck out of the lens. And if I can do several vehicles with one kit, that's a great value. I got bunches of yellow headlights. Thanks, guys. I'm working on the Prii this week, trying to get everything I need off my parts car so I can get rid of it. That's 8 yellow headlghts right there.
Part of the fogging is the factory clear coat failing; the other is the cracks in the plastic.
The sanding process removes the clearcoat and some of the plastic. Then you polish the plastic to finer scratches to make it more transparent. I've not had to do this with my '03 headlights, but our '03 Lincoln LS with it's HID lamps have been a real problem for more than a dozen years. In the LS forums, there have been a lot of threads of the issues, and many of us have tried different things.
Wearing down the micro-fissures to get to better plastic is old-school tech. The big issue is getting them coated with something that is UV protective and stays clear. That's where the issue is.
My '03 does have the problem of sand pitting, with is different than the typical translucent fogging. I know later Superduty models have fogging issues; not sure what changed.
You can do the abrasion and polishing without the "kits". It's no different from buffing and polishing your paint, although you have to go with a higher abrasive to remove the clear and wear down the plastic.
Ahh, the clear coat. The 3M product may be a good choice, never used it. And as mentioned above, recoating every year may be the solution for many.
A decade ago, as I used to hang out in the detailing forums, I bought a "pro" clearcoat that has held up well. Is it worth it over the 3m product for many of us? I don't know. The pro material is expensive and cures by UV light. You are supposed to buy the lamps to do this professionally, but I have the lamps exposed to sunlight for a day. If I didn't have the GlasWeld product, which is expensive, I'd probably try the 3M.
Anyway, it's not a bad site to read through, even not buying their GClear for over $50.
Well, dang, that guy talks a lot, and I can't hear. And the stage lighting reflects so much on the headlights, I can't tell how bad they were starting out or how much better he made them. Since I'd be hand sanding, how do you know when you've sanded enough? Just like anything, I guess, it gets smoother? Does it become more transparent as you sand, or more uniform? Kit or not kit, still needs to be wet sanding, right?
Hand sanding would take FOREVER. The little kits aren't expensive and you can use a regular drill (surely you have a drill of some kind, if not go buy the cheapest thing at Wal-Mart/ Harbor Freight)). And yes, at least the final stages of sanding need to be done wet.
I prefer restoring the headlights vice replacing them because you end up with the OEM high quality lights vice cheap azz China garbage
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The kits do work. They take off a layer of the oxidized and pitted plastic and get you down to clean plastic underneath, which you them polish back up to a nice clear. I suspect the result is less durable then brand new lenses, but hopefully is a lot cheaper. I hear conflicting reports on the need for a clearcoat or other protective coat on top, so I don't know how much that helps with longevity. Probably does help somewhat.
3M must make several versions of their kit. The one I got included everything, Protective gloves, masking tape, drill attachment, sanding discs, protective coating pads too.
But I have seen slimmed down versions, maybe they are for touch ups? The protective coating pads can be purchased separately as well. I got some from NAPA not long ago.
