I have seen a couple of threads about cleaning out headlights on our cars , pretty much all that involve , removing them, baking in an oven, taking apart, cleaning, buffing , putting them back together, and reinstalling them. WAY TOO MUCH DARN WORK to clean some lenses.

I have a body shop along with all else at my shop , so for giggles i decided ( BY HAND) to take some 3M PERFECT-IT 2 and some meguires cleaner/wax and give it a go.

All i did ( BY HAND ) was get after it ( WHILE STILL ON THE CAR) with the 3m perfect-it 3 rubbing compound two times and then apply the meguires and I SWEAR IT LOOKS LIKE BRAND NEW!!!!! NO BUFFER AT ALL! I did BOTH headlights AND the lower turn/drive lamps in less than 30 minutes! Im going to hit it with the buffer tuesday just for that BLING effect but it really doesnt need it at all! The 3m is an AWESOME compound, only costs about 20.00 for a bottle (which will probably last you for a couple of years!) Plus you could use it for other things on the car i.e. scratches.

I couldnt see the headlight projector they were so oxidized! Now they look like Brand new! And i MEAN brand new! And to think i ALOMST spent over 300.00 last night on ebay for a new pair!


Ill post some pics tonight when i get home , somebody try it and tell me if it isnt worth the MERE 30 MINUTES to do it.


i did run the 3.5" DA over them (wool cloth) then foam padded it with wax and they came out even better!

see ya guys , Joe P.

heres some pics:

before:




after:

 

We've all buffed out exterior lens, it doesn't clean the inside. Your fix only works on lights without moisture damage.

Looks good though.

 

yeah thats a nice procedure, and it definitely works well. Meguiars PlastX accomplishes the same as the 3M perfect-it compound does also.

The fix involving taking the lights apart is to buff the projector lens itself. It's that half sphere/dome glass you see inside the light. That thing is so filthy if you've never replaced your headlights, especially on a 1992 after 15 years! Giving that one a good buff with any cleaner wax will increase your light output andd cutoff significantly. Mine was filthy after only 2 years of the headlights (replaced in 2003, cleaned in 2005)

 

I clayed my headlights, that seemed to help

 

any wax or polish will work on the yellowing/dulling of the headlights...

the problem is that it is a temporary fix. i am often waxing my headlights with a paper towel to keep them looking good. easy and fast but a pita.

now as far as taking them apart i had to do both of mine because they would get "sweaty" inside especially after a wash or rain.
re-sealing them thanks to this site was worth all of the hard work. its been almost a year with absolutely no moisture and my lights look new especially with my hid kit

 

a buffer would reduce the scraches. With that wax, only you probably would have reapply it everytime after washing.

 

i've gotta clean my headlights real soon

 

Anyone ever had any problems with the seal going bad and getting tons of moisture in them? I figured I had completely sealed them, but they're all jacked up. Anyone know a good sealing product that is durable that I can use when I re-clean them?

 

my headlights are like falling apart from the inside.. when i get up close you can see a bunch of little plastic crystals

 

ACE hardware brand BLACK SILICONE

 

Another detailing trick is to use Mothers aluminum polish on the headlight plastic... it's just like rubbing compound but a bit more agressive. Then step down to rubbing compound, and eventually top off with a polish once they look good. Claying the headlights also works good, but only when done in addition to the above.

 

great, thanks, i'll pick some up

 

It prolly just me, but i just cant see how that "after" headlight is sooo clean on the inside, its looks like you cleaned the inside out as well

 

I just did this yesterday on my headlights too. mequires plastic polish and about 5 minutes of rubbing for both headlights together. Went from dingy yellow to sparkling clear!

 

Nothing profound on this thread, as it's been done many times before. The real question is how we can prevent our headlights from fogging up from moisture besides buying new headlights.