Tuesday, October 16, 2018

SYLVANIA - Headlight Restoration Kit

With an Amazon gift card one of my sisters had given me for my birthday, I bought a SYLVANIA - Headlight Restoration Kit after looking at online reviews on Amazon and YouTube.  

I followed the kit's directions and afterwards the headlights on my 2010 Toyota Highlander are now like new.  I didn't take 'before' photos, not thinking I'd even do a blog post afterwards, but they didn't look too bad and weren't totally cloudy like many other examples found online.

My parents had purchased the vehicle new in 2010, so after eight years there was a band of cloudy, yellowish age, wear and tear on the headlamp lenses or plastic covers over the headlamps, whichever you call 'em, that blocked some of the lights' output, affecting how well they illuminated the road ahead when driving after dark.

I've seen other vehicles with headlights that looked much worse, but since the Highlander became mine in August, after selling my nineteen year old truck, I wanted to make sure I can see well and be seen when driving it.  I'd thought about upgrading the lamps as also, but the noticeable improvement with the restored headlights means I'll wait until one of them burns out before replacing both.

I can still see the sanding/polishing scratches if I look closely for them, but from a few feet away, they really look almost clear as new.  Well worth the cost of the kit (in my opinion) and less than an hour of hand sanding/polishing work, then another six or so hours for the final UV coating to cure.

Until that final coating was applied, I was worried with the cloudy/scratched looking finish that developed over the entire lens surface from the sandpaper and polishing sequence, but once the UV coating gets wiped on, it was pretty cool how the headlights cleared right up.   We'll just have to see how long the restored lights stay that way...

There are other brands/kits for restoring headlamps, some cheaper, others more expensive, but I like the reviews on this kit.   I did purchase some blue painters tape, that others recommended using to protect the cars paint/finish when sanding, since the kit didn't come with any, and I already had a spray bottle used just for water/rinsing and micro fiber towels for drying.

As an Amazon affiliate I earn a small percentage of sales when folks go to amazon through my links and shop, and that helps pay the bills, so, 'Thanks!'.

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