Here's what the passenger side looked like before:
Small chips, bugs implanted, and mostly, sun damage and haze from 11 years in service.
My local NAPA had the 3M Headlight Restoration System on sale for $16.99 yesterday, so I grabbed it and decided to give it a shot.
The kit includes:
500 Grit Sanding discs
800 Grit Sanding discs
3000 Grit pad
Buffing Pad
Rubbing Compound
Drill chuck with hook and loop pad
Excellent Instructions (Ironically using the same headlights, either from a Sable or Taurus, lol)
What you will need to supply:
Hand Drill (1200 - 1600 RPM)
Painter's Tape (Household worked fine for me, 3M recommends their Automotive Painter's tape)
Spray Bottle with clean water
After acquiring the said items, a chair and a beverage (Non alcoholic of course) I began. After taping around the headlight to prevent the paint and trim getting scratched, I started with the 500 grit disc on the pad, sanded the headlight (dry), checking progress and cleaning the pad and the headlight off frequently. Once the headlight was evenly scratched with the 500 grit, I moved on to the 800. One recommendation of my own is to move completely across the headlight with each pass, don't go half and go back, it takes longer to hide those scratches. Go from the left to the right, then go up halfway and go back, once to the top, go down, 5-6 times.
Here's how the headlight looked after the 800 grit:
You can see the stains and unevenness are gone, just evenly hazed. These next steps will correct that.
After hooking the 3000 grit disc to the pad and wetting both the pad and the headlight, I began with that, removing the 800 grit scratches.
Here's how it looks now:
You can see the clarity coming back already.
Now moving to the buffing pad, I put a dime sized amount of rubbing compound on the pad and started buffing.
Here are the final results:
After removing the tape:
Quite a difference, isn't it? Just think of how much safer this will be, not only for my sister, but for oncoming traffic. Last time I drove that car at night I remember how poor the output was, even with the brights on.
On a scale of 1-5, I rate this product a 4.5 based on cost, ease of use, and effectiveness. Can you achieve the same results with some sandpaper and rubbing compound by hand? Sure, but it takes a lot longer than the half hour it took me to do both headlights, plus I still have enough materials to do another car. It's not the cheapest method, but unless you have everything else at home for free, you'll have to buy the materials separately anyways. This kit is definitely all that it's cracked up to be, and since it is 3M, it is Made in America, and that's not a small feat anymore.
If you do buy this kit, follow the directions, and don't just go by what I said on here, as they are very detailed, with pictures for each step, and exactly what to look for.
Thanks for reading!
