Headlight haze removal

I searched for the old thread on this, but couldn't find it.

Can anyone help me find the good tutorial on how to polish headlight covers? My b-i-l's 2001 Jetta has headlights that are so hazed over that I'm surprised any light penetrates them at all.

I think this is the one you were looking for: http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/headlight-haze/3043/page1/

As a side note, your watchlist is a good place to squirrel away those threads you think you might want to refer back to.

If you can't find cheap replacements via ebay......

there are polishing kits available for less than $40.

you can also sand with 600/800/1200 grit and then polish with a polishing compound like you haven't polished since Junior High School.

The problem with this, aside from the calloused fingers, is that the headlights will tend to get hazier quicker.

YMMV.

Or you can just do a search like Baxter just did.

Per Schroeder wrote: Or you can just do a search like Baxter just did.

I did, I did, I promise! In fact, if you type in headlight haze and click search, the thread he referenced doesn't show up in the results.

Baxter, what am I doing wrong?

Per Schroeder wrote: you can also sand with 600/800/1200 grit and then polish with a polishing compound like you haven't polished since Junior High School.

can you go blind from polishing headlights too much?

mad_machine wrote:

Per Schroeder wrote: you can also sand with 600/800/1200 grit and then polish with a polishing compound like you haven't polished since Junior High School.

can you go blind from polishing headlights too much?

Yeah, if they're on and you're staring into em while you do it.

I fixed the headlights on my son's girlfriends car recently.

I started with 600 grit paper with soapy water, followed by 1500 grit paper again with soapy water. Then I buffed them with my PC random orbit buffer and some random Meguiars polish that I had. They turned out great.

They are supposed to be putting some clear spray lacquer on them sometime soon to protect the lens so it doesn't haze over again.

The clearcoating is important. The lenses are (supposedly) treated with some sort of UV coating so they don't break down so quickly. Sanding them removes this coating. The clearcoat seals the plastic again so it doesn't haze so quickly.

dyintorace wrote:

Per Schroeder wrote: Or you can just do a search like Baxter just did.

I did, I did, I promise! In fact, if you type in headlight haze and click search, the thread he referenced doesn't show up in the results. Baxter, what am I doing wrong?

It just likes me better than you.

Seriously, I just followed one of the links that DID come up in the basic search to someone who was watching that thread.

I did realize, though, based on your post, that the advanced search was only looking at posts, not topic titles, which is why it missed the topic you were looking for... "headlight haze" only appeared in the title. This is now corrected.

I had wondered about clear coating..

i need to do this my Town car the high-beams don't illicit one flash if I don't dip them

Tim Baxter wrote: I did realize, though, based on your post, that the advanced search was only looking at posts, not topic titles, which is why it missed the topic you were looking for... "headlight haze" only appeared in the title. This is now corrected.

Phew...I'm not as stupid as I thought.

aussiesmg wrote: i need to do this my Town car the high-beams don't illicit one flash if I don't dip them

yes.. Ford Products seem especially prone.. shame you can no longer get xr4ti lights.. most of them have gone opaque by now

My mother-in-law's lights on her '97 Camry were yellow and yucky. I just used a terry cloth, some 3M rubbing compound and about 20 minutes of polishing and they looked WAY better.

I didn't have the ambition to go the sandpaper route.