Hello everyone. Bought a '99 GT with what I thought was stone pocked headlights. So I bought a headlamp restoration kit to get rid of all the marks and make the headlight s nice and clear again. I never looked at the tail lights that close but was told the Left had water in it and was given a replacement. When I took the old one out I saw that like the head lights it too had a "Frosted" look to it. Now I wondering if the headlamps and tail lights came that way from Ford? Any guesses?
He's right, they should be clear. As you've likely found out, pretty much all the headlight restoration kits are snake oil at best. The one I tried from Cera-Kote actually made my headlights worse. On my Roush, I was lucky enough to buy genuine Ford headlights from LMR, however these are discontinued. After searching ebay, I finally gave up and ordered aftermarket ones from LMR for $142 and they are nicer than I thought. Of course, right after I bought then, I found some US-made ones I would have rather bought on ebay, made from Original Ford Tooling for like $240.
The UV protection is not there after the polishing process. On other brands, the clearness did not last. Meguires advertised a spray on clear cost UV protection, but I have not seen it in use.
He's right, they should be clear. As you've likely found out, pretty much all the headlight restoration kits are snake oil at best. The one I tried from Cera-Kote actually made my headlights worse. On my Roush, I was lucky enough to buy genuine Ford headlights from LMR, however these are discontinued. After searching ebay, I finally gave up and ordered aftermarket ones from LMR for $142 and they are nicer than I thought. Of course, right after I bought then, I found some US-made ones I would have rather bought on ebay, made from Original Ford Tooling for like $240.
Yes, "just like new" probably isn't achievable, but many can be returned to clear and then protected and at least get some more mileage before they should be replaced.Nice work in all honesty. But here’s where I think my opinion is based: my headlights weren’t terrible just cloudy on the drivers side headlight because the car sat in a carport with that side in the sun before I bought it. I never expected a miracle but the one I did exactly as per the instructions looked worse than the other one and worse than it did before I started. I’ve buffed out headlights for friends and my sons friends with a regular buffer and polishing compound for paint. It looks much better but never like new. I was after the “just like new” promised by the package. Not even close.
I've used this spray after a headlight restoration and it seems to help repel the tendency to go cloudy again for some time. It wears off and should be reapplied as needed.The UV protection is not there after the polishing process. On other brands, the clearness did not last. Meguires advertised a spray on clear cost UV protection, but I have not seen it in use.
The 3M heavy-duty kit is also good. I like the 3M one because it has a drill attachment that helps speed up work on heavy oxidation. I would also recommend following up with this spray. Amazon product ASIN B01M4RVVX6View: https://www.amazon.com/Meguiars-G17804-Clear-Headlight-Coating/dp/B01M4RVVX6/I disagree, I've used the Meguiar's Heavy Duty restoration kit on several cars, and they come out looking damn good afterwards. When I got my Bullitt, it had terrible halo aftermarket headlights. I snagged a set of factory headlights from the junkyard that were pretty well clouded up. Here's a before and after:
I used the same kit on a set of 300C HID headlights for my Magnum/300 conversion. Before and after:
Each headlight is about 15 minutes worth of work.
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