Auto Headlight Restorer

I just used some polish, not wax, that I had sitting around. That polished out the dull surface off the plastic and made them almost like new. I also bought some Turtle wax headlight sealer at Auto Zone and put that on after to protect it (supposedly) from degrading too fast again. Don't waste your time on any kits that use a drill to run a buffing ball or pad. You can easily enough buff it up with regular polish and some elbow grease and the sealer is around $8.

How bad are they? The G3000 kit requires sanding and buffing if they're really clouded.

Same deal, without the 1000 and 3000 grit sanding

And just the PlastX, buff it with your old underwear or something.

You should be able to find the Meguiar line in AutoZone, O'Reily, Walmart, etc./

Disclaimer: I don't have any relationship with Amazon but it's the easier way to link to products with a number of reviews.

AFAIK, the sun damages all plastic headlights. The principal is first to remove the damaged plastic. One method is to use progressively finer wet sandpaper. When the damage is shallow, I've read that toothpaste can work.

A suitable polish coat can finish the job and slow further damage.

I like what rbowman said, to look at user reviews at Amazon. Then you can buy locally.

I've tried buffing with rubbing compound and wax with fair success. A cheap kit I got with drill attachment worked fast and well. I don't think I actually tried wet sanding first before, but the stickon pads don't last too long if your doing multiple lights. Changing from sanding to buffer screws up the sticky.

Greg

I've been thinking about that lately myself. In the past I've had good luck with Rain-X on lexan panels, but I haven't tried it on headlights. I'm curious about the buffing polish but the version I saw was ridiculously overpriced.

It sounds like Ashton is the only person here who's actually tried the polishing approach.

I have not tried it on a headlight but used to have a good watch with a plastic face that would cloud and I restored it with tooth paste. Tooth paste contains a mild fine abrasive.

Plastic lenses are more subject to clouding as they are softer than glass and more likely to be abraded by grit and the like.

Do not try to clean up these lenses with solvents as most will attack them. You can clean them with maybe 10-15% rubbing alcohol in water.

Has more to do with fuel economy. Glass is much heavier than plastic. Plastic, however, suffers degradation over time.

Harbor Freight.

I used a Harbor Freight on a 98 infiniti a few years ago. Worked slicker than snot on a doorknob.

I used the 3M product on weathered BMW headlights and it worked great. I think I bought it at Walmart, but lots of autoparts and similar have them. You have to have trust in it, because you start out with a coarser paper, initially making them worse. But that's what you have to do to take off the deteriorated surface. By the time you use the fine grit, they look real nice.

Next time you're in a parking lot take notice of the car manufacturers that have this clouding issue...seems to be MoPar mostly, then Ford. Very few GM products? This has to contribute to some deaths on the roads...

| | I used a Harbor Freight on a 98 infiniti a few years | ago. Worked slicker than snot on a doorknob.

That seems to be the name of a store. I've never heard of that store and I don't think there are any near me. (I also avoid shopping online, especially for things that I can probably buy down the street.) You don't remember the name of the product?

It's easy enough to find on the HF website (item 65938, USD9.99)

Why would you think that? It's strictly a cosmetic issue.

Seriously...anything that hampers your abilities is a danger. Site being the most important when driving at night...it has nothing to do with being cosmetic to me.

It is Harbor Freight headlight restoration kit. Seems you are SOL.

Your local auto store will have something.

Dingy headlights are more than cosmetic. Many would not pass state safety inspection. I have no idea if it has contributed to deaths, but I guess it is possible.

This thread finally made me get off my ass and start to do something about the cloudy headlights on my 2004 Lincoln LS.

I just ordered a 3M headlight polishing kit on Amazon for $10.00, shipping included.

You do need to have a common 1/4" electric drill to spin the discs, or a friend who will loan you theirs.

Good Luck,

Jeff

More importantly, just about everything at HF is their own stuff, branded for them, where you won't find anywhere else.

And I don't think it's a manufacturing problem. Plastic is just not as durable as glass. AFAIK, the fogging is typical of all cars that have plastic type lights.