Are 3rd gen headlights bad? Or just mine?

Yes, LED low beams will help. It is not difficult to clean the oxidation off the headlight lenses. You will need to do it every year or two to keep them clear.

 

Led retrofit H11 low beams are better IF you buy quality units that 1) don't blind traffic because they don't match your reflector housing, 2) have quality cooling fans since leds run hot, 3) don't produce excessive rf interference to impact your can bus or tpms and you are willing to spend $69 or more.

H11 H8 H9 LED Bulb｜LA Plus Series｜Lasfit Auto Lighting – Lasfit®

 

Well unfortunately my s1s don't have fans I was trying to make that happen because all of the fan bulbs I have they're in a box sitting right here all wine and sound like you're I don't know what it'll stop like Just sound very weird like you've got something going on under the hood that shouldn't be people are staring out their windows looking at your little stupid car wondering what in the world is going on with his Prius but other than that LEDs have been no problem If your headlights are aimable there's an adjustment on the housing many times when you put an LED in a housing you'll need to raise it up to bring the cut off into your vision area on the wall this is especially true with the generation 2 I'm not certain that this would be a problem in the low beam fake projector on the three but then in the open high beam it may be problematic although just putting the non-fan LED bulbs in both locations in my persona netted me a lot better lighting of the road and nobody was flashing me I didn't spend a lot of time looking for adjusters or adjustment or even pulling a car up to the garage door to look at where the cutoff was or any of that we were not in the generation three long enough to get any of that done two of them actually they're sitting out here blown up so we don't fool with those anymore doesn't matter what the headlights do.

 

Some example of the best LED in the market:
Bevinsee V45, Auxbeam GX, Hikari Titanova, Lastfit LS pro, GTR ultra 2, Apollo X7
You can see the number in youtube. I have V45 and it is affordable $40 with 3 years warranty. I have it for almost 3y and works fine.
LED gives wider and brighter beam because of 3 and 9 o'clock position on the chips in projector headlights with sharp cutoff. No worry blinding others

 

My 2012 Prius headlight covers got cloudy and it really spread the beam, making it hard to see anything. I took it to my mechanic and asked him to fix it. He said he didn't know how, but I asked him to figure it out, and he did. He did a good job too, and it didn't cost a whole lot. Apparently all you need is a buffer and the right kind of buffing paste.

 

Sun UV damaged can be mitigated with a good sanding, and high quality clear coat. polishing alone will only work for couple of months.

 

Are you sure about that? Mine seemed good.

 

Yes, I lived in Florida and that's a classic problems if we have no garage. The best clear coat is the one with 2 parts and we mix it before we spray. Put them in a hot water to increase the spray pattern and do 3-4 x thin coats 30 cm distance. Youtube how to do that.
You can leave it alone for now and use clear coat later or 3M headlights restorer that last a bit longer.

 

Well, I assume you can buy a kit with all the right dope in it.

 

My local body shop seems to have some experience restoring headlights.

 

The spray urethane that you're looking for to spray on the headlights is highly toxic people who work with this stuff generally last 7 years on the job and then they're off the job usually heading to cancer No kidding I have some of it sitting right here on the shelf actually If I open the top off of it you can smell it at the end of my driveway no kidding It is extremely powerful I did a bar top with the stuff 5 years ago and Apex North Carolina and the whole building had to be cleared while the bar top which was this rare wood from South America was sprayed with this urethane it is the best of the best It might make a few years on headlight and then it'll have to be buffed and done again generally most of the people I see messing with this with their cars whenever they buff the car you know with the electric buffer and all the nonsense waxes and whatever it is they're using who cares they usually go over the headlights when they're buffing the car Just to knock anything off of them and what have you keep her aftermarket headlights have really crappy plastic that you won't be able to do anything with for the most part like the generation 3 and up those are real thin pieces of plastic covering the headlights All you're going to do is buff those lightly they'll be no sanding no cutting on those covers you'll have a hole before you have anything else very quickly so usually with stuff 2010 and newer it's cheaper to replace the headlights unless the vehicle's brand new with no aftermarket coverage then you're stuck with the dealer near $1,000 a pop or whatever it is for a few months. So if you on an old car like a generation 2 where an older Corolla your lens is over your headlights are like Coke bottle glasses that you teased kids about in grade school no kidding

 

And here I was thinking it was no big deal.

 

That stuff is a very big deal Just talk to anybody that works in a real high-end body shop or a boat facility It can smell it all over the plant and when you get where it's really being sprayed that whole area is blocked off covered up big exhaust system running and the whole nine people have helmets on with air fed to them. And even with all that about 7 years of that and you are heading to where you definitely don't want to be I mean it may be a little better today but I don't think it's much.

 

@Tombukt2 solvents are not good but 7y is probably because someone takes methamphetamine and destroy the whole body in no time.
With a proper mask, and habit, some of my neighbors are body shops family for generations and the grandpa is 80y+.

 

The guys I'm talking about are spraying urethane and applications especially in the boat industry but yeah body shop people can live till they're old and all of that absolutely no problem there these guys I'm talking about that that's all they do is spray this urethane they don't get to sand bondo or any of that stuff.