09/04/2026
Cerakote Ceramic Headlight Restoration
After being impressed with [the results](https://www.reddit.com/r/AutoDetailing/comments/1o79l3r/cerakote_trim_restoration/) of the Cerakote Trim Restorer on my 20 year old Mazdaspeed 6 I decided to give their headlight restoration kit a shot. I'm also a fan of their Rapid Ceramic Tire Coat, so I had high hopes for this kit as well.
* Top photo is after just washing and drying the headlight.
* Middle photo is after completing the first 2 steps in the kit, which were applying the oxidation remover and then wet sanding with 2000 and then 3000 grit sandpaper.
* Bottom photo is after applying the ceramic coating.
I think the results speak for themselves. We'll see how long this lasts as I've seen people reporting anything from weeks to years before needing to redo them. While this is likely not as permanent as polishing and recoating the headlamps with more pro-grade materials, given the cost ($15 USD), time (\~30 minutes), and effort (very easy DIY) it was well worth it. At minimum it improves the cars appearance a lot by removing an eyesore and will certainly improve the headlight's performance at night.
The instructions were clear but they didn't mention one aspect of application that I discovered after the fact. I may need to redo this headlight either with another kit (or attempt to stretch the remaining half of the kit when I do the other headlight). I ended up with streaking all along the bottom of the headlamp due to the way I applied it. The directions say to wipe down horizontally from the top and then overlap 50% of the last wipe, moving laterally across the surface. I realised too late that I shouldn't have stopped at the bottom and just lifted the wipe up, as that created a row of square-shaped marks. I should have wiped all the way through, and onto the masking tape to avoid stopping on the light's surface.
