Fixing cloudy, fogged, or pitted headlights
In the 1980s, auto companies started using plastic headlamp covers which, over time, because yellow, cloudy, and pitted (the problem seems to have gotten much worse with the 1993 LH series and succeeding vehicles); sometime from 2001 to 2003, the plastic was dramatically improved, without noticeable aging. This problem appears to be particularly prevalent among Chrysler Corporation and Chrysler Group vehicles, though we’ve noticed it on Hondas and Hyundais as well.
Headlights are covered by a thin UV-resistant layer on the outside, so the following process should only be used if your headlights are particularly resistant to the finer solutions (e.g. PlastiX). Unfortunately that seems often to be the case.
“beans” wrote:
Here's how I made a pair of extremely clouded headlights look brand new. This method is based on information from a number of posts here at Allpar and what I had handy yesterday. I used 600, 800, 1000, and 1200 wet and dry sanding paper; I buffed the surface with Meguiar's #2 Swirl Remover and finished with Meguiar's PlastX.
I used the electric buffer for about 20 seconds with the Swirl Remover on each light, and followed with hand buffing. I would definitely say, a power buffer is not needed for this. (I have one, so I used it). After I finished, I thought, it may not be a bad idea to wear a glove during the wet sanding process.
- Wet sand with 600 grit sandpaper until the surface is smooth.
- Surface is even after 800 and 1000 grit wet sanding.
- Polishing begins with 1200 grit wet sandpaper.
- Buff out with very light cutting compound (e.g. swirl remover).
- Finish polishing with a good plastic polish (e.g. PlastiX).
Numerous people confirmed their success in making terrible-looking, almost useless headlight lenses look brand new. Some noted that haze which appeared to be on the inside of the headlights was actually on the outside after all. One person used a $10 kit called "5 Minute Optical Polish for headlights" which comes with a disk for electric drills and 6 adhesive foam pads with compound in them that you wet down. Another person used a Permetex kit from Autozone which essentially contained the same materials. The price for sandpaper is highly variable from store to store - $3 to $8 per sheet (only one sheet of each grade is needed).
We tried this ourselves. On the first headlight, we started with 800 grit, which was a mistake; you really need to start with the 600 when you have a badly dulled headlight. We moved on to the 1000 grit, and then directly to the PlastiX. This was also a mistake. You get far, far better results following Beans exactly. Start with the 800, move to the 1000, move to the 1200, move to the PlastiX. (Our swirl remover ended up being more coarse than 1200 grit sandpaper.) In each case, we wet-sanded.
When you first start, you'll notice that you can't really see what you're doing because the headlight is covered under a milky gel, unless you've got a constant stream of water going. Be pretty thorough with this. It took us around five minutes doing it by hand on a 300M headlight (these are bigger than most) to get all the effects of aging off. If your headlights aren't in as rough shape, you can probably get away with a lot less time. Keep rinsing and make sure you got all the yellow off.
Next, we get rid of the pits and scratches introduced by the 800 sandpaper by using the finer grades, gently and thoroughly. Don’t be shocked when you've finished with the 1000 grit sandpaper and your headlight now looks like it's a frosted shower window. As it dries, it will look worse and worse. Don’t panic. The PlastiX will miraculously fix that!
Finally, use the PlastiX as indicated - unless you've noticed an area you want to hit with the 600 grit again, and then go up through each step until the PlastiX. You don’t want to start over, and PlastiX is expensive.
When you’re done, it should look as good as new. But do both headlights on the same day unless you want your car to look funny for a while!
Feedback and warning for those with relatively minor issues
Dan Stern wrote:
The technique described will clear up the headlamp lenses...and then the degradation will come back with a vengeance, much faster and more severely than before. What you're polishing (i.e., removing) is the anti-UV, anti-scratch hardcoat applied and cured on all polycarbonate headlamp lenses under cleanroom conditions as the last step in manufacture. Once that coating is stripped off, the base polycarbonate — not very resistant to UV or abrasion — is subject to rapid degradation from sunlight and road grit.
This isn't to say headlamps shouldn't be polished; obviously the worse they're clouded up, the bigger the safety problem. But the least aggressive abrasive that will clear them up should be used. It's best to start with something like Meguiar's Body Scrub or TR3 blue-label car polish. What is being polished here is essentially an oxidised clear coat. Leave the sandpaper and aggressive cutting compounds for headlamps that won't clean up with a gentler polish. That way you extend the life of the lenses considerably longer than if you strip away all the hardcoat at once.
The Federal regulations on plastic headlamp lens durability are much too lax, which is why we have to put up with this nonsense of headlamp lenses going cloudy and opaque.
Rudy wrote to say that Mopar now has a headlight kit which appears to be similar but much pricier. Part number 68043526AA has a list price of $45 and includes a packet of cleaner, a packet of sealer, four 3x5 finishing papers, a pair of gloves, a lint-free towel, and a foam brush. An apparently identical kit is sold by Wix.
Jeff Riley wrote: “If the lens is not in too bad shape I have had good luck using metal polish such as Mothers’ mag and aluminum polish, or Blue Magic metal polish cream; I have even had luck removing the "haze" from the plastic windows on my Jeep Wrangler using these polishes.”
An anonymous reader suggested using “any UV protectant wax” over the headlight to restore the properties of the original UV-protectant coating; another suggested “303 aerospace protectant.” We have also asked to review an expensive product that claims to be able to fix even the nastiest clouded headlamps without abrasion.
Nate Johnson used a “Crystal View Headlight Restorer” kit on his 2000 Dakota; it has two kinds of sandpaper, plastic polish, and clearcoat/sealant for $20.
