Head light restoration DIY

For the following DIY I have used 3M 39008 Headlight Lens Restoration System, bought it online for 16$



1. That's how the headlight looked before:



2. This after 500 grit sandpaper




3. This after 800 grit sandpaper, looks pretty much same as 500 grit



4 That's after Trizact™ sanding disc:



5. And this is the final product after buff, The most dramatic change





Before & After shot:

Wow nice job, what a difference

What year is your car? Where do you live that they got that bad so fast?

Mine were WAY worse than that. And I used this same kit to restore them. works very well

Does this kit also restore minor scratches and chips from rocks ?

Im really liking this new "Kirkland" fella. He has 4 total posts and has already contributed more than Antz ever has in his 1000+ posts or probably will. Welcome to the forum, thanks for taking the time to post up some DIY's. PS. Between your headlights, scratches, and tailpipes you officially have the most "previously neglected" M around. Im glad you rescued it from that terrible environment it was obviously in.

light scratches yes. What you are doing with this is sanding down the headlight to take off the top layer(s) of the plastic. Then polishing it up from there until it is clear again.


Does anyone know what causes the headlights to look like that in the first place? I feel like I am doing something wrong because the headlights looks perfect when I bought the car in 09 (its an 06), and within 2 years they went from perfect to can barely see out of them. I wash the car weekly, wax the car (and obviously not the headlight) every 3 months. What is causing the headlights for some people to oxidize so quickly?

Very nice write-up! Thanks much.

Pictures always say a thousand words.

Z

Thanks Kirkland91. Very nice indeed. I know there are a ton of kits out there and some are more effective than others. It looks like this 3M kit does fantastic job and actually repairs the damage unlike some others than merely mask it. I would imagine this repair will last a long time.

You see a lot of this (and worse) headlight damage here in AZ with all the sun we have. Mine still look good but I know it is only a matter of time until this starts to happen because I have to park outside at work. I'm not sure if it does any good but I try to put on a coat of my car wax on the lenses every month or two. They claim the wax contains compounds that stop UV damage. I figure it doesn't hurt anything and at worst I'll have shiny headlight lenses. If it delays the onset of the clouding then so much the better.

Very nice job with the headlights!

How long will this kind of treatment last though, before the same problem begins to rear it's ugly head? Does the kit come with any kind of sealant? I know some folks will add a few layers of clear coat on top of their new headlights, so that they won't oxidize (at least as quickly).

I had this problem on my old 2000 Acura TL, I didn't use this kit, but bought some wet/dry sandpaper of different grits--200/400/800/1000 and Plastic-X plastic polish which seemed to work well.

My M now has the Xpel headlight protection to help with rock chips and hopefully not developing this problem.

nolmt50 wrote:What year is your car? Where do you live that they got that bad so fast?

This is 2006 m35 sport. For 5 years it has been in Texas, now it lives in Pacific Northwest Seattle.

pedsemdoc wrote:I had this problem on my old 2000 Acura TL, I didn't use this kit, but bought some wet/dry sandpaper of different grits--200/400/800/1000 and Plastic-X plastic polish which seemed to work well.

My M now has the Xpel headlight protection to help with rock chips and hopefully not developing this problem.

How have the X-Pel lens protectors work out thus far??? Is it keeping them from getting cloudy again?

Bmore2ny wrote:

pedsemdoc wrote:I had this problem on my old 2000 Acura TL, I didn't use this kit, but bought some wet/dry sandpaper of different grits--200/400/800/1000 and Plastic-X plastic polish which seemed to work well.

My M now has the Xpel headlight protection to help with rock chips and hopefully not developing this problem.

How have the X-Pel lens protectors work out thus far??? Is it keeping them from getting cloudy again?

I haven't seen any cloudiness on my M45's lights--I put the Xpel protectors on shortly after I bought the car in 2010 before they started getting cloudy.
They have really saved them from serious chips and scratches.
I had a big chunk of metal fly up at the driver side headlight one night on the way to work while on the expressway.
If I hadn't had the protector on that headlight, I'm pretty sure it would have shattered. It has a small crack in it now, which makes me want to replace it....

Excellent DIY ! What an improvement too! You did a great job.

FNAWSM wrote:Im really liking this new "Kirkland" fella. He has 4 total posts and has already contributed more than Antz ever has in his 1000+ posts or probably will. Welcome to the forum, thanks for taking the time to post up some DIY's. PS. Between your headlights, scratches, and tailpipes you officially have the most "previously neglected" M around. Im glad you rescued it from that terrible environment it was obviously in.

I am familiar with Antz and he gets my goat too at times. But to drop his name in this thread out of the blue? No need for that, mate. This forum is for everyone - even for you and me. Let's please respect that.

pedsemdoc, I also had a 1999 Acura TL before this car (We had the same car, and went to the same car...cool). I actually used this kit on my TL since it was oxidizing.

Kirkland, I suggest you put some sealant on it as quick as you can. I used some wax that offered UV protection but I sold the car 2-3 months after I sanded the headlights to new so I can't tell you how long it will last. Perhaps that Xpel lens protector should do you good! Look into that.

TXT wrote:pedsemdoc, I also had a 1999 Acura TL before this car (We had the same car, and went to the same car...cool). I actually used this kit on my TL since it was oxidizing.

Kirkland, I suggest you put some sealant on it as quick as you can. I used some wax that offered UV protection but I sold the car 2-3 months after I sanded the headlights to new so I can't tell you how long it will last. Perhaps that Xpel lens protector should do you good! Look into that.

TXT: Cool car guys think alike!! lol

Kirkland, TXT is absolutely right. You would hate to put all that hard work to waste by not protecting it with some kind of UV protectant sealer. Otherwise, if a few months you'll have to do it again.

If I get a chance, I'll post some pics of what the Xpel protectors look like on the car.

Craig

Just used the 3M kit and it really worked well…very straight forward. I spent time taping off the headlight the day before doing the job…Unfortunately, I didn’t remember to take pix of the passenger side headlight but it was filled with a lot of scratches and the color was becoming yellowish, the actual coating appeared to be worn as well… I did take pix of the driver side headlight (not as bad as the passenger side, but just to give you an idea). I did not do the driver side as of yet since it isn’t too bad. Overall it took about an hour (I took my time and sanded the headlight very thorough). I'll add some protectant/sealer to it later...my car is garaged and I barely drive it....I highly recommend this kit especially since our cars are getting up in age

here’s some pix of the driver side just to give an example of the scratches (but far worse on the passenger side).








Passenger side after 3M Kit completed

I used the same kit and had similar results. Good stuff.

IlyaKol wrote:I used the same kit and had similar results. Good stuff.

about how long ago did you restore your headlights?? I'm trying to figure out how many times to reapply the protectant....I'm only driving my M on the weekends and it's garaged all day.

CPJ LB wrote:

IlyaKol wrote:I used the same kit and had similar results. Good stuff.

about how long ago did you restore your headlights?? I'm trying to figure out how many times to reapply the protectant....I'm only driving my M on the weekends and it's garaged all day.

5 days ago. I put on some other sealer that someone recommended and it's supposed to be good for ever...instructions didn't say to reapply.

EDIT: This stuff http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0051P ... UTF8&psc=1

EniGmA1987 wrote:Mine were WAY worse than that. And I used this same kit to restore them. works very well

Are your headlights still clear? I hear they start to fog up pretty fast.

That looks great! When the time comes Ill definitely be using the 3M kit.

it's a great product....I was looking at other restoration kits and they did not compare... I also used the video that someone made as my reference....I thought the guy had an 03 M45 at first, but looks like a late model Maxima...???

here's the video he made...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7GwOeBgEDQ[/youtube]

CPJ LB wrote:it's a great product....I was looking at other restoration kits and they did not compare... I also used the video that someone made as my reference....I thought the guy had an 03 M45 at first, but looks like a late model Maxima...???

here's the video he made...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7GwOeBgEDQ[/youtube]

That's a Y34 without question.

Yeah just a different badge.

I had considered doing this last summer since my head lights were starting to get foggy. However, I heard that they will fog up much faster afterward; to ensure you keep buying the product.
Or is it after a few years it will need to be restored again. Example 2+ years



*Err Never mind I see CPJ LB asked the same Question n got answered.

love the write up I just ordered the kit will post pics soon

I'm reviving this two year old thread for two reasons. The first is to say GREAT WRITE UP! Thank you very much for doing it. The second reason is to ask for a follow up and see how they are holding up.