Turtle Wax Headlight Lens Restorer (pics)

[occupant]

It works fine for those of us who don't own air or power tools and don't care to buy them. It's cheap (I paid $8.47 but I've been told they're $6-something at most other WM's) and it includes a lot of goodies:

I started out with this mess:

After using only the lens clarifying compound to no avail, I went to town with the little sanding pads, lubricant, and fresh tap water from the hose. The first two sanding pads are a medium fine grit, I figure 800 and 1000 or something. They got all the yellowing out:

After the next sanding pad which is two sided and fine, maybe 1500 and 2000, I saw a nice difference and could see inside the light a lot better:

Then I whipped out my cheap redneck version of a terry towel (crew sock turned inside out) and went to town with the clarifying compound. Results were awesome:

I then did the other side, waited for it to dry, then used the foodservice glove and the sealing wipe to protect both lenses:

That picture was taken the next day after the sealant had time to cure. It's been almost two weeks, they still look the same. I'll update after a few more weeks and see how well they held up in the faux-winter driving we get here in north Texas.

Driving at night is safe again (if you avoid the drunks). For $9 this is way better than spending $150+ on replacement capsules. I have plenty of lubricant and clarifying compound left over and I can always get more sandpaper if needed. The fact that this has four different grits, compound, sealant, and lube makes it a really good deal. All you have to come up with is a buffing towel (I used the outside of the sock), applicator (which was the inside of the sock), and a clean water supply (so those of you in Pensacola, who have the #1 worst city water supply in the nation, get a bottle).

 

[Mr Nice]

Looks great.

Quote:
Then I whipped out my cheap redneck version of a terry towel (crew sock turned inside out) and went to town with the clarifying compound. Results were awesome:


LOL, I have been doing the same thing when I restore my headlights with PlastX from Meguiar's.

 

[hate2work]

Nice pics, thanks for sharing

 

[webfors]

Wow! What a difference. Excellent.

 

[FADEC]

Good write up and picture's!! Tom

 

[kballowe]

Nice writeup. Thanks for the photos.

I recently got disgusted with my son's 90-something TBird. It was parked by the garage and the headlights looked like the first picture.

The only thing I had was some of that Novus #2 stuff that's supposed to be used to remove "moderate" scratches from motorcycle windshields. Used that and a home made terricloth wheel on the electric drill. Next I used some scratch-x and then some cleaner wax.

It's a fair amount of work to clean up those lenses but worth it - considering the cost of new lenses.

 

[chubbs1]

Thanks for that, the turtle wax kit is pretty reasonable too. I paid $70 one time at a Goodyear (last time I will ever do that) and it never looked that good!

 

[rainman49]

Harbor Freight had a headlight restorer kit on sale a while back for around $8 bucks. It had pad holder with shank for power drill, two sanding pads, a polishing pad and polishing solution. I supplemented the kit with some Flitz polishing paste I had and cleaned up the headlights on my daughter's '96 Lexus ES300 without her knowledge. Sorry, but I didn't take photos. I thought it turned out very well. Of course, when I asked her if she could see any better at night, she said, "I don't know, why?"

 

[nwjones18]

I've used the 3M headlight kit with great results. And it had enough stuff in it to do two cars. I got it off Amazon for $15 or so if I remember right.

 

[Deltona_Dave]

I used Meguiar's plastic polish and some sanding pads that I use for pen turning. 1500 grit through 12000 grit. They are called Micro Mesh 2"x 2" and are around 14 dollars. Similar to the pads in the turtle wax kit. They last a long time too.

Dave

 

[SLCraig]

Originally Posted By: nwjones18
I've used the 3M headlight kit with great results. And it had enough stuff in it to do two cars. I got it off Amazon for $15 or so if I remember right.


The 3M kit literally made the lights on my 02 Maxima look like new. It was the best $25 (CDN) I ever spent for a car repair/maintenance product. Was so happy with the results.

I'd say though that your lights now look excellent too. If your lights have totally clear lenses like mine did, results are more dramatic.

 

[DaHen]

Had good luck with the 3M's Headlight Lens Restoration System as well. Took my time, over two and a half hours on one pair.

 

[Sayjac]

Just trying to compare the TW kit to the Crystal View HR kit that I used and posted pics of in this thread. The CV kit uses 2 grits of sand paper and a polishing compound, then the CV#2 sealant is applied twice at the end.

I be curious to know what's in the "lubricant" bottle. CV used to use the polishing compouind for all steps, until they realized all that was needed was water for the 2 wet sanding steps. Then a polishing step with the CV and a provived microfiber cloth, then the double sealant step.

IMO, the sealant is the most important and the difference between just polishing with something like PlastX. So, while you can reuse much of the TW kit, like CV, the sealer gets used up. That said, being the TW kit is about half the price of the CV kit, I might just give it a look next time. Like you, I also like the fact that no power tools are required, and curious how long it will last for you.

fwiw Wally TLE charges ~$40 to do the CV process that the costs about $17 in the bag. DIY, was worth it to me.

Good job, and thanks for the pics of the process. Hope that unlike my thread, the know it all nattering nabobs of negativism don't show to pass their gas here, like they did on my thread. If they do, best to ignore them.

 

[rosshimself13]

i hate to say it but i have had excellent results using nothing other than some 1500 followed with 2000 grit and a little bit of wax when i am done wet sanding, if they are really bad some 1000 grit is ok as well

cost for the sandpaper.. i dont know it is useful for other things and i usually have it laying around

 

[Smokescreen]

Sweet.

 

[widman]

When I visited my son in San Diego two years ago I used 1000 and 2000 grit wetsand paper on his PT Cruiser, then buffed with the rubbing compound we were using on some scratches, finally the same wax on top we used on the car. Came out great.

 

[MKZman]

I did my Dakota lights a few years ago and they did re-haze somewhat - not as bad as before. The plastic is just does not have good UV properties.

In most cases, if a plastic on your car is going fade, crack, yellow, etc, no amount of protectant is going to prevent it...it may delay it.

 

[occupant]

I think the main thing with these plastic headlights is having to sand off all the yellow stuff on the top layer. Once that yellow stuff is gone (800-1000-1500-2000 grit in that order seems to be what detailers recommend) then any polish and any sort of sealant/wax will do. The process is WAY more important than the product. If you cut corners and just use 2000 grit or simply don't sand at all, then of course it's not going to work as well.

I am also curious to know what the lubricant is. It's perfectly clear, not as slippery as I would expect, and it really doesn't have much of an odor. But it sure makes using those pads easy. I bet water would work just fine. Shoot, I bet it's 99% water in there anyway.

For the money and not requiring power tools, it sure is a great deal. I've got enough stuff left over to do it many times and I actually want it NOT to last so I can do it again. But as it stands now, the lights are smooth as glass to the touch and clear as crystal.

I think WM charging $40 to do this is a good service. But knowing I can do it myself for a fraction of that is priceless. It took me 1h10m to get it done with a few cigarette breaks, a couple toddler interruptions, some picture taking, the mailman, the UPS guy, and taking time to just walk back and forth from one side to the other to compare. If I was in a shop doing it by hand with no interruptions I could do both these lights in 20 minutes or less easy.

I offered to do the babysitter's car but then she informed me it was repo'd. And she quit. So now I have this kit and no cars to do anything on. I feel so lonely now. Maybe I should go up to 7-11 and put on homeless guy clothes and offer to polish people's lights for $10 each? That's $20 per car, lol, gotta have a catch!

 

[ltslimjim]

This product works great, BUT you want to use an ADDITIONAL product to add a layer to protect from this condition happening again.

 

[Propflux01]

I got brave today of the Wife's Santa Fe's Lights. I was doing her oil change when I noticed the headlights were really bad glazed, so i looked over to get my Meguires cleaner wax to restore them, and right beside it was a can of Mothers mag wheel cleaner.... I got brave... Believe it or not, The Mother's really worked good!