Today I used the Sylvania Headlight Restoration Kit on my friend Brandon's Chevy Venture van. (It was actually his Mom's van.) The van has about 230,000 miles on it, making it a good vehicle to test the kit on. Of course the headlights already had a lens restoration done on them 1 year ago. Still that restoration has worn off and left the headlights in bad shape again. You can see in the pictures below they are still cloudy and hazy. Cloudy headlights reduce your ability to see clearly when you have your lights on a night and makes it more difficult for other drivers to see you as well. Having cloudy headlights is really a safety issue and not just an appearance annoyance. I would keep this in mind if you have a vehicle that has hazy, cloudy, or yellowed headlights.
Overall the Sylvania kit took me around 1 hour and 30 minutes to use. I give it a “Good” rating as there are improvements that could be made. The kit should have included an extra sheet of 600 grit sandpaper. If you have large headlights that are are seriously cloudy you might need to do more sanding than suggested, for instance the right-hand headlight needed more work. (I timed doing each side evenly from the instructions.) For the Venture the amount of sandpaper was adequate, but as the instructions stated you do need to cut the paper in half to make sure you have enough for doing each headlight. The instructions could have been printed on slightly sturdier paper and been a bit larger. I found it difficult to read the tiny print while doing the restoration. What did I like about the kit? Compared to the 3M kit I tested on my own Mom's Van about 1 year ago, the Sylvania kit has a UV Clearcoat. As far as I know Sylvania is the only company that sells these kits with a UV Clearcoat. This is important as this is what will protect your headlights from getting cloudy and hazy again. The Slyvania kit might last longer because of the UV Clearcoat. Only time will tell! The 3M kit did come out better when I used it because that uses a drill. The Slyvania kit you do by hand, but it worked well and did not take nearly as long as I thought.
Brandon and I were pleased with how the Sylvania Headlight Restoration Kit worked and felt it was definitely worth the time to do it. Would I recommend it… yes I would. Why? Simply because of the UV Clearcoat. If your headlights were seriously cloudy, yellowed, or hazy… I might recommend another kit though as I do not see doing it by hand would work. Overall we both were pleased. It definitely will help Brandon and his family drive safely in the van.
If you are interested in buying a kit, they retail for $20 and are sold in most auto parts stores.
Just wanted to say that Consumer reports said that the Sylvania kit outlasted the other headlight restoration brands !
Thanks for letting me know that! I did not know that Consumer Reports did tests of headlight restoration kits. It doesn’t surprise me though that the Slyvania kit last the longest, since it has the UV Clearcoat in the kit.