Meguiar's Headlight Restoration

[2005HotRodLincoln]

This weekend I bought an off-the-shelf headlight restoration kit. Meguiars was the most expensive I could find ($24.00), so I went with it. Also Meguiar's has a pretty good reputaion as far as I'm concerned. I did my restoration lastnight and I figured I'd show you guys some pics of how it came out.

1. The first is a picture of what the box looks like in the store, in case you want to buy it.

2. The second one is everything that comes in the box, 1000 grit sandpaper, 3000 grit sandpaper, an applicator, microfiber towel, Plastix, Sealer/Protectant, and a buffing wheel.

3. Taping off the paint around the headlight. (If you open the hood, its less to tape!)

4. Both lights completely taped off, please excuse dirty car...

5. More taping, you can see the headlights were pretty cloudy.

6. Finished product, with tape removed. This is not a very good picture!

7. Finished product, came out pretty good. Compare #7 to #5.

The finished product came out pretty great if you ask me, untill you turn on the headlights.... With the headlights illuminated you can see hazing within the lense that you would'nt see with them off. Its like the light is being shined through a filter. I'm afraid theres nothing I can do about that unless i buy new headlights. But overall I liked the outcome of this product, $24.00 well spent if you ask me. Total time invested, about 1 hour. I recommend this to anyone who's been thinking about doing their headlights!

 

[Ranchero50]

Missing the Spar urethane...

 

[M4rk]

Missing the Spar urethane...

Yep, need it for any kind of durability.

 

[2005HotRodLincoln]

Missing the Spar urethane...

My brother just got back from SEMA, and was telling me about a company that sells the factory headlight coating. Since I wasn't 100% pleased with the outcome, I wanted to be able to go over them again before I applied any kind of sealer. I wanted to look into this available factory coating before I made it any harder on myself in the future.

 

[Ranchero50]

This was hand sanded, buffed and urethaned. I really wished I'd bough the Meguires kit just for the ball.

After almost a month the coating is very tough so I'm a believer that it's really close to the OEM stuff.

 

[2005HotRodLincoln]

This was hand sanded, buffed and urethaned. I really wished I'd bough the Meguires kit just for the ball.

After almost a month the coating is very tough so I'm a believer that it's really close to the OEM stuff.

Did you get any hazing in the lense?

 

[Luk3]

Looks just as good as mine after I buffed them with toothpaste

 

[G-RELL]

if your still not 100... go with the 3m kit...

 

[nelliott500]

The 3M kit is very nice. I haven't used it for headlights yet, but I did use the drill attachment to buff some scratches out of paint and it works great.

 

[regiment1]

The Sylvania kit comes with a coating, kind of like the spar urethane, to protect the re-finished lens.

 

[G-RELL]

The 3M kit is very nice. I haven't used it for headlights yet, but I did use the drill attachment to buff some scratches out of paint and it works great.

that pad is great.. works awesome for oxidation on the door pillars, fyi..

 

[JoshMcMadMac]

You can buy the stuff that comes in the kit separately, save money, and have plenty of extra supplies if you ever need to do it again. Wet sandpaper, compound, polish, and a drill attachment if you do not have a buffer.

 

[G-RELL]

You can buy the stuff that comes in the kit separately, save money, and have plenty of extra supplies if you ever need to do it again. Wet sandpaper, compound, polish, and a drill attachment if you do not have a buffer.

true... but some have no clue when it comes to buying this stuff...

 

[REDBED]

Used the Slyvania kit. The liquid they give you to finish the headlight with looks great when wet, as it dries it becomes more opaque/cloudy. Still a great improvement. I think I'm going to bite the bullet and just buy new headlights from Tasca.

 

[jrand]

as mentioned, spar urethane was a cure-all for my cloudy replacement lens. didnt even bother sanding it, turtlewax rubbing compound and spar urethane/mineralspirit concoction rubbed on with paper towel and it looked exactly like the untouched lens that came on the car when new

 

[milehighmikey]

I used the Meguiar's kit back this past summer. Within a couple of weeks, the lenses looked like nothing had been done to them!

 

[regiment1]

Used the Slyvania kit. The liquid they give you to finish the headlight with looks great when wet, as it dries it becomes more opaque/cloudy. Still a great improvement. I think I'm going to bite the bullet and just buy new headlights from Tasca.

That didn't happen for me. Mine still look great after 6 months.

 

[reaper76]

if your still not 100... go with the 3m kit...

Agreed!