Testing out McKee 37 headlight coating

[Paul_Siu]

Headlights lens are made out of plastic and eventually the UV will make them yellow under the sun. After about 9 years of service, the headlight has develop a yellowish tint. It's actually worse than it appears on the photo. For some reason, its barely noticable on the photo

Because the yellowing isn't all that bad, I decided to remove it using some cleaner wax. This seems to work out pretty well.

I then apply the coating with some microfiber cloth and buff out the excess. It comes as a liquid and is clear. We shall see if prevents yellowing. It's a rather expensive product, so I hope it works.

Paul

 

[The Critic]

These products are ideal for maintaining headlights where the clearcoat is still "structurally sound." If yours has begun to fail, polishing and applying this product will be a short-lived improvement....but it is still worth trying.

 

[Paul_Siu]

Agreed, but I don't have the skills to apply a new clearcoat. It would be easier but not cheaper to just replace the light assembly. This is worth a try.

Paul

 

[Dave9]

Snake oil (due to marketing attempts to justify the high price), as are spray on clearcoats that have to be sanded away and great effort spent again to reapply them, while a common, inexpensive mild polish polymer sealant like NuFinish takes only one minute to reapply after the initial reconditioning polish.

You wash and seal your car besides the headlights. You don't clearcoat the entire car when a sealant or wax will do. Don't fall for this marketing nonsense. Standard polymer sealant doesn't have to last forever because it only takes a minute to reapply, every few months. Add up how long it takes to do the spray clearcoat and how bad you're going to let it degrade because it takes so long (or else you're more frequently sanding away your lenses and have to replace the housings too), and you're worse off in every way.

 

[PimTac]

This McKees product is a coating. It touts 3 years of protection but that could be under ideal conditions and with fairly new headlights. One year should be reasonable.

On top of this, when you apply your LSP go over the headlights and tail lights with the same whether it's wax or sealant just for that little bit extra protection. Do not use cleaner waxes or polishes. That will do more harm than good.

 

[Dave9]

^ False. I've used cleaner waxes and polishes on same vehicles for over 20 years, and others shorter (since they aren't that old yet) but slowly getting there. It is the best solution for long term maintenance, rather than a lot of effort for a coating then declaring it great, only until you have to repeat that again resurfacing away the entire coating and repeating, realizing it wasn't so great.

To suggest it does more harm is laughable and obviously something you have never tested, unless you are doing something improper like using high speed power tools to apply it and creating excessive heat while doing so. That will haze up a lens whether it is the wax stage or the initial resurfacing stage before any coating would've been put on.

 

[buck91]

I've used Blue Magic 2-3 times per year as well as keeping my headlights waxed with either a quality wax/sealant or using my spray wax after each wash. Truck is a 2011 model with 2010 manufacture date and the lenses are still crystal.