Mbodall

As we all know, our plastic headlight lenses get a yellowish tint and develop a "foggy" or "coudy" appearance over time due to being oxidized by the sun. Generally, you have three options to remedy this if you don't want to just accept it. You can either buy a replacement headlight assembly for the same amount of money as someone getting paid for working full time at $10/hr for a whole month, or you pay anywhere between $25 and $50 per headlight to have them buffed and polished at a detail shop, car stereo shop, or similar. The third option is to do this yourself with a drill and buy buffing pads, polishing pads, and liquids. The problem with this method, is that you can only buff and polish a plastic lens so many times before it's worn down and paper thin, and it cracks. The last option... I didn't even count it as a viable option - buy one of the many liquid products sold at retailers that claim to restore your headlights without a 2-3 stage buff and polish - because most of these products don't work well, or at all, and doesn't last but a few weeks or months and is mostly a waste of time and money.

A few months after I bought my 2004, the headlights were getting to the point where it was bothering me. It wasn't terrible by any stretch of the imagination, but it caught my eye every time I walked up to the car. I went the route of having a shop do the buff & polish method for the fair price of $30 per headlight. They came out looking brand new, minus some of the deeper pits from rocks/sand kicked up by vehicles ahead of me while driving, but these were hardly noticeable even close up. This lasted just fine for about 3 years, and brings me to present time... they're starting to cloudy again, and again it's driving me nuts.

So a couple of days ago, I randomly stumbled across a funny, eccentric guy named Scotty Kilmer on YouTube who has been a mechanic for 50 years and has hundreds of automotive repair video on his channel and over a million subscribers. He posted a video a week ago about headlight restoration that caught my attention... the beginning of the video is him holding and talking about a small can containing a Meguiar's product called "Headlight Coating" ($10-$15 at Walmart/other retailers/online) that you spray on your headlights once a year to prevent oxidation all together. He wanted to see if this product actually works, so a few years ago he bought a new set of plastic headlights for one of his cars and applied this product every year. He showed these headlights and they still look brand new... no oxidation. Point being, instead of having to restore your headlights, keep them from even having to be restored.

The second part of his video brings me to the reason I'm posting this (long winded, I know) thread. He offers advice on how to restore your headlights using one of these (what I used to consider 'snake oil') single-bottle liquid products. It's another Meguiar's product, this one called "PlastX" clear plastic cleaner and polish, and can be found as well at Walmart/other retailers/online for $7. You put a small amount on a microfiber towel and rub it onto the lens, then wipe with a clean microfiber towel before it dries. I bought some to try, and as I was rubbing it on, I kept checking the towel where my fingers were pushing into the lens and the towel was turning yellow... it was actually scrubbing the oxidized layer of plastic right off!

Anyway, enough babbling from me. Check out the results for yourself:

Before:





During: Right side treated, left side not


After:





Product used:


Yes, there is some pitting still visible, but some of that was visible even after having a shop buff and polish my headlights 3 years ago. I don't want to keep grinding down my headlights with a buffer to the point that they're too thin and crack when a piece of grit hits them on the highway. You also have to be inches away from the headlights to be able to notice the pitting, and I'd rather some minor pitting be visible if you're right up on the headlights than that awful yellow cloudiness that you can see from a mile away. This product clearly (pun intended?) works.

And lastly, now that I have clear headlights again, I applied two coats of Meguiar's "Headlight Coating" as directed to seal the lenses.


TL;DR buy Meguiar's PlastX for $7 and Meguiar's Headlight Coating for $10-$15 if you have cloudy headlights and restore them yourself, and hopefully never have to restore them again as long as you respray the lenses with the Headlight Coating once a year.

aufenscuht

Saw the video the other day. I followed Scotty for some time now, check out his video on AT-205 reseal as well. I have a whole 3M kit at work, but this looks faster. I will be giving it a try this weekend if it is not a 1000 degrees here in TN

Romanova

I wouldn't use 'funny' and 'Scotty Kilmer' in the same sentence, but that's just me. Looks good though!

Johnhav430

I think the controversy is about how to not have it come back. I used to use Comet cleanser on my Maxima and the headlights looked new for about 2-3 weeks--I did that for years (would not use that on the LS430). Any product can do that that is abrasive....I felt Scotty was out of line, he even attacked ChrisFix's education. Really a little kooky if you ask me. Heaven forbid a person isn't a Toyota fan or wants to spend more than $400 on a car newer than 1994

Mbodall

I didn't mean funny as in 'haha' funny, I meant funny as in "he's kinda funny"... think Goodfellas lol
Or as John said, kooky

Mbodall

That's what I'm curious about, especially since I used that Headlight Coating sealant stuff. I'll either post in this thread or make a new one if it starts to get crappy again.


That's actually what brought me to his video. It was a suggested/related video when I was watching other videos (not of Scotty), and that title grabbed my attention. I wanted to know what he was so... 'passionate' about and who was wrong, and wrong about what. I'm sure that's why he chose that title for the video and it worked. He got me hook, line, and sinker.

Johnhav430

I've never done a headlight restoration the "right" way lol All I have ever done is to use Comet, enjoy how nice it looked, and used Comet again. But the car is a 1998...so no big deal. Wouldn't treat the LS that way, but it seems my LS was already done, and I feel like there is a clear coat on the lens....

My wife's is a 2011 so at some point I would like to do a resto the right way.....if it can be done with a wax and not a clear coat, it would be more convenient and fine....let us know what you find/decide!

edit: hmmm it does seem to be the best seller?


edit 2, my local Walmart has it for $8.44?

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Meguiars-...4-oz/191830787

Thecar

I've had good results from PlastX too, but I haven't tried it on the 430 yet since the problem is not so bad. I will go out and get the headlight coating though!

Mbodall

If it's not bad and just barely starting, now's the time to do it! Then once it's back to 100% perfect looking, seal it with the headlight coating.

jayclapp

A power buffer and ordinary polishing compound does just as well. Apply Aerospace 303 every month thereafter.

BCT

Really wish the LS has a glass headlight like on my 98 Land Cruiser. They still look great after 247K miles. I will check out that headlight coating, that sounds promising.

semar

check out Glare Professional Polish

Galco

Unfortunately, whatever you do to remove the yellow oxidation it will return in 6+months, depending on conditions. Once the factory UV protection gets eaten away from time, sun and pollution, it fails causing the yellowing. Search the forum as I understand there a plastic lens only replacements available for the LS430 from Japan which is rare and an excellent solution; although it requires disable of the headlight unit. See the link below for how I polish to save the lens on families Hondas, agian they look new but it never lasts. There too is a suggestion from another poster of a high quality 2-part clear in the can that is a long-term solution. Be warned, you must ware a resporator mask when using that 2-part clearcoat to protect your lung health...

http://www.driveaccord.net/forums/18...ht-lenses.html

Hope this helps others!

Cheers,

Romanova

I did mine with 1,000, 1,500, 2,000, and 2,500 grit sandpaper, then polished with Chemical Guys polish, then sealed them with Chemical Guys sealant. Car sits inside now full time so they should look good for a long time, though I still reseal them every few months.

The condition of your headlights should determine your approach to correcting them. A mild correction can be done with an AIO product, but if they are severely neglected then I would recommend a wetsand. Speaking of which, I really need to do my foglights...

Mbodall

Not the case at all. As I stated in my original post, my headlights stayed looking brand new for just about 3 years before just starting to oxidize again, and they were way more oxidized before I had them done 3 years ago than they were up until the other day when I used these products. My car is parked outside 100% of the time and is always 'in the elements'. Moreover, this Meguiar's headlight coating, which actually visibly seals/encapsulates the lens, is supposed to ward off any/most oxidation if reapplied annually. If my headlights lasted 3 years with no supplemental coating, I fully expect to get at least double that amount of time with the annual sealant applications.