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Headlight Restoration

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by F8L, Mar 29, 2011.

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  1. F8L

    F8L Protecting Habitat & AG Lands

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    Hey guys,

    Just thought I would plug a new product I tried from Meguiar's. :)

    My 2005 Prius sits in the sun and has been exposed to the elements ever since I bought it. Over time the headlights have started to yellow as the plastic breaks down. They had not "fogged" over yet like so many other car headlights I see on the road but it looked ugly and was starting to affect the amount of light passing through the lens and onto the road. While contemplating the arrival of my new 55w HID kit (I have stock 35w HIDs) I figured it would be best to clean up the headlights before I installed the new kit.

    I purchased Meguiar's Heavy Duty Headlight Restoration Kit ($29.99) and went to work. The process is pretty simple and is much like wet sanding any painted surface. For lightly oxidized headlight you may be able to use the regular Restoration Kit ($24.99) which includes only the polishing wheel and PlastX. No wet sanding needed. I chose to wet sand because I had quite a bit of rock dimples that I wanted to try and remove. Enough came out that I am happy with the result. I only wish I had spent a bit more time sanding to remove fine scratches that accumulated over 130,000 miles.


    1. Clean the headlight thoroughly to remove bugs and dirt.
    2. Tape off the area of painted surface around the headlights to protect your car's paint from scratches while sanding and buffing the headlight.
    3. Fill a spray bottle with water or use Quick Detailer and use this to keep the area you are sanding on wet at all times.
    4. Start with the 1000grit sanding pad. Begin sanding the headlight with back and forth motions, not circular. Continue until the headlight appears clear of imperfections (yellowing oxidized material and small dimples from rocks).
    5. Clean the headlight and dry it. If the entire headlight appears foggy/opaque and all of the major imperfections are gone then you are ready for the next step. It is important to ensure you've removed all of the original scratches. I should have sanded more but I was worried about taking off too much material.
    6. Switch to the 3000grit sanding pad. Continue sanding using the same back and forth motions you used with the 1000grit pad. When you think you are finished sanding, sand some more. This will produce a cleaner end result and may reduce some of the fine scratches that were left on my lens when I was finished. (the scratches were not from the sanding, they were there before I started)
    7. When you are finished with this stage, the headlight will appear much clearer than when you finished with the 1000grit sanding but it will still be hazy.
    8. Clean the headlight and dry it.
    9. Mount the cloth polishing wheel to a cordless drill and apply a small dime-sized amount of PlastX plastic polish to the center of the pad.
    10. Place the wheel on the headlight and slowly (low drill speed) start polishing the headlight. I say slowly because if you start off at a fast drill speed you will sling a lot of the polish off the pad and onto you and the car. YOU MUST WIPE OFF POLISH BEFORE IT DRIES. Failing to do so will leave a residue that is hard to remove by hand without more polish. So work on a section of headlight then wipe it off . Continue to apply polishing compound as needed and polish until you have reached desired results.
    11. When finished polishing, apply the UV Headlight Protectant and wipe off.
    I realize this sounds labor intensive but it is really quite easy. I performed steps 1-8 in less than 45min.. I ran out of time to finish so I drove to work the next day and the headlights worked well despite not being polished. I performed steps 9-11 after work yesterday and it took all of about 15min.. The result was awesome and I had more visible light on the road this morning while commuting to work.

    Here is a video that illustrates the process:

     
    #1 F8L, Mar 29, 2011
    spiderman, Abdullah Jordan, Stormz and 7 others like this.
  2. TonyPSchaefer

    TonyPSchaefer Your Friendly Moderator
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    Mine are starting to get a haze.

    I realize that the OP sounds like a commercial or advertisement but one thing we like to do here at Priuschat is recommend good products when we find them. Also warn others of not-so-good products when we encounter those.

    Thanks!
     
    #2 TonyPSchaefer, Mar 29, 2011
  3. F8L

    F8L Protecting Habitat & AG Lands

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    I'm not only a Meguiar's spokesperson but I'm also a client..... :p

    Seriously, I have no connection with any care care products. Like Tony stated above. I/we just like helping other members out. :)
     
    #3 F8L, Mar 29, 2011
  4. F8L

    F8L Protecting Habitat & AG Lands

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    After messing around with my projector retrofit I noticed I should have spent more time sanding some of the larger scratches when I was doing the abov restoration. Just a note to anyone performing this activity. Sand, sand, then sand some more. :)
     
    #4 F8L, May 3, 2011
  5. Stormz

    Stormz Member

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    Cheers F8L.

    I'm in shock that Toyota allowed some really crap plastic to be used on their car headlights covers. (EDIT: actually, it seems all car makers have crappy plastic headlight covers. Grrr.).

    fwiw I found a diy option:
    http://au.toyotaownersclub.com/forums/index.php/topic/29234-diy-head-light-restoration/

    And also something similar to F8L's available in Australia:
    http://www.polish-up.com.au/perspex-headlight-restoration-kit-with-felt-pads/

    But, after a bit of research, I went for GlassyLite, as it also has some sort of protective compound for after you're done with all the polishing:
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/28699687@N05/
     
    #5 Stormz, Sep 6, 2011
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  6. F8L

    F8L Protecting Habitat & AG Lands

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    You're welcome. :)

    Actually this is not Toyota specific. Most cars I see on the road have this oxidation after a few years of sitting in the sun. The problem is the angle at which the headlights are mounted. They absorb a lot of radiation. Headlights on say an old Volvo what are mounted facing horizontal to the ground absorb less radiation. :)
     
    #6 F8L, Sep 6, 2011
  7. qbee42

    qbee42 My other car is a boat

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    This is one of the reasons that for years only sealed beam headlamps were allowed in the USA.

    Tom
     
    #7 qbee42, Sep 6, 2011
  8. xs650

    xs650 Senior Member

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    Back in the olden daze of the 1960s when only sealed beams were allowed in the US, most (all??) of the non-sealed beam lights had glass lenses. The good brands from Europe were much better lights than the antiquated (they were already obsolete by world standards in 1960s) US sealed beam standards.
     
    #8 xs650, Sep 6, 2011
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  9. cwerdna

    cwerdna Senior Member

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    On this note, Top Headlight restoration kits | Headlight restoration kits Buying Guide – Consumer Reports had a review of some kits.

    My dad's 02 Rav4 EV that's never garaged has very cloudy lenses now. But yeah, it's not Toyota specific. I've seen other cars that way too, such as a Nissan Maxima that was somewhere between 00-03 model year (don't remember which, exactly).

    I wonder why automakers don't make the front of these headlight assemblies out of glass? Breakage? And yes, I remember all those sealed beam bulbs from the 70s and 80s. I don't recall when automakers stopped using them.
     
    #9 cwerdna, May 4, 2013
  10. 04priusnow

    04priusnow Active Member

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    My 04 had a serious haze to it. I used the metal cleaner BRASSO. I came across this on another forum and tried it. Took a paper towel and spent 30 seconds on each headlight. It looks a lot better and if I had a small polishing wheel for my drill it would only improve. Its been a week and still looks great. I had a can under the sink so the cost was 0$, probably 10 years old. Good luck
     
    #10 04priusnow, May 5, 2013
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  11. Clay2013

    Clay2013 Junior Member

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    I tried the Meguir's HD Kit the weekend on my daughter's car. It worked MUCH better than the 3M kit.
     
    #11 Clay2013, May 6, 2013
  12. bedrock8x

    bedrock8x Senior Member

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    All the headlamp cover are made of Lexan which is impact resistance. No other plastic has this characteristic. That why they all fade due to UV.
     
    #12 bedrock8x, May 7, 2013
  13. a_gray_prius

    a_gray_prius Rare Non-Old-Blowhard Priuschat Member

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    I'm bumping this thread because I recently refinished my heavily cloudy headlights. I used the Rain-X kit, which consists of 3 sandpaper pads, a fine cut polish, and a sealant. I had to replace a HID bulb, so I just pulled the headlights out. It took me about 2 hours (more because I'm a perfectionist than necessity - the second car I tried showed substantial improvement in 15 minutes). The covers aren't quite new looking, but virtually all the cloudiness is gone.
     
    #13 a_gray_prius, Nov 3, 2014
  14. Marcipaw

    Marcipaw Junior Member

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    1 taped around the edges of the headlight
    2 600 wet sanding
    2 2000 wet sanding
    3 taped and covered rest of the front of the car
    4 cleaned headlight with grain alcohol 94%
    5 3 coats of Rust-oleum gloss clear with UV protection, non yellowing


    in those pictures paint is not cured yet, 15 minutes after application, it should be glass clear tomorrow
     

    Attached Files:

    #14 Marcipaw, Oct 7, 2015
  15. stockdaddy

    stockdaddy Member

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    crest complete extra whitening with tartar protection works well for headlights, just takes a few min each headlight. any toothpaste will work but that kind takes far less time and effort.
     
    #15 stockdaddy, Oct 8, 2015
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  16. johnnyb588

    johnnyb588 Member

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    I like your idea. Never tried that before. I have a 3M kit that I'll use on my 2005 this weekend, but I might try your method on my 2007 just for fun.
     
    #16 johnnyb588, Oct 8, 2015
  17. srellim234

    srellim234 Senior Member

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    My wife's 2007 Yaris had a really cloudy headlight (the other one was new when we bought the car last year) and I wanted something cheap and easy to use to clear it up. Walgreens has Turtle Wax 2-in-1 Headlight Cleaner and Sealant on clearance for $5.49 right now so I grabbed a bottle yesterday. I think it's about $8.99 a bottle at Pep Boys.



    Very easy to use, it did a great job of clearing up the cloudiness. It doesn't perform very well cleaning up scratches. Since the Yaris is our "parked outside all day and dinged up" car I'm very happy with the results but I would not suggest using it if your desire is to remove scratches.

    We'll see how well it holds up (I like that it has a sealant in it) but for ease of use, price and the fact that one bottle will provide enough for many applications it seems like a pretty good deal.
     
    #17 srellim234, Sep 5, 2016
  18. Tomek310

    Tomek310 Junior Member

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    I have used the TurtleWax headlight restoration kit few days ago and it worked great. See for yourself. 1473561616967.jpg

    Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
     
    #18 Tomek310, Sep 10, 2016
  19. PimpUigi

    PimpUigi New Member

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    Are there like, detailing places that can do this for you?
    How much would they charge?
     
    #19 PimpUigi, Aug 9, 2017
  20. Montgomery

    Montgomery Senior Member

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    I am sure there are, just google it and many mobile or shop type places will pop up.
     
    #20 Montgomery, Aug 9, 2017
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