Successful headlight restoration using a cerakote kit

I had mentioned posting in another headlight thread about restoring headlights using a cerakote kit. Well I finally got to it and I am super impressed. Now I would have done this to the Dodgemahal, but I ended up putting in all new lights, relays and pretty much a whole new headlight system that solved my poor night vision issues. So I did do a write on on the work so it is out there for reading. So today I repaired the very foggy headlights on our Toyota Tundra and my wifes 4 runner. Plus I called a neighbor that had a yamaha quad that you could not read his instrument cluster any more and told him to come on over and we would try to fix his problem also. So successful that it was, I brought my Honda quad in the shop also since it was having issues too. It was a great day of making things better. And seeing some pretty impressive results with a little work. Now I had never used Cerakote's headlight restoration kit before. I have used their trim coat on the Dodge trim last year and it looks like I did it yesterday. Already fully familiar with cerakotes air cure products, I knew they are quality. I use several products on car restorations. No primer or catalyst is needed and it is tough as nails. I am just a regular guy consumer and have no relationship with cerakote other than using their stuff. With that being said, lets see what happened today...

Here is the bag it all shows up in. With good instruction videos on you tube, it is pretty easy. Best part is it is a lifetime treatment. You won't have to do this again like some other kits require. It is also UV and UVB proof.

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Here is the first headlight set. Pretty fogged out. Not as bad as the 4runner but still needing fixing.

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First is a wipe with oxidation remover. 4 wipes per light. Then, After sanding with 2000 grit and final sanding with 3000 grit. It is included, you dry everything super well as water will ruin your work. I stripped the masking and dried it with compressed air and remasked for great results.

After. Super clear and reflecting everything around me.

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The wifes 4runner. It was pretty bad. I sanded a long time. You can feel the sand paper drag more on areas that still need sanding.

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They include the little yellow sanding disc holder. 2 pads of 2K grit and 2 pads of 3K grit.

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After a clean and dry with compressed air, followed by remasking and a ceramic coating wipe, it looks fantastic. The directions say one pass with a 50% overlap. I did a second pass and it left just a hint of a streak on the drivers side. You want to follow the directions exactly. Don't do a second wipe.

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Amazing!

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My neighbors quad before...

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After with sanding and ceramic coating.

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My quad before...

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My quad after...

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The quads were not perfect, but you could see everything better. The trucks turned out excellent. I can say this kit from cerakote really works well. I believe I paid about 24 bucks before shipping for each kit. Worth every penny. I hope this helps other TDR members with headlights that need a good clean up. Nothing like seeing well at night.

 

Nice! Just bought my son a Corolla that needs headlight work done so this is timely for me.

 

Good job and good write up.

I’m assuming it took one kit per vehicle. No chance one kit might do two vehicles?

 

I bought and used two kits.
It might be a stretch to do two vehicles. In the bag are 8 packets of oxidation remover. With the intent of using 4 per light. I had some left over. They did tarnish and require replacement, but I also figured that I could remove a lot with sanding. Also in the bag is the yellow sanding disc holder, 2 pads of 2000 grit and two pads of 3000 grit. They are small at 3 inches round. Then there are only two packets of ceramic wipes. One per light. I found the ceramic pads were soaked pretty wet with liquid. But it starts to dry very quickly so you must work methodically and quickly. I did put them back in the packet and tape it shut. Why I don't know. I hoped to use the residual on something later I guess. I think the small sanding pads lost their effectiveness after one use. So trying to get two rigs done might prove frustrating. One thing I should point out was that I used a spray bottle with water only while sanding. Lots of spraying to rinse the milky liquid away while sanding and to try and keep the sanding disc's clean and not loaded up. Lots of water there. I had two very milky puddles on the shop floor after all the sanding. And I made sure not one bit of moisture was anywhere like the rubber edge seals when putting the ceramic wipe on. Any water will drag across the finish and wreck the work. This stuff is very strong and later if you want to sand it, well good luck as it just will not sand. I tried to glass bead blast a cosmetic Jeep part I made and clear coated with cerakote. I was stunned at the strength of the film. I had to scrap the part. That coating was cerakote MC160 gloss clear that I used on aluminum. I would say it is safe to say that cured cerakote is nothing like any paint I have ever used. It is really amazing stuff. Just follow the directions well.. And finally, at only 24ish dollars for a kit, two kits for two cars is not to bad. It beats replacing a headlight with a lousy replacement that just does not measure up or fit correctly. You could buy extra sand paper and move quickly with the ceramic pads. But if it did not work, and the ceramic started to dry up, you might have damage you will have a hard time fixing later from a partially covered surface.

 

JB,

Thanks for posting... I found Cerscote black plastic trim coating on Amazon... gonna do my Jeep. The fenders, both bumpers, and side steps all black plastic with UV damage. There are products that are marginal, so hoping this is the ticket.

Cheers, Ron

 

It works great Ron. I did my side trim on the Dodge. I did find that multiple passes with the wipe made the best results. Unlike the headlights that say one pass only. So I was just looking for a picture of my smaller quad. I wish I could find it. I used trim coat on the body plastic. It was very chalked and the trim coat put a shine back on it and got rid of the flat chalk look. I was so impressed I started looking for more stuff to wipe down. I did the Dodge and smaller quad last summer. They still look super.

 

Great write up thank you for posting

 

Sorry for not posting results,

Kit pretty much failed as I had previously treated my Jeep with Back to Black. Really crapped out, even though I followed instructions, which omitted an important consideration. Do not use this product if you previously used another treatment product. I got a full refund and suggested they include this critical limitation in their instructions and advertisement.

I am slowly removing it using high pressure and a scrub brush. They are right that it is resiliant and would stand up to 200 washings. 1800 PSI having effect of 30 to 40 washings.

Anyhoo, likely a good product if you never treated plastic with anything else.

Christmas Cheers, Ron

 

Thank you Ron for that feedback. A very important detail there. I am wondering if a long sand to surface it down to fresh plastic would make a difference. Cerakote is so resilient, being a one time coating, (another) failure could be a disaster like you are experiencing. I am under the impression the kit is pretty fresh on the market. That feedback like yours is pretty important for the company to make revisions to their instructions and product limitations. Sorry you had bad results. I hope a solution is found without the expense of new lighting. I am however pleased to report our Tundra and 4runner headlights are still as clear as the day it was done. Nothing had ever been put on their lens's though. Thanks Ron for the feedback. I hope it gets better.
Yes, Merry Christmas to you and all on the forums here.

 

JB,

Its actually coming off gradually... way much better than original flaking.... just about the same as original problem. Chose to not sand as it would loose texture. Its do a washing now, so will hit it again with the pressure washer.

Christmas Cheers, Ron

 

Well hopefully the end result will be a good one. Sounds like you are getting there. Yes, Christmas cheers back at ya..
Al.

 

Thanks for posting this. Order two kits and did my 2003 Camry and my truck. Both turned out looking like new - biggest difference was in my Camry - holy cow. Very easy to do this and results were amazing. Thanks!

 

Thanks for posting! Great news. Our Tundra and 4runner are also still doing well. We have been down to 1 degree so far this winter. So extreme temps at least in the low end are not affecting the repairs. We will see when it hits a hundred this summer. The best part of being able to fix an OEM light, is not replacing it with a cheap inferior aftermarket light, or forking out a lot of money for an OEM replacement. So far so good. So I guess it is time to say Happy New Year now that Christmas has passed.