Meguiars Lens Correction Kit review and 1 year update

My family's 9 year old Toyota Wish has headlamps that are turning rather yellowish and blurry due to its age. It seemed to be a common problem with most cars of this age as the clear plastic headlamps deteriorate due to exposure to heat, UV rays and contaminants from the years of usage.

At 9 years old, the car would have 1 year of life left before the expiration of its Certificate of Entitlement (COE), the dreaded expensive piece of paper that bestows the car a regulated lifespan in Singapore. With the COE and car prices going up and up in the recent years, it makes sense to extend your car's statutory lifespan rather than to buy a new car. I tested a few Japanese cars and frankly, it does not seem like much of an improvement from my 9 year old trusty Toyota Wish. In comparison, the new Toyota Wish is upwards of $130,000, that is a lot of money to part with for little noticeable improvement compared to an old car!

European cars have generally benefited from their fuel efficient turbo-mated engines, while Japanese cars have insisted on their humble Naturally Aspirated tradition, which translate to lower power and efficiency. So, my family decided to extend the car's COE.

One of the pressing issues was to restore the headlamps' usability as a blurry headlamp results in lower transmission of light and diffused focusing. We considered sending the car to a workshop to replace the entire headlamp assembly but it was expensive and the workshop was not confident in being able to procure the same headlamp for my car.

Instead, I bought the Meguiar's Lens Correction Kit. It is a small self contained do-it-yourself kit that is said to restore yellowish and blurry headlamps. It did not require any power tools, which meant that elbow grease was needed. Using the kit, it took me 1 hour to go through the 4 sanding pads provided. It was hard work, I tell ya.

But at least, it worked. It looked as though it was a new lens! Was gushing with pride as I took a before-and-after picture of my car.

Sadly, the joy lasted only a year. Now, my headlamps was starting to turn yellow and blurry from being exposed to the elements and I have to use the kit again. Honestly, 1 year is too fast to get blurry. The clean, sanded plastic had lacked a protective layer that seals it from the air.

The next time I will try out another method I saw on youtube, involving the use of cheap paint lacquer to help smooth out the lens and coat it with a protective layer.

Until next time!