Cleaned up my headlights

My driver's side headlight was completely yellowed over and the passenger was about 50% yellowed. It was yellowed from the top but oddly the area over the actual headlight was almost totally clear. My wife has been commenting on how bad they looked so I have been considering replacing them. That is fairly cost prohibitive.

Tonight my brother came over to change his brakes so I while I was giving him moral support I decided to see what I could do with my lights.

I grabbed some 500 and 1000 grit wet dry sandpaper and went to town on them. Sanded first with the 500 grit and poured some water over the light a few times while sanding and then did the same with the 1000. I wasn't being easy with the paper and put a lot of elbow grease into it. Once I cleaned and dried them they were pretty hazy but not yellow.

Looked in the cabinet and grabbed some heavy compound and some polishing compound and lastly some polish. Hit the lights with the heavy compound followed by the polishing compound. Both were applied with a shop cloth. I tried with a microfiber cloth but that didn't seem to work. Lastly I used a wax pad to apply the polish and wiped clean with a microfiber.

I'm pleased to announce that the headlights look like new. Its amazing the difference in the looks of the car with clear headlights. Night and day difference.

 

No I didn't take any pics. I was thinking that I should have after I saw the results.
I have been reading a little bit and there seems to be a sealer that should be applied to restore the UV protectant that we took off doing the restore. Some folks have used Polyurethane thinned with mineral spirits and applied with a foam brush to seal them.
I'm going to see what I come up with. Might have some poly in the garage cabinet. Too bad I cant use spray paint b/c I think we have 30+ cans in that cabinet.

 

This may be the ticket to keeping the headlights clean and shiny, 3M™ Lens Polish and Protector

 

Very nice video. Next trip to Home Depot I know what Ill be getting.

 

Clear coat didn't work so well. Kind of looks like crap. Going to try and wet sand. I think 3m hedlight polish would have been a better bet.

 

Nice! I tried to sand off all the clear coat today and re do mine. They look better but I think some of my plastic was too far gone to make perfect again. After long and careful consideration I have determined that clear coat from a can on headlights is a bad idea.