3M kit worked great for me.
3M kit worked great for me.
I usually try the least aggressive first. I'm a hobby detailer and have used Meguiars pro paint detailing polishes with much success applied with a Porter Cable 7424 random orbital sander and semi aggressive pads on high speed. Also have used their off the shelf polishes such as ScratchX or ColorX or other polishes such as Novus Plastic Polish with the PC7424 and it works in a pinch. I've tried waxing and OptiSeal but it doesn't last more than a year before I have to re-polish.
The detailer guys over at autogeek have used clear Helmsman Spar Urethane Clear Gloss mixed 50/50 or 60/40 with mineral spirits applied with blue Scott brand shop rags to much success, I'd like to try it but my local stores only stock the water based kind. Thread HERE if anyone wants to ship me a can I can reimburse purchase and shipping costs and be ever so thankful. 
The point of the clear coat is that it keeps it from yellowing in the future.
Also, don't polish before you shoot the clear, or you'll have adhesion problems.
I recommend starting out with the smoothest sandpaper first.
Well... after you've done a few you'll get a feel for how much time you waste with the higher grits when you needed to start lower. I definitely didnt have any way to judge that when i first started doing them.
http://newbeetle.org/forums/new-member-forum/53364-1st-car-hi-everyone-2.html
That's the stuff i was talking about. The #2-labeled packages in there is good shiz!! And like i said.. if you are careful you can do a few sets of lights with it, which makes it worth the $15 even if you dont use anything else in the bag. And honestly, the rest of the bag is not that great.
I hear a lot of bad experiences here but ive NEVER done a set that didnt turn out great, as long as i did it right. And i didnt get it right on the first try, on the first set. Practice makes perfect. Sort of like being an auto painter. If you plan to give up if your first paint job doesnt turn out great, you might as well not try.
You CAN just do the whole process over and over on one set of lights until you get it right. Even with 400 you're not going to sand straight through the light so there's no harm in it.
Honestly... I use soap and water with a green or maroon scotch brite pad to remove the oxidation and then shoot it with clear. That lasted 3 years on my F150 with no issues in TX.
a friend of mine is an old body guy and found paint polishing compound with a roto pad did a good job at cleaning up the lights and didn't take much time.
The other day i saw my friend do a crazy trick to a customer car.. he was shooting the engine bay with some of that kill-you strong purple degreaser (maybe purple power, maybe stronger) and said watch this: shot it at the lights, and they went from yellow to clear.
They still weren't smooth as if you'd actually sanded them, but the nasty color was 80+% gone.
All the kits do is wetsand the polish with rubbing compound.
I bought the 3M kit did my BMW. Worked great. Then bought some other sandpaper and 3m rubbing compound to do my other cars and used the pad from the kit to polish them. I want to get some UV clearcoat so I don't have to keep cleaning them up with plastix monthly.
Last time I had some clear left in the gun after shooting something, I went in the garage and looked around for anything to clear.
"Aha! - my manky old yellowed BMW M3 (e36) headlights!".
I'd already replaced them w/ glass lens European projectors a while back, but hey, there they were, and I had clear in the gun. I gave them a 2 minute sanding w/ 400 on a DA sander then 600 wet, gave 'em a swipe w/ a tack cloth and laid on 2-3 coats of Dupont Chromaclear (7900?).
The next morning I gave them a very quick buff while I was doing the actual parts I'd painted. They look better than new.
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