For any of you out there that are trying to squeeze every penny out ot their STR here is a quick tip for you.

I have been in the process of slowly "restoring" my 2003 STR. I bought her certified pre-owned with only 14K on her that was almost 7 years back! I love this car and she was my first "real" car been driving GM products all my life until I finally go the bug...

I have been good about servicing the old girl regularly and try to keep her clean and give her a good coat of wax a couple times a year. Paint looks good few dings and scratches here and there but hey she is 10 years old! The biggest problem for me was the headlights! Yellowed and faded looked absolutely terrible and every bit of 10 years old! I tried everything from Mothers to Blue Coral to try and "restore the headlights" nothing worked... Until I found a Headlight Restorantion kit from 3M at my local grocery store in the automotive section... I know... I know... Needless to say it was on sale $14.99 I decided to give it a try and WOW!!!! After all the other failures and $$$ invested in packaged kits this one did the job and 1.5 hours later VIOLA!!! Her eyes are bright and shiny once again and are now befitting the high gloss Liquid Silver body!

If you are thinking these kits dont work, you need to try this 3M kit completely understated and on a grocery store shelf I wouldnt have believed it myself! Check out the picture below - keep in mind these are the original 2003 headlamp covers wish I would have taken a before so you could really see the improvement... One word IMPRESSIVE!!

 

Those look great. I wasn't able to use the 3M kit as effectively. I screwed up one of the lights when I tried.

I ended up doing the following to resore my headlights:

1. Wet sand with 600 grit sandpaper
2. Wet sand with 1000 grit sandpaper
3 Wet sand with 1500 grit sandpaper.
4. Apply coat of Mcguires PlasticX to headlights to give them a shine.

I maintained the lights with the PlasticX every couple of months to maintain the shine.

 

Yes the 3M kit works well and has been posted about several times. Glad you got them looking good again.

You should post before and after pictures to show off your hard work. Unless you clear coat the head lights they will slowly get hazy again. I just redid mine after 2 years and they are again crystal clear.
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Sylvania makes a kit that includes a UV-blocking clear coat: Headlight Restoration Kit available at any auto parts store. I used this on the '05 with good results.

 

That is interesting. It's not clear coat paint but a polymer coating. How long have you run this clear coating?
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Just a few weeks ago, so not long enough to say how long it will prevent UV damage. I've also added an extra layer of protection: XPEL Head Light Protection, but this is for stone chips and such, the UV protection from the film is secondary. So far so good, though. The headlights look great, and I have plenty of leftover UV-block to reapply to the edges (where the xpel film doesn't cover) if it starts to look like it's wearing thin.

 

I used the 3M kit in coordination with the SEM headlight restore, worked great, just be sure to triple tape the areas around the headlights as to not scratch the paint.

I'm also selling the SEM spray at a discount if anyone is interested, send me a PM.

SEM Products :: Solaray UV Headlight Repair

 

I too am a successful believer in the inexpensive 3M kit.

 

When it comes to headlight restoration kits, it's been debated and fully debunked online that the product brand you buy don't mean jack... 3M, Sylvania, etc... what matters is the PROCESS. Especially considering most brands sell different levels of product.

What you want to look for are the products that offer the most steps. The simpler the process, the weaker your results are going to be.

In fact, none of these products are offering anything patented or special. Again, it's the process. FloridaJag mentioned a pretty good process. The process he mentioned is what everyone should try for at the least (and try using a hand drill for the best results).

If your gonna' bother prepping your headlights and putting any amount of time into it, you might as well use the fullest step-process. The simple "liquid" only solutions with no sanding involved are snake oil. They'll make your headlights look good for a few hours.

Don't believe me? Go out to a pair of cloudy headlights, wet your finger and rub it on the headlight. "It's a miracle! The headlight's clearer!" simply because the headlight's wet. Headlight clearcoating is one of the most important things to restoring headlight shine and keeping it that way also.

So remember, don't shop the brand, shop the process. JbB

 

I've also used the 3M kit with success - used it about 8 mos ago - headlights still look great!