Headlight Restoration

Hey guys,

Just thought I would plug a new product I tried from Meguiar's.

My 2005 Prius sits in the sun and has been exposed to the elements ever since I bought it. Over time the headlights have started to yellow as the plastic breaks down. They had not "fogged" over yet like so many other car headlights I see on the road but it looked ugly and was starting to affect the amount of light passing through the lens and onto the road. While contemplating the arrival of my new 55w HID kit (I have stock 35w HIDs) I figured it would be best to clean up the headlights before I installed the new kit.

I purchased Meguiar's Heavy Duty Headlight Restoration Kit ($29.99) and went to work. The process is pretty simple and is much like wet sanding any painted surface. For lightly oxidized headlight you may be able to use the regular Restoration Kit ($24.99) which includes only the polishing wheel and PlastX. No wet sanding needed. I chose to wet sand because I had quite a bit of rock dimples that I wanted to try and remove. Enough came out that I am happy with the result. I only wish I had spent a bit more time sanding to remove fine scratches that accumulated over 130,000 miles.

1. Clean the headlight thoroughly to remove bugs and dirt.
2. Tape off the area of painted surface around the headlights to protect your car's paint from scratches while sanding and buffing the headlight.
3. Fill a spray bottle with water or use Quick Detailer and use this to keep the area you are sanding on wet at all times.
4. Start with the 1000grit sanding pad. Begin sanding the headlight with back and forth motions, not circular. Continue until the headlight appears clear of imperfections (yellowing oxidized material and small dimples from rocks).
5. Clean the headlight and dry it. If the entire headlight appears foggy/opaque and all of the major imperfections are gone then you are ready for the next step. It is important to ensure you've removed all of the original scratches. I should have sanded more but I was worried about taking off too much material.
6. Switch to the 3000grit sanding pad. Continue sanding using the same back and forth motions you used with the 1000grit pad. When you think you are finished sanding, sand some more. This will produce a cleaner end result and may reduce some of the fine scratches that were left on my lens when I was finished. (the scratches were not from the sanding, they were there before I started)
7. When you are finished with this stage, the headlight will appear much clearer than when you finished with the 1000grit sanding but it will still be hazy.
8. Clean the headlight and dry it.
9. Mount the cloth polishing wheel to a cordless drill and apply a small dime-sized amount of PlastX plastic polish to the center of the pad.
10. Place the wheel on the headlight and slowly (low drill speed) start polishing the headlight. I say slowly because if you start off at a fast drill speed you will sling a lot of the polish off the pad and onto you and the car. YOU MUST WIPE OFF POLISH BEFORE IT DRIES. Failing to do so will leave a residue that is hard to remove by hand without more polish. So work on a section of headlight then wipe it off . Continue to apply polishing compound as needed and polish until you have reached desired results.
11. When finished polishing, apply the UV Headlight Protectant and wipe off.

I realize this sounds labor intensive but it is really quite easy. I performed steps 1-8 in less than 45min.. I ran out of time to finish so I drove to work the next day and the headlights worked well despite not being polished. I performed steps 9-11 after work yesterday and it took all of about 15min.. The result was awesome and I had more visible light on the road this morning while commuting to work.

Here is a video that illustrates the process:

 

I'm not only a Meguiar's spokesperson but I'm also a client.....

Seriously, I have no connection with any care care products. Like Tony stated above. I/we just like helping other members out.

 

After messing around with my projector retrofit I noticed I should have spent more time sanding some of the larger scratches when I was doing the abov restoration. Just a note to anyone performing this activity. Sand, sand, then sand some more.

 

You're welcome.

Actually this is not Toyota specific. Most cars I see on the road have this oxidation after a few years of sitting in the sun. The problem is the angle at which the headlights are mounted. They absorb a lot of radiation. Headlights on say an old Volvo what are mounted facing horizontal to the ground absorb less radiation.