sr20det
05-18-2009, 11:06 PM
So I bought a 3m Headlight Lens Restoration Kit, my brother's Acura CL had thick yellowing and cloudiness on the headlights and he was bothering me to clean them up. It was heavily textured, and you could see where the UV coating failed. Typically I would just use wetsanding paper 1000/1200 and 2000 then just use a compound to take out the sanding marks.
When I saw the contents of the kit, I was impressed. I liked the fact that it had the backing plate for the drill and orange pad. For $20, I thought it was a fair deal. The 500grit sanding discs cut through the thick yellowing on the lenses. I wish I would have brought the camera out, but I was in a hurry, and at his garage. I then stepped up to the 800's and made a few passes. Then after wiping up the headlight, I wet it and used the 3000grit trizact pad. This began to bring the plastic more clear, but still needed to be polished.
I moistened the orange pad and instead of using the polish packet included, I went to M105 and followed with M205 by hand. They loooked amazing! Just like new!
I do have a couple of complaints, but they were my own fault. When using the 800 grit discs, it was a bit tough to see if I brought out all of the 500grit scratches. They showed their ugly head when I had it polished out, nobody would ever notice them... but I know they are there. It was my fault for not doing a few more passes with the 800.
My other complaint is the car was rather clean when I started, but didn't think about the 3000grit wetsanding.... I got the headlight wet, and the pad wet, then went to town at about 1200rpms with the DeWalt Cordless drill. There was white dust water slinging all over the hood and fenders, guess I should have known better.
I highly suggest this kit, only if you need SERIOUS correction on headlights. I have a jetta booked next week that needs headlight restoring, so I will do before/afters.
BTW I bought the kit at a local Autozone, $20.
When I saw the contents of the kit, I was impressed. I liked the fact that it had the backing plate for the drill and orange pad. For $20, I thought it was a fair deal. The 500grit sanding discs cut through the thick yellowing on the lenses. I wish I would have brought the camera out, but I was in a hurry, and at his garage. I then stepped up to the 800's and made a few passes. Then after wiping up the headlight, I wet it and used the 3000grit trizact pad. This began to bring the plastic more clear, but still needed to be polished.
I moistened the orange pad and instead of using the polish packet included, I went to M105 and followed with M205 by hand. They loooked amazing! Just like new!
I do have a couple of complaints, but they were my own fault. When using the 800 grit discs, it was a bit tough to see if I brought out all of the 500grit scratches. They showed their ugly head when I had it polished out, nobody would ever notice them... but I know they are there. It was my fault for not doing a few more passes with the 800.
My other complaint is the car was rather clean when I started, but didn't think about the 3000grit wetsanding.... I got the headlight wet, and the pad wet, then went to town at about 1200rpms with the DeWalt Cordless drill. There was white dust water slinging all over the hood and fenders, guess I should have known better.
I highly suggest this kit, only if you need SERIOUS correction on headlights. I have a jetta booked next week that needs headlight restoring, so I will do before/afters.
BTW I bought the kit at a local Autozone, $20.