3M Headlight restore kit. WORKS! Before: Mine were a LOT yellower as this pic is almost a year old. The Passenger side was a lot worse and almost had a green hue to it. Passenger light fixed... I recommend this to anyone. It's easy and all you need is a drill (I used my Craftsman cordless) and a spray bottle of water.
I will second Coolrex. I have used this kit and it works as advertised. I did learn that there is a "UV" coating on headlights that we are taking off, but if it was clouded up anyway, it doesn't matter to me. You may expect to redo this every couple of years after. Mine have been done for 3 months or so and I haven't noticed any change.
If you wax/seal the plastic I don't think it's gonna be an issue. The hazing/yellowing is the UV coating being compromised. I'm thinking about getting rockblocker to cover my entire headlight. It's already on my fogs.
Yeh plastx has worked for me in making a slight difference on badly hazed lights, and worked great on stuff that had light hazing! I definitely wanna try the 3m soon though!
I never said Plasti-X 'didn't' work. I said it hardly worked for my car. My headlights were HEAVILY clouded and pitted. It's like you can see the UV coating disappearing (look at the drivers light above). This required a job that sanded the crap off hence the 3M kit. So if you have barely any hazing the PlastiX rocks. But severe hazing? 3M all the way.
Current drivers. Lighting is bad outside and I'm on my camera phone but you can see the yellowing which appears much worse in person.
The UV coating is a hardened liquid polymer. It protects the plastic lens cover. Eventually, the coating (because it's not very good UV coating) breaks down. Then the lens cover yellows. True what CoolRex said; you might as well buff it off. The 3M product sounds good - do 3M make any bad products? However, unless some sort of UV-resistant coating is put back on, the covers will yellow over time. Maybe as soon as late Fall.
Ah my headlights look brand spanking new again. Found some precut clear covers for them too with UV protectant......thinking hard about getting them.
thx ^_^ also: Plast-x works great if you take this into account. Like most of Meguiars' stuff, its a diminishing application. It gets weaker the more you work it in. (moreso than their pro line or than most 3M products). Diminishing cut is good for beginners and for power tools as its easier to work it off and not damage what you were polishing. Its not so good if you don't have tools and are applying by hand because you can't rely on the machine's power, and the cut power of the product fades quickly, leaving you only elbow grease. tl;dr Plastx good with machines and with beginners, not as good by hand.
I did the Plastix with a porter cable......still didn't work to satisfaction. I used a whole freaking bottle too. 3M done and done.
okay okay. 3m is a heavier cut product, and in the hands of someone who knows how to use a PC, its alot faster. jus` trying to say plastX has its uses too, for teh other peeplz =p
For those that don't want to buy a kit It just steps from 800 grit to 2000 grit sandpapers and then buffs out with a fine auto polish
My girlfriend owns a biz that does this as well as touch up for highend dealers in Atl. It will return if you dont clear it with the proper product. Even then they usually last for only about 6 months to a year.
Actually its 500, 800, 2000, then 3000. But yes it's sandpaper and works it way up. I went orginally ot get the sandpaper and the kit itself was cheaper and easier to use since it was designed to stick onto a drill so minimal elbow grease was needed.
Yup. W/out any surface treatment it reappears within a week or two. We should see about getting glass made for the headlights. I would pay $ for glass headlights for my Legacy.
If I win the lottery I'll have a mold made. I bet you could make a killing if you sold just the front covers to replace the stockers. You guys think that putting lamin-x over the lens after polishing and UV protecting the lamin-x will keep the lens clean and clear?
I would think so, so long as you removed all residue first... though i wonder what you'd use to clean it after you polished it that wouldn't fog/haze back up.
FYI engine degreaser on the headlights or bug and tar remover on headlights from a car wash will RUIN your headlights.