3M 39073 Headlight Lens Restoration Kit to Restore Dull/Faded/Discoloured Headlights For Car, 1 Pack, Smoke

As with many other people I was a little sceptical about taking sanding discs to my headlights, but they were in such a state that it was either that, pay a professional £70-£100 to renovate them, or replace the units (£100's more!) to avoid an MOT failure. After checking reviews and narrowing down the choices to either this kit from 3M or the one from Autoglym (both names and brands I've used before and trust), I decided the edge was with this kit and went ahead with the order, adding the small bottle of UV sealant in order to ensure that whatever finish I ended up with would at least be protected from future sun damage etc. I then waited for a good, dry and fairly sunny day so I would be able to see what I was doing and get all my lights done in one hit, cracked open the kit and got stuck in. I got through three fully charged batteries on my Ryobi cordless drill (set to the lower speed setting 1) and my arms and hands still ached a day later, but the results were just as promised by the blurb on the kit, much to my own surprise and relief. Even my mother-in-law said they looked like new units when I was done about 3 1/2 hours later, so it really does pay to (a) read the instructions and follow them to the letter and (b) take the time to do the job right. My lights went from heavily yellowed and fogged to 'as new', so if the UV sealant I applied (two coats, apply, leave to dry, buff off & repeat) after washing everything down when I was done do their job then I'll be very happy, with clear, bright, safe lights again, a must now that the nights are drawing in for winter. Some observations: Don't apply too much pressure when sanding - a light drag feeling that doesn't make the drill's note drop seems best, and use a combination of strokes depending on which disc is on the pad. For the early stages with the coarser pad, shorter strokes that repeatedly go over a slowly widening area were best to show the layers of lacquer and fogged plastic coming off, moving onto longer, more even passes across the whole light unit when you switch to the finer sanding discs and the polishing pad. Be thorough and make sure you've really cleared off all the old lacquer so that the headlights really do go a uniform milkiness - that's the scariest part, and the one at which both myself and anyone watching sucked their teeth and shook their heads in doubt, but stick with it as it really does all come good in the end. I have a W211 model E Class and so had four lights to renovate, two 'side' lights and two main headlights - if you have the same model then open the bonnet before you mask up. It means less masking and much easier access to polish/sand the tops of the light units. I did one set with the bonnet closed as I was concerned about how much dust would be made, but it really wasn't anywhere near as bad as I'd feared with the majority falling down in the direction of the drill's rotation so when I moved onto the second pair I opened the bonnet and found the whole process much easier as a result - lesson learned if I ever need to do this again! Also there were enough sanding discs, polish etc. in the kit to do the whole job, so unless you have lights the size of windows you should be fine for pretty much any car I'd think. In short, if you're having doubts then don't - this kit really does work if you follow the instructions and take your time to be thorough and careful. My lights look amazing now and I keep going out to look at them as I still can't believe how much better they came up - thoroughly recommended kit! Just remember to get the UV sealant as well and apply two coats to make sure your hard work and effort are protected from the sun longer term. I'm going to give my lights another refresher treatment with the sealant every month or so when I clean and polish the car so that hopefully the renovated finish I currently have will last long enough that I won't need to do it again for a number of years.

Bought for a friend who has an older car and the headlamps were very frosty. He was extremely sceptical and said it’s a waste of time and he would need to buy new headlamps lol but I said I will give it a go for him as I probably have more patience and after very little effort or skill the results were unbelievable. Well worth the money and using this was simple and effectively saved my make a few hundred pounds . Highly recommend

A good product that restored 11 year-old lights pretty much as described. The before and after pictures in the advert and in customer reviews closely match my own experience. Written instructions are clear and the video on the 3M site is helpful, but could have given a bit more detail in how to go about the job – felt more like a montage of before and after pictures. Job took me about 2.5 hours, including several readings of the instructions and views of the video. The drill bit and sanding/ polishing pads all worked well although as other reviewers have noted, you have to be careful removing the pads from the bit as the heat softens the Velcro layer on the bit and it would easy to take the Velcro off with the old pad. I only have a couple of issues. First, there wasn’t enough masking tape in the pack, I bought an extra role which was needed. 3M’s examples are for relatively small lights, with simple shapes. I was working with a single headlamp / side indicator unit that wrapped round the front corner and extended back into the wing some distance and needed more tape than supplied. Dropped a star in the review for this. Second issue - more to do with my lights than the product. The grinding/ polishing pads are very effective on simple profiles. My lights have a recess around the main projector lens on the front and the section in the wing where the indicator sits has five profiles, all of which are quite shallow. This meant that the pads could only contact across a small section of their area and quite often the edge of the pad was grinding on the neighbouring profile. All this made it hard to get into the edges of the profile for a consistent finish. It’s minor – there are some bits that I will get back to with wet n dry paper by hand – but something to bear in mind if your lights aren’t the relatively simple designs used in 3M’s examples. Overall, good product and happy to recommend.

I have an SLK Mercedes and I dread to think how much new headlamps are - they were becoming yellow and crazed as a result of sun damage - not so bad that it was going to fail an MOT - but I am trying to sell the car and so looks are important - the end result is so good I wish I'd done it earlier!. Apparently the UV from sunlight penetrates the outer layer of the plastic and dries it out causing the damage - this kit restores your headlights by physically removing the outer layer by abrasion and then restoring a polished finish - for me it was quite a leap of faith in the product - deliberately scratching up a perfectly serviceable headlamp seemed a bit risky - bit I needn't of worried - 3M do good kit. There a re a few videos on YouTube which were informative - albeit some were a bit slow - but it gave me the confidence that what was happening was quite normal - the headlamps will look worse before they look better - the instructions that came with the kit were more than adequate. The only stuff you need other than this kit is a cordless drill, a spray bottle of water, some cloths/kitchen roll and if you are working with the car bonnet up - I would recommend a dust sheet to protect the engine compartment from splatter - just saves a bit of cleaning afterwards - and wear old clothes - you will get splattered. The kit comprises of a Velcro drill attachment and 3 different grades of Velcro-backed abrasive paper, masking tape, Velcro-backed polishing pad and a sachet of polishing compound - I recon there's enough to do 2 sets of headlamps depending on how badly they are damaged. After cleaning both headlamps and masking all the bodywork around both headlamps I attached the coarse abrasive paper - took a deep breath, fired up the drill and set to work. On the first headlamp I made the mistake of only sanding the damaged area - by the time I got to the end - the undamaged area stood out because it wasn't as shiny! - so do the whole headlamp. Apply gentle to firm pressure and use cloth/kitchen roll to wipe away dust every few minutes, you can see the damage areas disappearing through haze of the plastic - by the time you've finished this stage the whole headlamp will be opaque - it should be a fairly even level of opaqueness throughout - have faith - it will get better. You then repeat this process using the next finest grade of paper - by this time the look of the headlamp is beginning to improve. Next you use the finest grade abrasive pad - this is where the water spray comes in - this grade is on a foam pad and you use the water spray to keep the area wet - this is where you begin to get splattered Finally you use the polishing pad and polishing compound - again - keep it wet. After a final wipe down the finished result was amazing - I went back over and touched up any bits that didn't look perfect - I can't fault this product. It took 1 fully charged battery per headlamp.

Used on a 2005 Skoda Fabia VRS. Headlights were an MOT advisory last time so needed to get fixed. Worked very well (see attached photo showing before, during and after). However, if I can share some of my layperson's experience to help others not make my mistakes. Don't go gun-ho like I did with the drill really fast. I ended up with one sanded area the size of the first pad and nothing else as it had worn out almost immediately. Also the drill kept skipping off on to the paintwork (masked, with supplied masking tape in the box, no need to buy extra tape, there is plenty, but DO use several layers!). Everyone will have an opinion about optimum speed but for me it was about the speed of a fast cordless screwdriver and at the lower end of the drill's range. Pads will last enough to cover the whole light at this speed and then some. A standard drill worked for me - be warned one of the steps involves wetting the headlight with a spray of water and also wetting the pad - I was using an electric drill, so wetted the pad before attaching to the drill and ensured the headlight was damp, not running with water. Take care! Don't worry that there is only one final polishing pad and one final sanding pad, it's enough for both lights. Take your time. With all polishing, slower is better. I did each headlight in about an hour but I expect for an experienced person or doing another car, it would be 20 mins if that, as once you have learned what to do, it's easy. Be very careful when removing each pad after use. Do not just rip them off the velcro. The pad and glue backing (on the velcro pad) get warm and there is a danger of it coming off the attachment if you pull too hard as the force holding the velcro can be a lot, you've problems if this happens. So peel each pad off a little, then push the velcro backing underneath firmly on the drill with your thumb while you peel off the pad slowly with the other hand. I'm not a car person but managed the whole thing OK. You need a drill, the attachment and pads all included. Tape was included to mask the surrounding paintwork. You just need to supply:, some cloths to wipe the residue off the light as you work (tip: Use a different cloth for the later stages, or you'll be wiping excess course grit over the lights again!), a chair to sit on, a sprayer bottle for the water, a mobile phone to take before and after photos to proudly show off your "new" lights to everyone who is interested (which is no-one, but do it anyway). I did mine with the bonnet up, as that saved having to mask off that area. It also looked more impressive to anyone walking past, like I was some sort of car buff or something ;) The polishing compound likes to drip out of the sachet, so open outside. It's all over my doormat! As others have said, the process involves sanding with finer and finer pads. It will look worse before it looks better. The final stage is amazing, when it all comes up crystal clear. A five star product for me. Also, for the record, bought with my own money in return for nothing whatsoever. Thank you for reading.

I never write reviews - until now that is... My daughter had just bought her first car, a ten-year-old Renault Clio in good condition but with very misty, discoloured headlights. I bought this product as a result of a conversation with my father-in-law and him reading an article in a waiting room magazine. There were a number of products reviewed in the article with the 3M one receiving a good report. As this was the more affordable of the range, I decided I would give it a go with the usual level of scepticism I normally apply to 'does what it says on the tin' products, safe in the knowledge that if it all went wrong, it would be my daughter's car and not my own prize possession that takes the hit. I was fully expecting a trip to the local breaker's yard the next day to find a replacement pair of headlamps. To my total astonishment, this product not only worked, but produced results so good that it inspired me to write this first review. If 'better than new' is even possible, the 3M product delivered it. The headlamps were transformed from a horrible mess to perfect clarity in about an hour. This resulted in five minutes of happiness from my daughter, surprise and satisfaction for me and glory for the father-in-law for suggesting the product - everyone was a winner! You'll need an electric drill and ideally a water spray bottle to moisten the fine sanding disc. There was enough masking tape, sanding discs and polishing compound to adequately compete both headlamps and all materials were of good quality. Once I got going with it, approximately half and hour's work was needed per headlamp. If you are competent with an electric drill and have a reasonably steady hand anyone can do this. When you first start sanding, they'll look like a write-off. Keep going and don't be afraid - in fact, sand it good and proper, then work your way up through the finer discs. This is a top notch product, 10/10.

Don't get me wrong this is a great set, and does the job.. HOWEVER. If the seller reads this could you please send me the 4th 3m finishing disc. I received all of the other discs, and daub, but with only 3 x 3m finishing discs. So I cant do the other 2 headlights on the second car. I will happily raise the review to 5 stars. and edit this one to reflect the quality f the product. But how can a set with 6 gold discs, and 4white finishing discs, not have 4. Please send me the 4th disc. I paid for it after all. Thank you. Best regards.

There was a category for 'Sheerness' when rating this product so I gave that 3 stars having no idea what it means. Otherwise it worked well and despite concerns about sanding what is basically a clear plastic headlight it did the job and removed yellowed clouding that came up as an issue at an MOT. It took about 25 minutes per headlight, the instructions were clear and enough sanders and paste were included to do the job. Be careful reading the description though. When I purchased it said it would need additional 3M automotive masking tape to protect the body work which I ordered but the kit included more than enough. A lighter cordless drill will be needed to get the pressure right and there are recommended speeds. In use make sure to keep the sander moving and don't slow down even to concentrate on an area because it causes a very rapid heat build up. I noticed a small brown scratch but it was actually starting to melt the plastic and luckily was easy to remove. The paste for final treatment comes with warnings that it's an irritant so use gloves, no disposable ones are included.