G-085: DIY: Restoring Hazed/Cloudy Headlights
 

Well, I was searching through forums and couldn't find a good write-up for this so I made my own. Hopefully this will help someone out as it did me.
Materials:
- bowl of water
- soft (cotton) towl
- assorted sandpaper (320,400,600,800, 1500)
- PlastX (can find at any AutoZone, AdvanceAutoParts, etc)
- headlight(s) that needs clearing (only tested on plastic)
- towl to work on if not outside (didn't want to mess up my carpet)
http://i16.tinypic.com/61u3syc.jpg

Below is what my headlight looked like upclose. Very foggy, yellow, and just plain gross. Didn't disperse light like it should and could hardly see at night.
http://i8.tinypic.com/52dsxzr.jpg
http://i10.tinypic.com/6fiftbp.jpg

Procedures:
- Start with 320 grit sandpaper, dip it in your bowl of water, and rub horizontally across the headlight. Apply even pressure from all fingers, or use the palm of your hand. Make sure to get all over and evenly. Try not to make circles or vertical strokes. Repeat until the headlight is evenly foggy. Wipe the water and debris from the headlight with a towel to clean it up. It should look something like this.
http://i10.tinypic.com/6fa8u44.jpg
- Repeat previous step using higher grit sandpaper each time. Here are the progression pictures ...
http://i7.tinypic.com/6b9mgz6.jpg
http://i9.tinypic.com/6cz9y5h.jpg
http://i7.tinypic.com/66v0xzp.jpg
- When you have finished with the 1500 grit sandpaper grab your clean, preferably 100% cotton, towel and PlastX. Squeez a dime-size on the towel and start at one end of the headlight and work your way all over. Take your time on this part and make sure rub a lot and evenly all over. You can put another coat on if you wish. I did. This is what I got.
http://i14.tinypic.com/67s8bo6.jpg
- Let the headlight sit for about a minute. The excess PlastX will dry and you will need to use a clean part of your towel to wipe off. Once you do this ... you're done. This is my final result.
http://i11.tinypic.com/63sihci.jpg

This is a tutorial that my friend made awhile back! Hope this helps -xcel

Very nice. :thumbsup:

Should be "Restoring Headlight" or some thing like that so it does not get confused with Clearing/Blacking out a headlight. csmeance can change the title if you ask. :2cents:

This is very useful for all cars. Do they still look that clear or did they start to fog again?

Good info. I may do this on a friend's car. She got in a minor accident awhile ago and had to have one headlight replaced so that one is new while the other is in bad shape. Actually worse than the one you had.

Very nice job, a friend of mine has some build up, so maybe i can use this DYI and make some money!!

Great job. I bought some of the same Meguiars but have not done mine yet.

Wow... what a friend

:tongue:

They look like brand new!

I fixed the title to clarify it and added to the 3G garage

Is this Meguires Plastx like a clearcoat? I hope so because without clearing them they will only fade again very quickley. I have an actual plastic light repair kit as I used to detail and can speak from experience about this not working without some sort of clear...

No idea on the clear coat, but what a friend recommended was to put some clearbra after sanding and polishing to protect the finish.

I do the exact same thing when I unhaze headlights. The only difference is I go to 2000 grit and then use a 3m rubbing compound to completely take out any scratch marks before I use the plastix stuff. Trust me this works. Just take your time.

Here is the latest that I did

Attachment 85592

Attachment 85593

Attachment 85594

Nice looking clean headlights.

*Thanks OP for changing title.

Does anyone know if this is the best method to remove minor chipping and knicks from road debris? I'm not too sure how much surface this is removing, and whether this would get all chips out. I don't have any yellowing on my TL's headlights, just a few minor rock marks.. Thanks!!

Nice write-up Champ! What car does that go to? btw.. this service pays about $50 - $100 / car.. nice money for a student. :thumbsup:

I would leave the lights alone since sanding will remove the protective coating and cause the headlights to yellow.

yeah, I agree, thanks csmeance..:thumbsup:

^^But if they look like they need to be restored then the factory UV coating has started to fail and needs to be stripped off anyways.

I used Mother's Carnuba Paste Wax to seal my headlights when I did them. Let's see how long it lasts.:wish:

HI GUYS
I do this often at my shop, the way you described to do it is good but only temp. as you sand the headlight you are removing the protective clear coat, so in another 3 months your headlights will haze again, the proper way of doing this is by sanding the headlight and then applying clear coat on it, i use automotive clear same as on body panels. it has lasted on my silverado for 4 years now, my headlights still look new. *mod edit*

so this is the sunday morning project

before of the other side I havent started :)

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_5tJBMn7TcJg/S_.../photo%202.jpg


this is what I used

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_5tJBMn7TcJg/S_.../photo%204.jpg


and this is the passenger side still wet with clear coat.

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_5tJBMn7TcJg/S_...weCU/photo.jpg

My brother has that van now. I will take pics of the headlights but I am pretty sure they are still clear. On the cars I did it took two or three years to start to yellow again. I am not saying you are wrong, just giving my experience. Hoever I think I will try clearing the next ones I do. If you don't spread the clear coat evenly wouldn't it mess up your beam pattern?

Bump from the past. Can someone advise where I can buy this automotive clear?

any store that sales automotive color paint should also have clear

Auto body supply stores.

But this stuff is expensive, and you need proper guns, proper air system, ect. Something like this I would want to be sure the finish is flawless, so a paint booth is ideal. You need the clear base, and hardener, and maybe reducer depending on brand. You can find some pro clears in quarts, but still is expensive. The clear I use is BASF DC5100, LINK.

Best bet is to take your headlights into a shop. They should clear something like this for cheap. They typically throw away what they would need for just 2 lights on a daily basis.

Prepping for this is tricky too. I would recommend to have someone prep the light for paint, that's done this before.

Also, re-clearing is the way to go vs. buffing. The clear build will provide UV protection over time, assuming good quality 2 part clear is used.

Oooo I wanna play this game too
 

Quoted from the RL section

many of the picture links arent working. anyway this can be fixed? i am interested in doing this as my TL headlights are starting to look like this

What I've always done.

1. Wash thoroughly with something that can remove wax.
2. Clay both lights.
3. Wet sand 1500, 2000, 3000 as evenly as possible. Rinsing as often as possible. Wash quickly after last. Dry.
4. Use a rubbing compound or PlastX and rub out all of the haze. Wash again and dry completely.
5. Apply automotive clearcoat as recommended.

Tips:
a) Don't be afraid to go overboard with any of the sanding or polishing.
b) Your starting point on the sandpaper grit is dictated by how bad your lights are. None of our TLs should be that bad. So there is nothing wrong with doing 2000 and up or 3000 only.
c) If on your car, tape up all edges and be liberal about it. You don't need to sand your paint. Especially because we are working with edges and corners, triple tape it!
d) You can use a sanding block to help with evenness when sanding.
e) You can use a da or buffer for the polishing step.

Do these haze naturally or is this a result of running the car thru the rag type car washes? My reason for asking is that my '07 TL hasn't shown signs of this yet but I've never taken it to a car wash that had the brushes/rags.

^There is a very thin layer of uv protective clearcoat on the headlights. Sun, heat, age will eventually wear it down and turn it hazy/yellow. When you sand basically you are sanding that layer completely off, exposing just the plastic. That is why putting another layer of clear back on is important. If not the plastic will get hazy very fast.

If you park your car outside this will happen a lot faster, obviously.

Thanks for the info!! I followed this procedure for my Jeep headlights. You could hardly see the headlights at night. Now they are clear and the lights shine bright.

Any idea how long this will last given I park the car outside?

bump. what UV coating did you all put on your headlights after plastix?

Any time of sealant will work. I now use Blackfire Wet Diamond Sealant for headlights. (Best sealant/wax/UV coating for the quality/price out there)

I've used the PlastX on my integra and it worked out great. I tried it again using a newer pad and buffing out the headlights on my TL and didn't get as good of results. Ill probably try a different product along with the sandpaper method.

Very informative! :thumbsup:

Does anybody know if applying headlight film after restoring prevent future hazing?

Film such as this
http://www.lamin-x.com/Acura-TL-07-0...rs-p/ac506.htm

Yes, it should. Just make sure you're happy with the way the headlights look , because once you put that on it, that's what they will look like until you take it off. In other words, get all the imperfections/haze out , then apply the film.

I noticed today that meguiars m105 and m205 work well resurfacing plastics even without using sand paper. I imagine the sand paper is a must for deep scratches.

I did my 06 TL with Meguiar-'-ScratchX. No sandpaper. It took about an hour to do both front lens covers. Then I used some Meguiar carnauba wax on them. I do this now about once every six months and it only takes about 30 minutes for the whole job. They are clear. No yellow and no haze. I tried a commercial product on my 06 silverado and the meguiars does a better job a lot cheaper. And no sanding.

^The problem is hazing isn't the only issue. You can get pits and scratches, etc. Sanding can, for the most part, remove all blemishes.

The reason they haze, and the likely reason you have to do your process every 6 months, is because the lights come with a UV rated clear coat from the factory that deteriorates. This *should* be replaced by something. Carnuba isn't the answer. Carnuba lasts what, 2 weeks max or getting wet once?

Try a mix of half mineral spirits and half ultra clear spar urethane. You'll get years not months between cycles.