Polishing car headlight lenses

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There must be a better way to clear up automotive headlight lenses than buying new. Light is now fairly diminished trying to push it's way through the micro scratched plastic covers.

I have tried windex and toothpaste. Now thinking on maybe some baking soda or car wax.
Trying to avoid buying the specialized polishing kit at the local auto parts store.

Does anyone have any other home remedies to this malady?

Thanks!
:)
 
hard to beat $15-$20 on the prepackaged kits. Probably cost that much to get the proper grits of wetdry paper and some pastic polishing compound. But I will say Blue Magic has done reasonable well for a hand-applied plastic polish for me. Probably nowhere as effective as the drill attachments like Meguires and Mothers sells.
 
I have used the one made by turtle wax, but save some money and buy different grits of wet dry sandpaper, and a spray bottle filled with water. Start at the rough grits and everytime you change grits. alternate strokes. Or, if you're really lazy take a rag and put some automatic transmission fluid on it. Wipe it over the head light and you'll see an immediate improvment, buts a temporary fix, it will last about a week if its dry before you have to reapply.
 
I use a buffer on my drill and toothpaste. If it's really bad I hand sand first with 400 grit.

Look at it closely. Sometimes they're badly spalled on the inside where you can't get at it. The price of a new one is outrageous, though, at least on the cars I've priced them for. Once I went to a junkyard and found one that wasn't badly spalled and only needed a bit of buffing on the outside.

It doesn't have to be perfect enough to see through clearly; only clear enough for the light to shine through. You don't have to overdo it.
 
If you polish it up you could remove the UV protection coating that it has. Then the lenses will yellow up in a couple months and you'll have to redo it again.

Get a kit that allows you to properly restore the UV coating or you'll regret it a few months down the road.
 
There is a polish for motorcycle plastics that works on clears and can even clear clears up. It is not expensive. It's also leaves a protectant. I can't think of name right now. Black and yellow label I think. Sorry I can't give more info about it. Works great for everything I have ever used it for. I even polished up some model car lenses I scratched up while removing em to install a led kit. If it's really deep scratches and gouges even with a buffer this stuff won't fix that.
 
Googling "wet sanding headlights" gives tons of guides. This is a very common practice as the haze is only a few thousands thick and plastic is a relatively soft material.
 
Most of the off the shelf kits will get you a nice improvement. You can use aluminum or chrome polish in a pinch. You should have some Flitz being a member here, you can use that too.

Here are some pics of a few I have done. I didn't use one of the kits because I have many other choices.

IMG_6969.jpg


IMG_0022.jpg
 
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Yeah the kits are the best way to go. I use some polishing compound which has a little grit to it and that seems to work fine. It doesn't last long though. I guess plastic ain't as good as glass!
 
A_Blade_Afficionado said:
If you polish it up you could remove the UV protection coating that it has. Then the lenses will yellow up in a couple months and you'll have to redo it again.

Get a kit that allows you to properly restore the UV coating or you'll regret it a few months down the road.
Click to expand...
This is news to me. I haven't been using any UV protection coating and I haven't noticed any yellowing. :confused:
 
The yellowing is caused by the uv protectant layer failing hence the need to polish it if you want to restore clarity.Most car waxes have some sort of uv protectant in them.
 
I used the 3m kit on my daughters Ford Focus. The lens on both headlights were very yellow, impeding the ability to drive at night - it was really getting dangerous. Took me about 30 minutes with my dewalt cordless drill and they looked pretty much brand new. Got a big hug and a kiss from my 23 year old daughter, which doesn't happen too often any more.
 
If you have a wheel or orbital buffer using coarse buffing compound or polishing compound fixes the lights in seconds. Coarse compound most commonly seen as red turtle wax is in the 600-800 grit range and "polishing compound" is around 1200-2500 grit. If coarse compound is needed first I'd recommend that it be followed by polishing compound and finished by a wax or glaze.

Some waxes but especially a quality glaze like 3M perfect-it series has excellent UV protection. I've never had the problem of lights becoming yellow after being polished but I've always used very good products. BTW, I've polished hundreds of headlights.

If using power tools be careful with coarse grits and the surface becoming too dry. This will cause the plastic to burn/melt. Also be careful on surrounding painted surfaces, cut compound or polishing compound will affect these areas too.
 
This is q common thing in Southern Arizona. We often refer to that as cataracts. Lots of good suggestions so far. Does anyone know how long the buffing results last? I'd guess maybe 6 months?
 
I used the 3m kit on my wifes jetta. the lights looked like crap and after an hour or so they look like new and very clear. very pleased with the kit and it was around 18 bux at walmart.
 
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