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Headlight Restoration

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by Grzldvt, Jan 17, 2023.

  1. Grzldvt

    Grzldvt Junior Member

    Joined:
    Oct 16, 2022
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    Location:
    Coarsegold, CA
    Vehicle:
    2007 Prius
    Model:
    IV
    I see many old posts on the subject most of which do not go far enough. I owned a high end detailing shop in Silicon Valley and put a lifetime guarantee on my headlight restores. I might add no one ever came back with foggy headlights after we finished them. You MUST get rid of all the existing coating, otherwise they will just turn foggy again. I don't care what you think you did. Toothpaste is useless and will only be very temporary at best. Many of the kits are useless as all they do is cover the existing clear but does not remove it.
    You can use a small buffer or a drill with a very soft pad. Going electric needs a somewhat delicate hand as it is very easy to melt the plastic if it is turned up to high. You need a slow speed and do the below pattern, a medium to mild abrasive is the best, with no wax mixed in. Do not use a heavy compound, it will create deep scratches that are difficult to remove.
    So here is what we did:
    • First make sure the headlights are washed
    • use 800 grit and wet sand the headlights going in a horizontal direction only until you think you have gotten all the old coating off. 90% of the time you can see the edges of it on the plastic
    • Use 1000 grit and wet sand in a vertical direction until all the horizontal scratches are gone
    • Use 1500 grit and wet sand in a horizontal direction until all the vertical scratches are gone
      This usually cleans up the yellow/fading, there will be some slight scratch residue but not a big deal as the clear you apply will hide them.
    • Worst case use 2000 grit and wet sand until you see a almost polished surface. It will not be perfectly clear but that is OK
    • You MUST spray the headlights with a clear coat, we used Dupli-Color Clear Top Coat, Meguiars Headlight Clear Coat was OK and I saw a slight fading with a CA car that faced the sun 65% of the day over roughly 18 months. I tried several different Ceramic coating on my own cars but many failed after 6-9 months. Both of those should be available at your local Auto Parts store.
      If you don't clear coat them they will just fade in a few months.
      Hope this helps, feel free to post questions or your own experiences.

     
    SFO and Leadfoot J. McCoalroller like this.
  2. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

    Joined:
    Nov 29, 2020
    7,797
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    Location:
    Durham NC
    Vehicle:
    2009 Prius
    Model:
    Base
    Yes I use some of those 3M setups with the 3M rolock looking pads that go up to 1600 or what have you and all that good stuff problem is is the light pieces of most cars since about 2008 have gone to the crapper so usually I just replace with aftermarkets now because they're all cheap junk even on an ionic or Tesla or pick your poison a new 2023 Prius the headlights pure junk If you're out in the wild and you're parking in the sun they'll be hazy very quickly 2 years maybe something along those lines and then when you go to clean them up the plastic is so thin it's about not worth your labor time that's why the aftermarket picks up most of these lamps so quickly because the plastic is literal junk look at a 2004 Prius 2006 7 even the '09 Gen 2 twice the thickness of serious plastic look at a 2010 or an 11 plastic is half the thickness not even the same color because it's well cheap stuff but you got a nice process there only problem is people need to put their cars up something not much you can do in places like Southern California or North Carolina park the car the right way I'm in the shade all the time I don't even have to look for a parking spot everywhere I go almost I park in the shade home Depot the contract jobs I go to The spaces aren't held for me either they just there I can't remember the last time I had the park in the direct sunlight for any length of time but it's been a long time