MistrThou
Masked Moogle
- Joined
- Oct 8, 2004
- Location
- Janesville, WI
So driving home last night from Whitewater, I realized that my headlights sucked. I had no visible pattern, and even the highbeams sucked. Finally decided to use this $19.95 headlight restorer kit I bought from Wal-Mart. I've been looking forward to making a serious step by step thread with pictures for some time now. I usually forget to grab the camera till it's too late. So here we go:
These are the before-shots.
With the kit, I also used a bowl with water to rinse the sandpaper, and a spray bottle to spray/rinse the headlights.
Now this is the kit and contents purchased from Walmart. It has a lifetime warranty on the product, meaning if applied properly, the kit's contents are warrantied for life.
The kit comes with two grades of wet only sandpaper. Also has 2 chemicals, the first being a rubbing compound, the later being a finish/sealant. Has 2 tubes of the first, one for each headlight.
Has 4 of the second, so each headlight can get 2 coats.
One more before shot of the left headlight before I began sanding.
This shot is taken after I vigorously sanded the right headlight (on the left) with the first grade of sandpaper. I spent about 8 minutes or so on it, though the directions said about 3-4.
Then I sanded for about 5 minutes with the fine sand paper.
Here are the shots post sanding.
Then I applied the rubbing compound, rubbed it in, and kept rubbing while it dried. Then I wiped the residue off with a damp paper towel.
Here are the pictures post compound. Notice no yellow at the top of the headlight anymore.
And after two final coats of the sealer, on both sides, here is the end result.
With the headlights on, you can see that the light passes through instead of being diffused by the hazy plastic.
Upon driving, I notice a significant gain in beam pattern, I can see where the beams actually point on the garage door.
Using high beams now illuminate a higher field of vision, instead of making the lowsy beams a tad bit brigher.
My next step it to buy some sylvania XR bulbs.
-Travis
These are the before-shots.
With the kit, I also used a bowl with water to rinse the sandpaper, and a spray bottle to spray/rinse the headlights.
Now this is the kit and contents purchased from Walmart. It has a lifetime warranty on the product, meaning if applied properly, the kit's contents are warrantied for life.
The kit comes with two grades of wet only sandpaper. Also has 2 chemicals, the first being a rubbing compound, the later being a finish/sealant. Has 2 tubes of the first, one for each headlight.
Has 4 of the second, so each headlight can get 2 coats.
One more before shot of the left headlight before I began sanding.
This shot is taken after I vigorously sanded the right headlight (on the left) with the first grade of sandpaper. I spent about 8 minutes or so on it, though the directions said about 3-4.
Then I sanded for about 5 minutes with the fine sand paper.
Here are the shots post sanding.
Then I applied the rubbing compound, rubbed it in, and kept rubbing while it dried. Then I wiped the residue off with a damp paper towel.
Here are the pictures post compound. Notice no yellow at the top of the headlight anymore.
And after two final coats of the sealer, on both sides, here is the end result.
With the headlights on, you can see that the light passes through instead of being diffused by the hazy plastic.
Upon driving, I notice a significant gain in beam pattern, I can see where the beams actually point on the garage door.
Using high beams now illuminate a higher field of vision, instead of making the lowsy beams a tad bit brigher.
My next step it to buy some sylvania XR bulbs.
-Travis
I didn't start it ***points finger at buzz and tjts***
