Headlight Restoration

[TheBALDpuma]

Had anyone got any recommendations for the next kit to use?

Or is a home remedy just as good?

[toddygti]

How bad are they and are they plastic and now yellow?

Elbow grease and some good old wet and dry sandpaper works best start at around 800 and work up to 2/3k then polish off with a good compound like G7

[CharlieCrocodile]

I used the 3m kit on my 2007 boxster, it brought them up like new. Watch the videos on YouTube first and trust them.

[TheBALDpuma]

toddygti said:

How bad are they and are they plastic and now yellow?

Elbow grease and some good old wet and dry sandpaper works best start at around 800 and work up to 2/3k then polish off with a good compound like G7

They are plastic

They aren't too bad to be honest, they're just starting to look aged and what to get then sorted. I wouldn't say they're yellow yet but they aren't as clear as they should be.

[jamesbilluk]

I’ve used the Turtle Wax kit on a couple of cars now. I’ve always been impressed with the results

https://www.halfords.com/motoring/car-cleaning/car...

Also the 3M kit

[Chris Stott]

toddygti said:

How bad are they and are they plastic and now yellow?

Elbow grease and some good old wet and dry sandpaper works best start at around 800 and work up to 2/3k then polish off with a good compound like G7

Forget the kits and just do this.

Much cheaper, and much more effective.

[CraigyMc]

Chris Stott said:

toddygti said:

How bad are they and are they plastic and now yellow?

Elbow grease and some good old wet and dry sandpaper works best start at around 800 and work up to 2/3k then polish off with a good compound like G7

Forget the kits and just do this.

Much cheaper, and much more effective.

Toothpaste is even cheaperer. Tiktok said so.

[M4cruiser]

Chris Stott said:

toddygti said:

How bad are they and are they plastic and now yellow?

Elbow grease and some good old wet and dry sandpaper works best start at around 800 and work up to 2/3k then polish off with a good compound like G7

Forget the kits and just do this.

Much cheaper, and much more effective.

I got mine back to almost-new like this, but after a year they're back to the way they were. The kits include some anti-UV-oxidation stuff so I'm told, this makes the difference in the long run.

[CraigyMc]

M4cruiser said:

Chris Stott said:

toddygti said:

How bad are they and are they plastic and now yellow?

Elbow grease and some good old wet and dry sandpaper works best start at around 800 and work up to 2/3k then polish off with a good compound like G7

Forget the kits and just do this.

Much cheaper, and much more effective.

I got mine back to almost-new like this, but after a year they're back to the way they were. The kits include some anti-UV-oxidation stuff so I'm told, this makes the difference in the long run.

I can't speak for other makes but my car's got film over the front of the headlights for this reason.

[Bennet]

Chris Stott said:

toddygti said:

How bad are they and are they plastic and now yellow?

Elbow grease and some good old wet and dry sandpaper works best start at around 800 and work up to 2/3k then polish off with a good compound like G7

Forget the kits and just do this.

Much cheaper, and much more effective.

Wet and dry sandpaper may well be highly effective but, IME, elbow grease is not. I spend two afternoons doing it by hand. At the end the headlights were improved, but far from perfect.

In contrast, using a drill mounted sanding disc/pad thing got the job done to a near perfect standard at about 45 minutes per headlight.

Since most people probably don't have a range of increasingly fine sanding discs and polishing compound sitting in the shed, the kits make a great deal of sense. They are cheap and give you everything you need.

I went with the Holts one:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B075KFP3H5

Drill mounted sanding discs, polishing compound and UV protection stuff to finish. £13. Highly recommended.

The only minor difficulty I found is avoiding getting the drill wet.

One more piece of advice - get the lights off the car if you can, rather then trying to do them on the car.

Edited by Bennet on Saturday 26th August 21:31

[Jambo2000]

I used t-cut on some really cloudy Civic headlights the other day, massive improvement and didn't take too long by hand

[ajap1979]

I used the Megs Two Step kit on my Boxster. Thought the results were pretty good.

[TheBALDpuma]

ajap1979 said:

I used the Megs Two Step kit on my Boxster. Thought the results were pretty good.

That looks great. And a similar starting point I would say for my golf

[AndySheff]

I've used a kit on a couple of cars - IIRC I used the Autoglym kit. It comes with all the necessary grains of sanding discs, sanding and polishing paste. But you do need your own masking tape (at least with that kit).
Been happy with the results.
It's about time to tackle another of my cars actually - might get round to that next week.

[Chris Stott]

If you’ve got a bit of light clouding the kits will work… but heavy clouding will need something more aggressive.

The headlights on the X5 I bought last summer were totally fked. How it passed its ITV (mot) with them only as an advisory is beyond me.



Took a good hour of sanding with ever finer grades of wet and dry to get them back to clear.

[sidewinder500]

From this


To this


Only with a polishing pad and two stages of polishing compound. Final step was a UV sealant, still looks good

[CrouchingWayne]

sidewinder500 said:

From this


To this


Only with a polishing pad and two stages of polishing compound. Final step was a UV sealant, still looks good

Which UV sealant did you use? I need to do mine at some point, was tempted to just use a couple layers of clear coat.

[sidewinder500]

Sonax Profiline Headlight Coating, applied with a microfiber cloth, polishes right out.
Use 2x a year, so far lights look as good as they did last fall

[Bobupndown]

Never needed to restore any of my headlight lenses. I give them a polish occasionally when doing the rest of the car, with whichever brand of polish, wax or sealer I'm using. Current 9 and 10 year old cars look perfect, as did previous 11 and 14 year old cars. Prevention rather than cure.

[ajap1979]

Bobupndown said:

Never needed to restore any of my headlight lenses. I give them a polish occasionally when doing the rest of the car, with whichever brand of polish, wax or sealer I'm using. Current 9 and 10 year old cars look perfect, as did previous 11 and 14 year old cars. Prevention rather than cure.

Yeah, great stuff. But what if you buy a 17-year-old Porsche whose owner has failed to take your advice?