Refurbishing My Headlights

2026-06-18 16:13 - Making

All things being equal, I'd live a "no gifts between adults" life. But among other things, my sister wants to set a good example for my nephews, so last xmas I ended up with a 3M headlight restoration kit. Something I've heard good things about, had been thinking about for a while, but never quite bubbled high enough on the list to buy it myself.

The 3M Headlight Restoration Kit I just used.

Yes, last xmas. I knew I didn't want to bother with this during the middle of winter so I set it aside. Perhaps for a bit too long, but yesterday I decided it was time! In the meantime I figured out that removing my car's headlights is just a screw or two and a connector, so I ended up doing that. Unfortunately first I dropped the driver bit and got it lost inside the car. Thanks to the borescope which I had misplaced for some time but recently located again, I eventually located that. After fighting through one rusty screw, I had the lights out. I washed them and left things to dry. Before that, the car looked like:

Before, left headlight closeup. Before, front on view. Before, right headlight closeup.

One of the closeups is blurry, but I can't go back and fix that! The front on view shows things quite clearly: no yellowing, but lots of cloudy blotches over most of the surface. A.k.a "headlight cataracts". Can I improve things? Like mentioned, I started by removing them so I could work more easily, and guarantee no damage to the paint nearby. Once they were inside and washed (and dry again) I got to work. The kit is simple: some sanding pads (500, then 800, then 3000 grit) and some special wipes with a clear coat to apply.

Mid sanding process.

Things got worse before they got better. The "cataracts" are especially visible here. I assume there's a bunch of plastic dust ground/stuck preferentially into that less-smooth surface. I worked my way through all the sanding steps and these didn't disappear. I decided to start over because I could do that before applying the clear coat, but not after. I spent a while with the heaviest (500) grit that came with the kit and saw progress, but very slowly. I got bold and pulled out the finest (320) grit I had for my palm sander and used that. It worked pretty well, leaving a very frosted surface but I could see the cataracts being worn away. Each following grit got better and better. After the final (3000) grit, things were already quite acceptable.

The "blind" car with no headlights installed.

Before we continue, here's a shot of the car "blind" — with no headlights installed. Anyway, I proceeded to apply the clear coat as the instructions said: two parts are included, a first and second coat. And indeed, things got even better still!

After, left headlight closeup. After, front on view. After, right headlight closeup.

It doesn't quite show on camera; the closeup on the right probably does the best job. It's not quite like brand new but it's very good! If I look close and with light at just the right angle, I can see I didn't quite get all the sanding marks out. But who's ever going to look that closely? Cindy definitely got a few years taken off her face today!

Comments:

Useful
2026-07-01 14:25 - abcd123

Thanks! I've had a similar headlight restoration kit sitting waiting to be used for about a year now, on my 10 year old car. I'd been hesitant to do so out of fear of just making things worse, but it seems like it is doable by the average person. Just curious - Do you think you would have felt comfortable dong this with the headlight covers left on, and some appropriate masking of the paint edges?

In place
2026-07-01 14:31 - arantius

Yes, the kit is designed to be used in place and comes with masking tape for this purpose. I simply knew that removing the headlights was straightforward, and so I did. It turns out that had a side benefit: I could easily hold it at any angle while working, and thus get light on it from just the right angle, and really see my progress. Probably doable with a good flashlight, in place.

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