3M Headlight Kits - Possible Buy

[sam726 29]

Hey Guys & Gals.

Just wanted to gauge whether people woud want to buy the 3M Headlight Restoration Kits.
The kits are no longer available in NZ and I'm thinking about bringing in a bulk shipment of them (by bulk i mean maybe 10-20 or something).

One big downfall of these kits is not providing a proper sealant with it so the headlights would fade again in as little as a couple of months, however I'd probably bring in a quality headlight sealant aswell to keep the lights fade free for longer (a year or more). Each kit would be enough to do two headlights and is comprised of sanding paper, polishing materials that go on an electric drill. I know you can do it yourself with some wet & dry sandpaper by hand etc... but these kits just take all the stress & hard work out of it.

Now I know that these were selling for around $35 a year or so ago when they were last available over here. After costing in the product, shipping & sealant I would be selling for about $40-$50 (this might become cheaper depending on what deal I can secure). Will also do mine first and provide a full write up on the best way to do yours, or could even do them for you for a small fee.

Let me know what everyone thinks, certainly 10X cheaper than buying new lights, especially with lucky E39 people like me who have the factory angel eyes, xenons and clear lights that set me back $500 or so a pop!

Cheers

[yng_750 247]

I used the rainX kit from.supercheap comes with a sealant and cost around $35. Not sure if its as good as 3m but it still left a little yellow tinge

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[M5V8 337]

could be interested. Have some pitting i'd like to get rid of.

[sam726 29]

I'm not too sure about the RainX kit since it doesn't seem to be very widely used.

To give you some idea of the 3M kit have a look at these two links:
http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=716869
http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/showthread.php?t=447676

[740i_Lou 5]

Fyi, autosol works just as good as anything else I've used. Skit cheaper too.

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[sam726 29]

Fyi, autosol works just as good as anything else I've used. Skit cheaper too.

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Depends how bad the lights are really.

Mine are far too bad for that have already used autosol and plasticx on a DA polisher with cutting pads and while it removed some of the yellowing on the surface it was definitely still there

[gjm 3191]

If you're selling the car and/or not so concerned with a perfect finish or long-lasting result, use toothpaste.

Seriously. It's a far from perfect result, but it makes an enormous difference for very little outlay and using materials you already have.

For a longer term solution, the 3M kit (plus appropriate finishing sealant) works well. Can't comment n the Rain-X as I've not tried it.

[elmarco 56]

The yellowing is UV fading of the polycarbonate lens. Normally headlamps have coating (it used to be diamond coat from Rohm & Haas - but that was a few years back) that protects it from the UV & scratching. Once the coating is peeling off exposing the bulk material, it will continue to yellow in the UV. You can continue to sand, polish etc, but without the clear coat protection it wont get any better. The clear coat needs to be specifically for polycarbonate lenses as its very sensitive to chemical attack (particularly around any stressed areas).

This was one reason we used to avoid it like the plague & use acrylic wherever possible. Where we had to use PC it was a stabilized grade & we never used it colourless (we used a smoke tint) so it wasnt noticeable. Since then, there are new materials like optical nylon which are much better for UV & impact resistance.

[Lucan 196]

I'm interested in the sealant, almost any abrassive paste or liquid with clear up the foggyness. Preventing it from returning is the issue.

[Driftit 1925]

I see GT Refinishes are advertising they will polish and seal your lights now.

Not all that expensive if you don't want to attempt it yourself.

https://www.facebook.com/Gtref

Their example is a E39 headlight. They offer just polishing or sealing too.

[my_e36 43]

The latest Super Cheap catalogue has a Turtle Wax branded of the same thing for around $35. (or was it Repco, can't remember exactly)

[yng_750 247]

i have done abit of research, as you say a good sealant is hard to find.

did you have any in mind. i have seen a couple that do well but require re application after a few months,

[Allanw 1051]

clearlight.co.nz was about $160 to $180 for the pair when I enquired about them. It was cheaper if you took the lights out.

They polish and recoat them.

When I managed a rental fleet, we had some blue cream from a car cleaning co., which you'd put on like car wax, leave for 10 minutes and polish off with a soft cloth. It didn't bring them up mint, but it got off the oxidization and made them look see-through - was about $90 a pot, but we probably used it on 100 pairs of lights. I also can't remember any details about it

The new Halogens from Hella were $640 a pair when I did the group buy but Xenons were about $1800 a pair, with ballasts and everything.

For prefaclift lights, new fronts are cheap and easy, for facelift, there are palces selling covers now, but they're not cheap - even though they look it - they have writing moulded into the front cover, which the Hella ones don't.

If you want to do it kinda cheap, but are planning on keeping the car for a while, I'd do the clearlight thing - should last a few years at least.

New Genuine BMW retrofit kits have been selling on German eBay pretty cheap - I eneded up with mine off a UK forum members for about $900 complete, and freighted. Comes with self elvelling retrofit, ballasts etc.

[bellicose 9]

Ok, for those that don't know.

Take ya lights out, send them to me alomg with $60 (plus return postage) and get them back within the week cleaned and sealed.

[Allanw 1051]

Ok, for those that don't know.

Take ya lights out, send them to me alomg with $60 (plus return postage) and get them back within the week cleaned and sealed.

Magic!

[gti 0]

Hi all, I got 3 extra sets of 3M Headlight Restoration Kit 39008 from US. Going for $35/set. Any takers? Located in North Shore, Auckland.