Clearing up headlight lenses?

IaLeo

Well-known Member
I see a sign in Walmart that they can do it. Was in a hurry, did not ask how they do it.

Anyone DIY repairing the foggy lens?

Thanks for your time. Leo
 
Cleaned up the headlights on my granddaughters car with toothpaste! Soft cloth and toothpaste worked great for just pennies. They were quite yellowed and scratched.
 
I use liquid rubbing compound. Yes I have to redo it after a few months but it only take a few minutes and it good to go again for a while. I am told by the glass man here the only permenate fix is new lenses.
 
I, used a kit from Harbor Ft. My lenses, you could not see the inside of the headlight. After using the kit, Wow I can see at night again. I think the kit was $7.95. Had a foam pad on a dill disk. Had some ??rubbing compound and a polishing compound. Ther may be cheaper ways, but this worked for me. gobble
 
Hi Leo;

I just finished watching four You Tube videos about this topic. The first one was one I'd seen before about using bug spray. The next three were by someone who posts as Chris Fix; the first one of those warning about the shortcomings of bug spray, the second showing how toothpaste was much better and why, the third one was much longer and showed the method to achieve a permanent fix. That one was convincing, but the method was not quick and easy. For a cost of about $10 per headlight, and what I would estimate as between one and two hours of your time you could get a permanent fix. I think they were worth the 20 minutes or so of your time they take to watch.
Bug spray warning video
 
I used the 3M kit and it worked great, once I switched to
an electric drill. My cordless just didn't have the rpm's
required.
However once I got the lenses clean I found the reflectors
were pretty worn out.

Steve A W
 
Just over a month ago I bought a 1992 dually with badly oxidised running lights. I wiped two of them down with DEET bugspray on an old sock. They still look good.
 
I've wet sanded some down ending up with 1500 or 2000 grit sandpaper. Then take the buffer to them with some glazing compound. They come out prettty nice and stay that way for a while.
 
Had a guy tell me that 'Soft Scrub' toilet bowl cleanr works great.

I have not tried it yet but he showed me his reults and I was impressed.
 
I bought the HF kit also. Tried to sand the lens cover with the pad on my cordless drill - which didn't have enough RPM. Switched to my higher RPM electric drill and that polished the lens cover real nice.

Kits are also available at various places: WalMart and auto parts stores - and of course, on TV, which I wouldn't trust.
 
Hello IaLeo,

Toothpaste! I posted it awhile back. I like the mint type, it smells good while you are
working,ha!ha!......

Guido.
 
A lot depends on the age and condition of the headlights. For the most part the fog is caused by dirt and sand hitting the lens while you are driving like taking a piece of sandpaper to plexiglass. If that is all it is it can be buffed out with a kit made for that or a cotton buffer like you buff the paint and rubbing compound. On the other hand if the lens are old they may yellow a little and get little cracks all through it reducing the light it puts out. If they are very old you might need to replace the lens.

Two of the vehicles I have don't go cloudy at all. The headlights are glass. That's before engineers got stupid.
 
I just work them over with a DA sander with a 1000 grit disc till I'm down to solid plastic again with the deteriorated surface gone. Then use a buffer with a medium grit compound, followed by a fine finishing compound.

They come out looking like new, and it's stuff I have in my shop anyway.
 
LOL, such a simple thing to make like new. spray them with clearcoat. the same stuff you clearcoat paint jobs with. no sanding, no polising. comes out as new looking.
 
You bet! Just thin it out a tinny bit with a little water so you can rub it around. Works very slick. Only thing is the final wipes need to be straight back and forth horizontal. Makes the light focus as close as original. No kidding.
 
I suppose the jury is still out on what I and a co worker have done. I have a 96 Lumina that had awful headlights. The car is old and nearly worn out anyway, we keep it around because it starts and works well as a spare. My friend has a 2000 (I think) Cadillac Catera that's in pretty good shape. He drives it daily to work. Headlights on both were yellowed and dull. We were talking about running them on hi beam with nobody complaining!

So, thinking there is nothing to lose, we both got busy at lunch one day with Deep Woods Off and watched the yellow go away and was able to see the insides of the headlights. That was about six months ago and both still look pretty good.

This stuff may be bad for the plastic and such, but when the lenses are trashed anyway, what does it hurt? I'm watching mine and haven't noticed any of the problems warned about in one of the videos online. This is not an endorsement, but just a statement of mine and my friend's experiences. New replacements for the Lumina are cheap (if I want Chinese), but his are terribly expensive due to the low demand on his model I expect. I have bought Chinese headlight lenses for other vehicles, only to have them cloud up within a year had have to replace them again. That was on a 2001 Dodge Ram. Another story for another thread on a Dodge forum.
 
I have tried 2 or 3 of the different DIY remedies, and some work, some don't, but all of them seem to be pretty temporary, lasting from a few months to a year. It seems that once the original outer coating becomes damaged they haze much faster the next time.
 
Thanks. I really appreciate unbiased information on any subject that is of interest to me.

In an observation about something related to that, I was recently quite surprised to encounter a high proportion of You Tube videos on a particular subject (cleaning dirty tile grout joints) that were completely useless---just not true. These were individuals who were using common household products and methods, not people selling products. What's with that? Why would anyone bother to post information about a method that didn't work? Not didn't work well, or didn't work long term, but just plain didn't work? I absolutely don't get it.

Stan
 
toothpaste works on easy ones.

or swing by a motorcycle shop and tell them your bike windshield is cloudy and scratched up and has bugs ya can't get off.
They'll toss you a bottle of Lexan windshield cleaner/polish that really does work well.
 

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