i was doing the whistler mod and figured i could clean up my really hazy headlights...well, it aint workin out good, i sanded them down and been polishing and it has yet to turn...just looks all scratched and white..is there anywhere u can buy lenses or do i have to buy the whole assembly? i need help bad!!!

 

How To Restore Your Cloudy Sun Burnt Headlights
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I had a lot of members message me on how to remove the sundamage/cloudy look on their headlights so I put together this post to get you started. Your headlights are constructed of a very hard plastic called polycarbonate. This plastic over time will deteroriate and become cloudy due to the sun’s harmful UV rays, acid rain etc. This is the best way to repair the damage to the clear lenses on your lights.

There are alot of quick fix products that you will see on the market but they will all eventually fail. These coating kits basically put a mask over the damaged area, its a temporary fix and will not correct the problem. Over the years I have had many of these kits which we offered to the dealerships and they all ended up in the garbage can. With that being said here is the corrct method to get your lights looking good as new without replacing them.

I have taught this method to many of my customers right here in our warehouse, it works every time.

Things you will need:

Wet Dry Sandpaper 1000-1500-2000 Grits
Soapy Water (I used our Speed Glaze Body Shine, Super Slippery)
Fantastic Finish Polishing Compound (removes the haze from the sandpaper)
Hi-Speed Buffer
Wool Buffing Pad

This task will take you about 30-45min if the lights are left on the car. When completing this task on the car pop your hood to get it out of the way. Also use masking tape to cover all of the painted areas around the light so you wont burn or scratch the paint with the sand paper or buffer.

The light I used came from a buddy of mines body shop. It is cloudy, scratched and just plain ugly.



Here I sprayed the Speed Glaze on the light, this allows you to wet sand the surface without clogging up the paper.



Use the wet/dry sandpaper starting with the 1000 grit, be sure to keep plenty of body shine or soap on the light so the paper glides smoothly over the surface. Work each grit until the light feel smooth when sanding, be sure to get the edges of the light and not just the center.



When you finished with the sanding the light should look like this.



Because I have the light out of the car it must be secured prior to buffing, unless you want to launch it off your work table across the room.



Here I applied the Fantastic Finish Polish to the light. Fantastic Finish is a one step polish that also has a synthetic paint sealant fortified with Dupont Teflon so it polishes and finishes off with the sealant leaving behind a layer of protection on the lights surface.



Use your buffer on 1800-2000 rpm setting with a white wool pad and start buffing up the lens surface. Apply even pressure and really work the polish on all areas of the lens. You want to work the polish in until its gone.









Here is the finished light.



And here is a direct comparison:

I hope this thread helps some members out. I have been polishing headlights for over 10 years now and I have yet to find a better, longer lasting way to achieve these results. If anyone has any questions feel free to contact me.

Everything used in this post is available on our website.

If you would like your lights done just shoot me a PM and I can get you a quote with a 2 day turnaround time.

Joe
St. Pete Auto Aids
www.DETAILSUPPLYONLINE.com

This is what I used.

Bill

 

^ yup. No need to buy anything new. You can def clean up the old ones.

 

Yeah, you can always make them look nice, but NOT new. Nothing beats a new pair of lenses. I wish one of the sponsors would sell lenses without the headlight assembly...