Best Headlight Restoration Kit in 2024? Let’s Find Out!

yellow oxidized headlights make for some very difficult driving at night so the question is which restoration kit is the best well let's find out and the first test we'll see how the kits perform on badly UV damaged headlights modern headlight covers are made of polycarbonate glass is heavy and brittle and polycarbonate can handle a lot of impact while polycarbonate can survive an impact it oxidizes from UV exposure I bought two different kits for each brand since there are two different experiments to compare the kits at a price of $1 the least expensive brand we'll be testing is made by Rustoleum the kit includes a Precision WIP IT professional lens polishing pad a pair of Nitro gloves and one microfiber towel the restum kit is made in USA a big thanks to byyb Auto Salvage and Harrisonville Missouri for setting me up with some UV damag headlights it's not possible to find seven headlights in exactly the same condition but we'll do the best we can I'll tape off half the headlights for now and we'll compare the before and after later in the video the first step is to wet the headlight lens with water and use the green side of the lens polishing pad to wet sand the headlight lens and remove oxidation ensure that the lens remains wet while using the polishing pad the oxidation coming off the lens will appear as a brownish colored liquid and it took 6 minutes to sand half the headlight and this side of the Sandpaper seems pretty much used up rewet the headlight lens and use the gray side of the professional lens polishing pad to further polish the headlight lens dry the lens thoroughly with the included microfiber towel ensure that all lenses are 100% dry prior to proceeding to The Next Step put on Nitro gloves and be in a well ventilated area pull out the applicator cloth and carefully wipe the lens just one time the headlights will dry to touch in 1 hour and the entire process took 11 minutes at a price of $13 is this armorall brand the armorall brand is made in USA comes with four pouches for step one and two pouches for step two the first step is to ensure that the headlight is clean and dry open the cleaning oxidation removal pouch and remove the wipe keep WIP folded to reduce evaporation scrub headlight with firm even pressure in a horizontal back and forth motion you will notice oxidation residue beginning to be removed turn the wipe to the clean side keeping the wipe folded continue to wipe turning the wipe to the clean side as needed until no residue is visible on the wipe open up a second step one pouch and continue wiping back and forth with firm pressure for for at least 2 minutes and to spend a total of about 5 minutes on step one step two is a UV sealant protection ensure that the surface is dry before applying sealant apply the headlight Surface by wiping in One Direction one wipe will coat two headlights but use additional sealant wipe if needed the surface will be dried to the touch in 3 hours and the entire process took a total of about 7 minutes at a price of $15 is this 3M brand the 3M kit is made in USA Canada UK in China the kit includes a disc pad holder six 500 grit gold sanding disc four white discs that are 800 Grit 1 3M Tria refining disc and 1 oz of 3M rubbing compound to use this kit you will need a drill clean the lens with soap and water mount the disc pad holder onto a drill attach and center the p500 gold disc to the disc pad holder using medium to light pressure begin sanding to remove the yellowing and the surface defects from the lens a slow and steady back and forth action will be most effective when the disc is clogged or no longer sanding effectively replace with a new gold disc wipe off the lens and inspect to ensure that all the yellowing and defects have been removed attach in Center a p800 white disc to the disc pad holder using medium to light pressure begin sanding make seral passes over the entire lens the goal of this step is to reduce the size of the scratches attach in Center a p3000 green gray foam disc to the disc pad holder using a spray bottle apply enough water to dampen the green gray disc in the lens before sanding use medium to light pressure after you begin to see a white slurry continue with four to six passes over the lens attach in Center the orange foam compounding pad to the disc pad holder dispense a dime sized amount of 3M rubbing compound to the orange foam compounding pad holding the P flat on the lens polish the lens until cloudy Haze is gone I spent a total of around 10 minutes cleaning up the badly oxidized headlight at a price of $17 is a cerakote brand the cerakote is made in USA the kit includes eight oxidation remover wipes one Surface Prep pad 2,000 and 3,000 grit sandpaper two ceramic clear coating wipes and four application gloves wash headlights thoroughly with any type of car soap and rinse well put on supplied gloves using an oxidizer remover wipe rub each headlight in a circular scrubbing motion during this process any oxidation in the lens will become extracted and the wipe may turn yellow move to the next oxidizer remover wipe when the current one becomes yellow and soiled use all of the wipes to ensure that the headlights are as clean as possible I used all four wipes the next step is to fasten the red disc to the Surface Prep pad wet the headlight lens in the Surface Prep disc with water scrub the entire lens in a uniform non-circular motion for approximately 2 to 3 minutes be sure to keep the lens wet during this time fasten the gray disc to the Surface Prep pad and repeat the previous process rinse the headlights in the surrounding areas with water and then dry with a clean soft towel step three is to put on a second pair of clean gloves open one of the cerakote ceramic clear coat wipes moving horizontally from top to bottom carefully wipe the Coating in a single Direction use a 50% overlapping technique apply only a single coat allow the coating to dry for a minimum of 60 minutes before driving I spent around 15 minutes restoring the headlight at a price of $21 is this ryx premium headlight restoration kit the RX brand is made in USA the kit includes a drill attachment a 1500 grade sanding disc 3200 grade sanding disc 4,000 grade sanding disc rainex premium headlight polishing pad reex premium headlight buffing polish premium headlight protectant sealant wipe and gloves after cleaning and drying headlight lens attach the drill attachment to the holder of the cordless drill Center and attach the brown sanding disc to the drill attachment miss the lens in the surface of the sanding disc with water begin sanding the lens using light to medium pressure move the drill back and forth across the surface of the lens using slow movements to cover all parts of the lens surface Mist the lens and wipe the surface clean inspect the lens to ensure that all yellowing has been removed and the lens looks uniformly frosted remove the brown disc and replace with the gray sanding disc repeat the same sanding process that you used with the brown disc Mist the lens and wipe the surface clean remove the gray sanding disc and replace with the blue sanding disc once again repeat the same sanding process previously used miss the lens and wipe the surface clean inspecting the lens to ensure that it appears mostly clear at this point the next step is to polish the lens squeeze a nickel-sized amount of the Polish to the center of the orange foam polishing pad before powering up the drill smear the Polish around the lens to minim I splatter once the drill is powered on hold the foam pad flat against the lens and move slowly and steadily over the surface of the lens the Polish should appear like frost on the lens after one pass wet and wipe the lens removing excess polish repeat this process until the lens has reached desired Clarity the final step is to protect the lens put on the gloves that were provided in the kit rub the rainx premium headlight sealant protectant wipe over one lens at a time in one complete motion ensuring no dry spots are left on The lenses and the entire process with the rainx kit took about 9 Minutes at a price of $22 is this magu kit the Maguire is made in USA the kit includes two cleaning pads cleaning solution and a headlight coating apply to a clean cool and dry headlight in the shade Shake product well before use squeeze a quarter sized amount of cleaning solution to the cleaning pad provided using a backed forth motion thoroughly clean the entire headlight surface reapply as needed wipe the headlight surface with a clean dyed towel to check the progress the surface is properly cleaned when it has a uniform frosted appearance across the entire headlight after 10 minutes I'm just not going to be able to remove the oxidized material on the headlight cover the headlight must be 100% clean and dry before headlight coating is applied definitely need a stronger abrasive shake the headlight coating well before use apply one medium wet coat of headlight coating to the entire headlight surface overlapping the previous pass by 50% let the first coat dry in 3 to 5 minutes follow with the second coat to completely seal the headlight lens at a price of $22 is this headlight restoration kit made by silvania the Sylvania kit is made in USA an age headlight can reduce visibility down to only 145 ft a properly restored headlight can increase visibility up to 363 ft or more than twice the distance spray the surface activator generously across each headlight lens until they are completely covered let this liquid sit on each lens for about 30 seconds wash completely with water to remove the loosen corrosion locate the three sheets of sandpaper supplied in the kit and then fold them in half you use a half a sheet of each sandpaper for each headlight begin sanding with 400 grit sandpaper fully wet the headlight lens and sandpaper with clean water sand the surface of the headlight lens using even circular motions and medium pressure pressure continue to add water as you perform the sanding process keeping the headlight and sandpaper wet the 400 grit sanding step is done when a dry headlight lens has a uniform light white haziness with no yellow or clear spots using 1,000 grit sandpaper and medium pressure sand all headlight lens surfaces multiple times adding water is necessary the step will take approximately 5 minutes using 2,000 grit sandpaper and firm pressure sand all headlight surfaces multiple times applying water as necessary for approximately 5 minutes open the packet label clarifying compound apply a qu size droplet onto one of the white towels provided wet the headlight lens and rub the compound over the entire lens using circular motions and firm pressure rub all surfaces multiple times for approximately 5 minutes when complete rinse the lens thoroughly and completely dry it off you will still see a light white Haze to the lens reapply the surface activator for 30 seconds and then thoroughly rinse with water this will fully clean the lens in preparation for the coating that follows using the other white towel provideed to completely dry the headlight lens surface and all surrounding surfaces the final step is a UV block clear coat application thoroughly soak the entire folded edge of the blue towel with UV block clear coat until the liquids extend 1/2 in from the folded Edge starting in one of the upper corners of the headlight lens wipe the moisten edge of the towel across the lens from side to side in a smooth and continuous motion working from top down repeat the same motion slightly overlapping the previous stroke around 21 minutes with the sylenia kit if it's all about headlight restoration efficiency the armorall kit only took 7 minutes renux took me 9 Minutes 3 M10 and Rustoleum 11 minutes all the headlights of had 24 hours to cure coming in seventh place is the Maguire's kit unfortunately the kit does not include anything with a strong enough abrasive to remove the badly oxidized material the coating is like putting lipstick on a pig coming in sixth place is the armorall unfortunately the restoration wipes weren't able to wipe away the oxidized material the top coat reduced the appearance of oxidation the rum kit came in fifth place and did a better job of removing the oxidation but the protective coating doesn't seem as smooth or transparent as some of the other brands 3M is on the left and rainx is on the right and this one is just too close to call so we'll call it a two-way tie for third place the 3M kit does not include a protective coating however it did a terrific job at removing the oxidation the rainx also did a pretty good job but the protective coating really helps its appearance and the serak Coe came in second place I've tested the sakote plastic Restoration in the past and their protective coating is amazing and the Sylvania kit finished in first place this kit does take a little bit more time to use but the finished product makes the headlight covers look as good as new a much more scientific approach is to use brand new polycarbonate sheets then sand them with 200 20 grit this will simulate oxidized material that needs removed I'll go ahead and use each of the kits to restore the polycarbonate sheets I'll use a permanent marker on the damage plastic area so we can visualize how quickly the products work unfortunately even after 6 minutes of effort I wasn't able to remove all of the marker so there's still some damaged plastic according to the safety data sheet armorel contains a powerful solvent the solvent makes it good at removing permanent marker but it's unlikely to remove the damaged polycarbonate and the three hem has already Removed the damaged polycarbonate in about 20 seconds sanding by hand isn't as fast as using a drill however the serak co performed well at removing the damaged plastic in about 35 seconds and the rainex cut away the damaged polycarbonate in about 30 seconds even after 6 minutes of scrubbing I can still see the marker so the Maguire isn't welld designed for removing heavily oxidized material and it took about 45 seconds for the Sandpaper that came with the Sylvania kit to cut away the damaged layer of polycarbonate when it comes to the quality and effectiveness of abrasive material in these kits 3M came out on top by 20 seconds rainx took 30 seconds cerakote 35 in Sylvania 45 seconds all the products are fully cured and the Maguire's kit once again came in seventh place the coating is helping hide the underlying damaged polycarbonate however the coating is pretty soft once again the armor all finished in sixth place the damaged polycarbonate is visible and the coating is pretty soft and the Rustoleum finished in fifth place a close-up look and the scratches in the polycarbonate were not removed however the coating is not as soft as the Maguire's and the armorall and once again the rain neck finished in fourth place some of the scratches are still visible and the coating is soft and inconsistent and a 3M kit has done by far the best job yet at removing the deep scratches a ceramic coating and the 3M would look as good as new coming in second place once again is a Ser coat brand it did a great job at removing the scratches and the coating is very difficult to scratch and coming in first place is a Sylvania brand it looks absolutely amazing however the Sylvania coating is not as resistant to scratching as a sah coat brand if I had to choose just one kit I would definitely go with the Sylvania but I also like the Sak Co quite a bit both Brands perform very well if you want to see how the products perform in the long run run check back in about a year I'm going to begin exposing the headlights to UV immediately all the videos in this channel are viewers suggested so if you have a video idea I hope you'll take time to leave a comment thanks so much for watching please take care and I look forward to next time

Channel: Project Farm

Views: 794,770

Keywords: headlight restoration kit, best headlight restoration, headlight restoration review, head light rejuvenation kit review, rust-oleum head light restoration review, rustoleum headlight restoration review, armorall head light restoration review, armor all headlight restoration review, 3M head light restoration review, cerakote head light restoration review, rain-x headlight restoration kit, meguiar’s head light restoration kit, Sylvania headlight restoration kit

Id: kyVCEbfrU-c

Length: 12min 42sec (762 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 11 2024