McKee's 37 Headlight Coating

Jaretr1

Jaretr1

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Hello,

Ive tried several different headlight protectant products. Meguiars, Mckees37, even CarPro Dlux (which is more of a coating). Never been truly satisfied with any of them. Dlux did last maybe a year or so before it started degrading. The protectants seemed useless to be honest, not providing much in protection against UV damage.

I was eager to give Mckees 37 Headlight coating a try.

As would be required, I polished all the oxidation off my headlights (I think I used a compound actually), and then cleaned the surface to rid it of any leftover oils.

The coating was as easy to apply as any of the sealants. Wipe on, spread out and then it dried and basically disappeared. I applied it to my headlights, and also to the glossy plastic trim on my doors.

These photos are about 2 months or so post application. Water is still beading nice off both the headlights and trim.

IMAG5592.jpg


IMAG5593.jpg


If this protection holds up, and keeps my headlights from oxidating for a while, I will be happy.

This product is very easy to use.

Downside is its on the expensive side. However, I imagine one bottle could do a lot of headlights and trim.
 
Keep us updated.

I haven’t used mine yet, trying to use up my Mckees protectant first (every few weeks for the rest of warm weather). I will apply the coating before winter. I’ll be curious as to whether you are still satisfied with this current coat at that time. I’ll reply to this thread if I can remember.
 
acuRAS82 said:
Keep us updated.

I haven’t used mine yet, trying to use up my Mckees protectant first (every few weeks for the rest of warm weather). I will apply the coating before winter. I’ll be curious as to whether you are still satisfied with this current coat at that time. I’ll reply to this thread if I can remember.
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If there is one Mckees product I wasnt impressed with, it was the headlight protectant. It smelled good, but Im not sure it did much to actually protect my headlights.
 
I’m not a big fan either given the loose claims on how often to use and zero claims on the durability. I’ll just use it so often that it hopefully works, until the bottle is gone, for no other reason than to not waste it by trashing it.
 
I a big McKee's fan, but after using Opti-Lens I have no reason to buy anything else. Does great on all headlights...except Toyota. I don't know what the difference is but about a year is all it lasts on Toyotas.
 
Jaretr1 said:
I've tried several different headlight protectant products. Meguiars, Mckees37, even CarPro Dlux (which is more of a coating). Never been truly satisfied with any of them. Dlux did last maybe a year or so before it started degrading. The protectants seemed useless to be honest, not providing much in protection against UV damage.
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Funny, we had this discussion on the Optimum forum recently about Opti-Lens, that it lasts a year at best. The response was that pros use it and warranty the headlights and no complaints...which of course doesn't mean that it lasts longer than a year, maybe just that customers don't come back and complain if it doesn't.

Jaretr1 said:
I was eager to give Mckees 37 Headlight coating a try.
Click to expand...

Do you have any expectation that this is going to be better than Opti-Lens or DLux? My argument is simply that these coatings are so thin, relative to clearcoat or the factory-applied UV-cured coating, that they have no chance, particularly when the factory coatings only last about 5 years of 24/7 exposure.
 
DaveT435 said:
I a big McKee's fan, but after using Opti-Lens I have no reason to buy anything else. Does great on all headlights...except Toyota. I don't know what the difference is but about a year is all it lasts on Toyotas.
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Ha...I didn't see this until after I posted...I have only used Opti-Lens on Asian cars and it never holds up (this is on lenses where the original factory coating has failed and been sanded off). So you have used it on multiple other makes and had it last indefinitely?
 
I am very pleased if a headlight coating lasts a year. I’ll take 6 months or inbetween, also. Re-coating headlights twice a year sounds very reasonable for having like-new looking headlights for the life of a daily driver.
 
Setec Astronomy said:
Do you have any expectation that this is going to be better than Opti-Lens or DLux? My argument is simply that these coatings are so thin, relative to clearcoat or the factory-applied UV-cured coating, that they have no chance, particularly when the factory coatings only last about 5 years of 24/7 exposure.
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I have no expectations but it surely is 100% easier to apply than Dlux. I think I got a good year and a half out of dlux, but when it was done, it seemed to oxidize and fail really bad. But at 2 months, its still looking good.
 
I applied McKees last Sept or so (Headlight Kit to polish 1st) - it took a beating during the winter months....

So in winter climates 1 year is a no-go - but even now - the lights are still far better than with nothing - but clearly in need of refresh.

My new plan is once prior to winter and again in spring.
 
grovlet, are you talking about Mckees Headlight coating or Headlight Protectant?
 
acuRAS82 said:
grovlet, are you talking about Mckees Headlight coating or Headlight Protectant?
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Good question - I had thought it was the coating - but turns out it was only the "protectant" - so that may explain away some of the results.

Here's a comparison from start to finish over time: (You can see how it was and how it's returning - but not as bad) (as well as how they came out on Driver Side)
Under Way (Last Year)
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Now - Passenger Side (Today)
attachment.php
 
I never got an answer on how long the Protectant lasts, but I’m assuming 2-4 weeks. Two on the safer side.
 
I gave up on these types of 'protectant'. Opti-lens lasted a year before it was totally yellow. Around the 8 months mark, I could already see some yellowing. This time around, I said the heck with it and sprayed them with automotive clear coat.
 
There is a headlight restoration kit with 1k clearcoat primer to prime the surface so the stronger 2k clearcoat don't haze when you paint the headlights. It's brand is Spray Max and is a Germany based company but have a reseller in the US. So just type spraymax dot com and see how to get it if interested. The important thing to make it last longer is to sanding of the old oem clearcoat. You would be starting to dry sanding with as low as p500 grit and move up in grit and finish of with a wet sanding p3000 grit. And then spray the 1k primer and the 2k clearcoat. This way if you are thorough with sanding of the old oem clearcoat you could get another 5 years before adressing it again. And with a coating or sealant protection even longer like McKees 37 options. And I would recommend to apply the coating after 3 months or so to get an awesome protection on them.

The problem when you start to get the headlights oxidized is that the thin clearcoat is cracked down to the plastic surface of the headlight. So that's why you experience it starting to oxidized under the coating or if clearcoated under that. If you would had been getting the old oem clearcoat of you would only get the oxidized after the coating fails.

You often feels and see when you get through the oem clearcoat and down to the plastic surface of it. Think of it to sanding through paint to bare metall. And don't polish or compounding after the p3000 wet sanding as you would want that to get the clearcoat primer and clearcoat to bond as hard as possible.
 
mhphoto said:
Hey OP, how’s the coating holding up so far?
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Not the OP here, but I applied Mckees coating on my 2016 Q5 and 04 TSX at the end of November 2018. The Q5 I only used coating prep polish since those headlights still look new. They still look new today.

The TSX have all factory headlight protection long gone. I had applied Meg’s headlight coating 2 years ago and they started to look grimy at about 6 months, so assuming that coating wore off after 3-4 months. I did the Mckees headlight polish to get these back to clear again. It’s going on 5 months now with the Mckees coating. Headlights still look like they did when I applied the coating. Will update back here eventually for further status.
 
I use McKees, Optimum and Dr. Beasley's. I bought all three at various times when they were on sale here. For sure, for sure, for sure, you need to prep the lens and strip it of all degraded polycarbonate. This means deep sanding to get it down to raw polycarbonate. If you leave anything behind it will grow like organic mold. That said, if you prepped your lens properly the McKees product should be fine. I spray wax my headlights frequently (after every wash) so this also provides further protection.
 
I have not deep sanded the old headlights, but still looking good so far. They would typically have started hazing/yellowing by this 5 month mark.
 
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