Headlight restoration

[KennyT772]

My headlights are in bad shape, yellowed and slightly foggy. What can I do to restore them to new? I've looked online for new ones and they run about $90 a set.

Also, how do you remove the lens itself. Do you just remove the two clips on top of each lens or...? One of the clips is busted, and I don't want to possibly break the other by not knowing what I'm doing.

[kw8z3boi]

This should be posted under lighting section.

[kw8z3boi]

You can always wet sand it. All you need to do is take your headlight out of your car and wet sand the outside lense then spray some clear coat when you're done.

[68fordman]

DONT FORGET TO BUFF THE LENSE AFTER YOU WETSAND.....THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT STEP!!!

[AliasJerk]

You can always wet sand it. All you need to do is take your headlight out of your car and wet sand the outside lense then spray some clear coat when you're done.

actually, there is a lot of error involved in this method

Wetsanding requires 2 steps of sanding, a bunch of rubbing compound, and a headlight restoration compound, such as Meguiars Plastic X

Wetsanding is getting a spray bottle with water and liquid dawn mixed together, you periodically spray the headlights with this solution while sanding the headlights

1)wetsand thoroughly with 1000 grit
2)wetsand even more thoroughly with 2000 grit, until all little scratches are rubbed out
3)with a nice cloth, buff in the Rubbing compound multiple times
4) finnish off with Meguiars plastic X until headlights are completely clear
5) Rub a couple of coats of a nice wax on the headlights, this protects and helps the lights shine

you CAN do clearcoat in place of the wax step, however I wouldnt; if the clearcoat chips off (which it will) you are just going to have to do this all over again, its easier to just wax the headlights once every couple of months.

[Bradness]

We just went through a full blown how-to in this forum titled "newly sanded headlights". It's only a couple of days old-did you read it?

[95pgt-t]

i'd start at like 800..maybe a lower grit depending on condition of the outter layer of the lense