Review: McKee's 37 All In One Headlight Restoring Polish

Jaretr1

Jaretr1

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When My car was new (2013) I coated the rubber trim and headlights with Carpro Dlux. I recoated them a year later but have not touched them since. They had developed a little haze. I am not sure if this was the coating itself breaking down or the headlights beginning to oxidize. They had been this way for awhile and I had just ignored them, but they finally got to me. I figured this is a good test for the new Mckee's 37 Headlight Restoring Polish.

I had tried this polish on a very oxidized headlight on another vehicle with poor results. However, my headlights were not that bad.

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I am not sure if the haze is the headlights themselves or the coating failing...but none the less they needed some attention.

I used my PC 7424XP and the 2 3/4" backing plate and the orange cutting pad from this kit: CCS Spot Buffs 4 Inch Foam Pad Kit

The results speak for themselves. While this polish couldnt do much to really bad headlights without prior sanding, it had no problems with the haze on my headlights. Like all the Mckee's products I have used so far, this was very easy to use. The polish worked effortlessly, slowly broke down, and wiped off with no problem. My headlights came out like brand new. Haze gone! I think it took me longer to tape off the area surrounding the headlight than the polishing itself.

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I followed the polishing with application of McKee's Headlight Protectant Spray. This product has a pump sprayer that does a great job of evenly misting the product over the headlight. I spread it gently with a microfiber, and then allowed it to "flash" or evaporate from the headlight, and then gently buffed (wasnt really anything left to buff). It left no streaks. Time will tell how this product does at protecting my headlights, I just hope it is a lot better than the similar older Diamondite product.

For lightly oxidized or hazed headlights, or a followup to sanding, this polish seems to do a great job and is easy to use. Just do not expect it to restore badly oxidized headlights on its own.

McKee's 37 All In One Headlight Restoring Polish, headlight restoration

McKee's 37 Headlight Protectant Spray
 
Great review. It's a shame that a 3 year old vehicle needs its headlights restored. McKee's 37 to the rescue!

The key to success with Headlight Protectant Spray is to apply it often.

You often hear the question arise "How long does it last?" REALLY?!?! Is it that hard to apply the protectant to your headlights after every wash? It might take a whole 10 seconds if that.

Frequent car care is easy car care.

:xyxthumbs:
 
I agree on two things.....with Nick on the fact that such a new car already saw the impacts of the sun. WOW! Must be where you live. Also, nice job!! Looks great.
 
Nick@Autogeek said:
Great review. It's a shame that a 3 year old vehicle needs its headlights restored. McKee's 37 to the rescue!

The key to success with Headlight Protectant Spray is to apply it often.

You often hear the question arise "How long does it last?" REALLY?!?! Is it that hard to apply the protectant to your headlights after every wash? It might take a whole 10 seconds if that.

Frequent car care is easy car care.

:xyxthumbs:
Click to expand...

Yes, ok Nick, I will use it often, unless I recoat the headlights.

I live in South Florida (Miami) which is probably one of the most intense climates on cars because we have it all, high sun intensity, lots of humidity, and heat.

To be honest, given the fact that I can still see Dlux holding fort on the rubber trim, it might have been more of the Dlux failing than the headlights themselves. It was probably close to 2 years since I applied it. Dlux definitely worked at protecting the headlights for a good year or more. Now I'll try this method for awhile and see how it works.
 
I just used this product on my wife's g8 gxp. Its an '09 with ~70k miles and is daily driven.
By it's self I wasn't impressed with the all in one polish on this application. I did many passes (not the few as claimed in a caption in the product description) with varying pressure and it barely made a dent in the defects. Not a big deal. Maybe the g8 headlight coating is hard to make up for the soft paint. I happened to have bought a cheap generic kit the other day and used the sand disks in it. I then switched back to the M37 aoi to polish. I did work well at this point.
The aio did better with the fogs though. I wasn't looking for perfection, but I wanted more clarity so I hit it with 1500 and again used the aio to polish.
I also didn't care for how the included pad was working so again I switched over to the generic orange foam pad and it polished up well and was more controllable with a drill. The velcro on the M37 kit's backing plate started to peel off, but the generic one held up and...it got used the most!

The sealant went on easily, but time will tell. I'll most likely end up removing it and putting opti-lens on them instead. Simple to put on, sure, but why keep having to reapply after every wash when there is a more permanent solution?
With as many professionals as I see on the board, it may be good for them to know how long it lasts Since they might want to use the product on customer's cars. As a customer, I wouldn't want to pay someone the fix my headlights then have to apply stuff to them after every wash or have them yellow in 6 mo. Just something to consider before dismissing that question as silly.

Before pic


The polish working



Pre-sealant


Fog

 
I agree with wanting a permanent coating for the headlights. DLux had lasted a good while. However, on the flip side, it does literally take 30 seconds to apply the headlight protectant on the headlights.
 
Not bad results on the Pontiac. I am cautious of AIO products coming out on the market simply because they are hit and miss with certain lenses. There's several people posting how great it works and others not impressed. Too bad the pad also started coming apart on you but good thing you had the generic one to back you up. Have you thought about popping out the fogs to do a good wetsand job? They may come out crystal clear.
 
Thanks.
Ya, I think the different degrees of effectiveness depends on how good or bad the factory coating is. If bad all over, it'll work. If only in spots like mine, it works there but it is not aggressive enough elsewhere where the coating is still hanging on.

I have thought about removing the fogs. They are pitted though. If it didn't require wheel, fenderliner, and lower valence removal I would have done it already. Since they're clearer and I can see the bulbs, I noticed that one is partially burned out so I'll eventually be digging into it anyway.
 
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