The headlight lenses (or covers, faces, or whatever) on my Nissan Murano were getting pretty bad. I’m not sure what to call it but it was a combination of fogging or hazing (crazing?) along with a slight yellowing effect that was blocking a lot of the light and just looked bad. The old sharp, clear and polished look was gone. I’ve heard a lot of talk about the headlight restoration kits that are available so I decided to give it a shot. Purchasing new headlight assemblies was out as, for the Murano, they cost almost as much as buying a brand new car.
A little research on the Internet revealed the 3M Headlight Restoration System to have very good reviews. I purchased a kit and went to work.
I followed the instructions and took my time. Going slow is good. Messing up the paint on the vehicle would really bum me out, destroying the headlight a close second. The good news is that the grit of the pads being used is really “fine”, nearly too fine to do any serious damage. It starts at 500 grit, then 800, then 2000-ish. In basic terms, the process involves very fine sanding of the lens then more sanding with finer paper and finally polishing the lens with a polishing compound. The process is pretty simple and just takes some time – lots of it! The Murano has a very complex lens shape – a rounded protrusion for the “brights” and a long protrusion for the blinker which makes for some difficult angles. I’m sure the a flat lens would be really simple. I spent a couple of hours and am pretty pleased with the results. The lenses are not “show room floor” looking but they are close. They are VERY much better than they were earlier today and certainly worth the twenty bucks!
I’m pretty happy with the 3M product.
Leave a Reply