Know-How Notes – Using 3M’s Headlight Restoration Kit

Hazy headlight lenses can diminish your headlight’s reach by more than 50 percent, leaving you in the dark. Not only does it make it harder to see the road, but also reduces the distance you have to stop should something or someone pop out in front of you. Too many people live with this affliction, but you don’t have to. It is actually quite easy to restore your headlight lenses to their original crystal-clear luster, and it all starts with the 3M Headlight Restoration kit.

There are varying degrees of damage for lenses, from a light haze to fully-yellowed through which very little light passes through. You don’t need to the most aggressive restoration kit for a slight haze; this can often be buffed out with rubbing compound alone, whereas the worst lenses need to be heavily worked to eliminate the haze. 3M has three kits available- Quick Renewal, Medium Duty, and Heavy-Duty.

Quick Renewal

This is the most basic kit designed for light hazing. The kit consists of a 5000-grit hand-sanding pad and some rubbing compound. You will need to supply a microfiber buffing cloth, and some water for wet-sanding. This will remove light haze, that is about it. Deep scratches, white or yellowed lenses need more serious effort.

Medium Duty

Most headlight lenses fall into this category. This is for the lens that has significant fogging, the lens has some white haze, but the headlights shine through.  This kit contains three foam sanding pads- 1000, 3000, and 5000-grit, scratch-remover buffing compound, wax protectant, foam applicator pad, and masking tape. You will supply the microfiber towel and some water for wet-sanding. This kit will work for most cars that have dulled over time.

Heavy Duty

If your lenses are completely white or yellow and light barely passes through, then you need the heavy-duty kit. This package is drill-powered, which makes the process go much faster. A Velcro backup disc is loaded into your power drill and each of the sanding and buffing pads attaches to the disc. The kit comes with 500, 800, and 3000-grit sanding pads, a foam buffing pad, rubbing compound, wax protectant, and a roll of masking tape. If this kit cannot get the haze out, then you need new headlight lenses.

One key tip for a successful renewal is the use of water for the sanding steps. A spray bottle or bucket of water should be used when sanding the lenses. This provides some lubrication for the sanding pads, and makes it easier to get the scratches out. The water pulls away the dust from the plastic and the sanding pad, which helps the pad last longer and you don’t make the lens worse, rubbing the plastic dust into the lens, creating more scratches.

To demonstrate the power of this system, we took a 2001 Mercury Cougar with moderately hazed lenses and got to work. We could have gotten away with the medium-duty kit, but opted for the drill-powered heavy duty kit as one headlight was significantly worse than the other.  The entire process takes 3-5 minutes per headlight, depending on the size of the lens and the severity of the haze.

Check out all the cleaning products available on NAPA Online or trust one of our 17,000 NAPA AutoCare locations for routine maintenance and repairs. For more information on headlight restoration, chat with a knowledgeable expert at your local NAPA AUTO PARTS store.