Headlight Restoration:UV Clearcoat or Not ?

[DC1263]

Gentlemen,

This past Sunday I needed a project so... I went out and got one of them there 3m Headlight Restoration Kits. Headlights were not yellow but heavily sandblasted from 198,000 miles of almost entirely highway driving, Figured I'd give it a try. Well the results were amazing, both lenses look like new, however after some additional reading about applying a UV "sealer" I found that the lenses actually had a UV "coating" on them ... and I had just removed it,,,

So Periodic buffing and sealing vs UV clearcoating ?

My guess is the lenses will now suffer from even greater sandblasting now that the clearcoat layer has been removed,,,

I dont mind the periodic maintenance of buffing and waxing to keep them clear but I am major concerned with protecting the lenses from the sandblasting effect

I have information overload from reading the web about this issue , way too much information...

Anyone done a UV Clearcoat, Acrylic Enamel Method ?

There is another method out there using Minwax Spars Urethane and mineral Spirits 50/50

Some say Good,,, Some say Hell No...

What Say You ???

Rapidly Approaching 200,000 miles,,, All Is Well,,, Knock, Knock, Knock on Wood !

[olopezm]

Nice!

Sorry that I have nothing to say about the clear coat but I've been trying to find any reviews about that 3M restoration kit; now that you mention it worked great for you I can't wait to try it on my cars.

I wonder if you would mind posting some pics, please.

Oscar.

[trannyman52]

have used power buffing compound with a buffer with good results though needs to be re-done about once a year....

[DC1263]

First two pix are before, Obvious pitting and frosting from being sandblasted for so many miles



Next two are after sanding with 500, then 800 grit paper supplied it the 3M kit




The kit comes with a Trizact pad foam rubber pad embedded with 3000 grit,,, use wet



Then finish with the foam polishing pad and little packet of rubbing compound also supplied in the kit



Pix are before, after sanding, after polish, I don't have a before of the drivers side but same as passenger

Don't rush it and pay attention to the details, kept me busy for about 3 hrs from start to all cleaned up

Awesome totally awesome!!

[olopezm]

Wow! Those are great results!. Thank you for posting the pics.

Just a final question, is the product enough for just one pair of headlights?

Oscar.

[aleekat]

I did a mazda 626 a month ago. I have enough left over to do another set of headlights.
The sealer: RainX makes a spray bottle of headlight sealer that claims to protect UV. I got it like at an autozone, advanced auto. etc

[DC1263]

RE : Just a final question, is the product enough for just one pair of headlights?

The mandrel that comes in the kit definitely has more life left in it
and you could probably get more use of the trizact pad and the foam polishing pad
but you only get 6/500 grits and 4/800's in the kit and I used the hell out of those so you would have to get more of them to do more lights, they are 3" round 3M Hookit discs and are available everywhere

[olopezm]

Nice!

I like that even more! Thanks for your answer.

Oscar.

[doctorhrdware]

There are film covers for the headlight, these are similar to the cell phone touch screen protectors. I have them on the wife's Silverado truck. I just replace the film when needed. It is better then having to replace headlight housing assembly. I have to replace the headlight assembly on the GP. They are too far gone to be able to polish out the dullness. Driving at night the headlights are so dim.

[bmm341991]

try buyin a can or clearcoat and doing that it worked on mine

[doctorhrdware]

There is like a lexan film that you can buy to protect the head light. The ones on my GP are too far gone to repair them. Mine are 10x worse then what yours were. I don't want to waste money on using the 3M headlight restore kit. Just to end up having to replace the head light assemblies anyways.