Figured I'd post this up since it isnt something you see very often (or at least I dont..)

I had an old set of headlights from a 96 Mustang. They were faded and looked pretty bad. Found them while I was cleaning out the garage..

What you will need:
Sand Paper (get an assorted pack)
- 220 grit
- 400 grit
- 800 grit
- 1000 grit
- 2000 grit
(if you can get a 2500 grit too... I highly reccomend picking it up!)
Buffer
Polishing compound
1 cup of water
Towel/cloth

Heres what I started out with. They were taken from my cell phone, so I appoligise for the poor quality pics. They did look much worse in person though. :lol1:




Its not anywhere near hard to do as this may seem. Dont let this process scare you. You may be thinking "You want me to sand my headlights?!?!"... Well yes.. Thats what you're going to need to do.

Step 1: Time to start sanding! Take your 220 grit sand paper and wet it in the cup of water. Let the water soak in, and start sanding the headlight! Go down until the fading/yellow goes away. Your headlight should look something like this when you're done with step 1 (I only did half the headlight to show progression)
NOTE: ALWAYS KEEP THE SANDPAPER WET!!! DONT RUSH EITHER!

 

After you get the faded area off, time to move up to a higher grit sand paper. Repeat this process with the 400 grit sand paper (should not take as long. You will not need to put a lot of pressure on it at this point. Let the let the sand paper do the work).

After the 400, move up to the 800.. Repeat the same process. Wipe off all the water/debris from the headlight, and begin sanding once again. You are making the scratches finer in the headlights.

Wipe off the headlight once you feel the headlights evenly sanded and you've smoothed the headlight out as much as possible with that grit sand paper

You should know the deal by now, move up to the 1000 grit. Sand down the headlight again. The scratches should be finer now, but you're still not finished yet. The headlights are going to look similar to the picture above still.. Since they are scratched...

2000 grit... This is you're last step in the process. Sand down the headlight. At this point, the headlight should begin to feel pretty smooth. Towards the end, start sanding really gently.

*** If you have 2500 grit sand paper.. Keep on sanding one more time!***

Once all the sanding is complete, get a polishing compound and spread it on the headlight with your buffer. I used a random orbital, and begin to buff away! You should notice the scratches are going away at this point. Clean off the headlight with your towel, and see how it looks!


The left side is the cleaned, the right side is the original.



Damn! I missed this area! no big deal... Just have to go back and resand a little bit to make those scratches finer. Take out the 2000 grit (you may have to start out with a rougher grit depending on how deep the scratches are) and resand. Polish the area once again, and look at your headlights. If you still have scratches, sand again until theres none on the headlight. Try going very lightly.. This takes some practice. Be patient, and dont get mad.

Heres the final product..

The left side is the cleaned, the right side is the original.

Remember.. I only did half of the headlight!


Good luck, and send me a PM if you have any questions.. Its not a dangerous process if you do it right. Take your time and dont rush.



- Mike

 

To make this process last, try to clear over it with a rattle can.. Just a tip..

 

Can you ever get fading on the inside of the headlight, or is it always going to be on the outside?

 

The discoloration is from the outside.

I'd highly doubt anything would ever happen on the inside of the light.

Do you have a pic of the light you are talking about? If so, do you have a picture of it? Or were you just asking?