stairmasterman911

so i bought both the 3M and mother's headlight scratch/polish kits yesterday due to an inability to decide. anyone have a preference. i'm a dentist so i figure i spend half my life polishing stuff so how hard can it be? stand back girls! no seriously, should this be left to someone who really knows what they are doing?

j beede

You will achieve great short term results with either one... the polishing is the easy part. Replacing the clear coat that keeps the lens clear--there's where the problem lies. If I polish only, the clarity is maintained for 2-3 weeks. By 3 months the lens is yellow and hazy--worse than before since the polishing process removes any remnant of the original clear coat. The Turtle Wax kit includes a single use clear coat "towelette" that is used after polishing. I get maybe double the duration using the Turtle Wax kit. I get less yellowing with the clear coat (UV filtering?) but the hazing returns...just a little more slowly. Anyone know the chemistry of the clear coat?

sandersd

Funny you should mention that. I just did mine last weekend. Well, I finished one of the lights anyway. The reason I didn't finish both is the 3M kit is only suitable for light discoloring and I had to make a few runs searching for sandpaper to do the job properly.

My advice is to get your money back and go buy various grits as required by the condition of your lights and do it by hand or machine if you can. Mine were yellowed, cloudy, and scratched from the previous session (before I purchased the car) of headlight fixin'. I tried the 3M kit, which comes with 2 grits (approx 600-800 and 1000-1500), a 3000 grit wet buffing pad, polishing compound and a foam pad with a drill backing plate. It didn't even make a dent in my lights.

I ended up using my electric orbital sander (on lowest speed to avoid excessive heat) and started with 120 grit, then 220, then hand sanded with 320, 400, 600, 800, 1000, and 2000. Then I wet buffed with 3000 grit and used the foam pad with the polishing compound from the kit and my drill. All the sandpapers cost me about $50 from the auto parts store.

I still have to do the other one this weekend but the first looks beautiful - almost brand new. Now that I know what I'm doing I could probably get the second even clearer. But the kit was like trying to break concrete with a nail hammer instead of a sledge hammer - inadequate.

I'll post pics tonight if you're interested.

Ubermensch

What he said ^ I still haven't found a good permanent solution to this issue. I may eventually go with the film protector if I don't find something I can just coat on.