Headlight Restoration

Hi all, it’s been forever since I’ve posted anything, but I thought I would share my headlight restoration success yesterday.

My headlights were terribly oxidized on my 2008 (240,000 miles young!). The front of the truck looked horrible because of their condition. I went to the parts store and purchased the 3M headlight restoration system and the cheaper turtle wax kit that has the lens clarifying compound in it. I followed the 3M instructions, but I used the turtle wax rubbing compound in conjunction with the last step in the 3M instructions. Worked like a champ.

I had done this before and it worked out great, but within about a year in this Texas sun, they faded back out and looked bad again.

This time I finished it off with some dupli-color clearcoat in a spray can. Three light coats, and a little time to dry, and the headlights looked great. Hopefully the UV protection of the dupli-color will make it last longer. I wish I had taken some before pics, but as usual I’ll get focused on working and forget to take any pictures.

edit: I should also add that I did the same to the fog lamp lenses as well. Really cleared them up. However, I will warn you that it is easy to scratch the painted bumper inside the fog lamp recesses with the side of the drill bit attachment that comes with the 3M kit. Just be gentle and tape it off good.

 

That turned out pretty nice. Curious how long it will last.

 

Nice job! And yes, UV protection will definitely help it last longer!

 

Thanks. I’m setting a reminder on my phone right now to update this thread in a year lol. Fingers crossed....

 

Sounds good. Mine need it so maybe I’ll give this a shot.

 

Good luck! If you go with the duplicolor just make sure you mask off to about a foot or more around the headlights due to overspray.

Also, the first two coats were light. The lens won’t look as clear until that third coat. I went a touch heavier on the third coat. This was all according to the duplicolor instructions.

 

Looks great! I just bought that 3m kit last weekend. I have 110k on my 05 TRD and they need it badly...Thanks for the post

 

Good job, your headlights look great. There are a lot of good products out there to restore headlights. I used Meguiars Heavy Duty headlight restore and it did a great job. I last did mine about 2 1/2 years ago and they still look like new. The secret to keeping them looking great and not re oxidizing is to apply UV protectant. I used Meguiars Headlight coating. I spray it on twice a year and as I said they look great 2 1/2 years later. Here’s what they look like today.

 

Thanks Sprig. Those look great as well.

Do you know of a UV protectant out there that would not require masking off around the headlight? Like sunscreen for your truck LOL.

 

Meguiars use to make a protectant that you put on like wax and buff off but they stopped. They now make a spray on that works really good. Instructions says to use once a year but I apply it twice a year. Since you only have to apply it once or twice a year it ain’t a big deal to mask the area around the headlights. Takes me about 15 minutes to mask both lights. Spray on two coats and you are done. Since it works so well I’m going to continue to use it. I’m sure there are products out there that you can just rub on.

 

I can never get a nice even coat with that spray. Always seems to run in spots.

 

My limited experience is to use pretty light coats and let them dry between coats. That should help keep it from running.

 

I was almost going to buy new headlights. I'll try the kit and I'll see. Stay tuned!

 

I think you will be happy you didn’t! Good luck!

 

Hogfan, I looked up on Amazon; the turtle wax kit is $18 and the blue 3M is $5. I am curious as to why you didnt use the sanding squares that came with the Turtle kit and bought the additonal 3M kit to use theirs? And you stated I used the cheaper Turtle clarifying compound that came with the Turtle wax kit but that is $18 versus $5 for the 3M. There is also a 3M red packaged kit that says advanced.

 

Headlight restoration never worked well for me in Tucson. It's more convenient for me to just buy new headlights and not worry about it for another 5 years.

 

Johnny, I wouldn’t worry too much about the kit, I think they will likely all get you about the same result. The only reason I chose to get both of those is because I wanted to use the cordless drill attachment that comes with the 3M 39008 kit, I also wanted the larger bottle of rubbing compound that came in the TW kit. I’ve always been a fan of 3M products.

Looking on Amazon, I don’t see the 3M 39008 blue kit. I bought them both at O’Reilly’s. 3M kit was $26 and the TW kit was $11.

TW kit:
https://www.oreillyauto.com/detail/...rer/tur0/t240kt?q=Turtle+wax+headlight&pos=0#

3M 39008B kit:
https://www.oreillyauto.com/detail/c/3m/3m-headlight-restoration-system/mmm0/39008b?q=39008b&pos=0

 

I used the TW kit: https://www.oreillyauto.com/detail/...rer/tur0/t240kt?q=Turtle+wax+headlight&pos=0# 2 days ago and they look great. For $11 its totally worth it.

 

Thats great! Post some pics! That’s the same kit I used, but my worn out fingers/hands insisted that I get the cordless drill attachment to go with it lol.

 

I recently used the Sylvania kit. It does a great job to restore the headlights. Now, time will tell how durable.... Trying to hold off the replacement with OEM headlights.

I need to do the same on the daughter's '02 TrailBlazer.