Home Forums Gear Hunting Trucks and Four-Wheel Drives Headlight Restoration Kits

Do they work? Any one better than another?

Just go down to a local auto paint store and buy 1 sheet each of 2000 and 3000 grit sand paper and some buffing compound. It's a lot cheaper than the kit and is the same thing. Wet sand them and finish with the compound and a rag if you don't have a wheel. You'll have to keep them waxed after that, though, because you'll have removed the hard factory finish, which just happens to be the part that turned yellow. The polishing won't last as long as the original shine. You might have to redo them once a year or so.
That said, it really shines them up, removing all the yellow that kills the light. It worked great on my pickup. However, I was going to do it on our van but the haze was on the inside and impossible to get at. I got replacements on Amazon for something like $30 each. They're a couple years old now and work great.

Here's a short article from Popular Mechanics about it:
HEADLIGHTS

Thanks RC. Mine aren't too bad yet but are definitely starting to get cloudy. Figure I'll do them before I have amber headlights.

I just buffed mine out 10 minutes ago with some scratch remover polish. They will cloud up again in a couple months. I hear the solution is buffing, wax removal with alcohol, the seal with a rattle can of clear coat.

You need a UV resistant coat to make them last longer before yellowing again. Here's one from Amazon but there are lots of other brands out there.
https://www.amazon.com/Blue-Magic-730-6-Headlight-Sealer/dp/B0051PJWQW

I got a RainX restoration kit at the Bargain basement about a year ago. NIB at a fraction of the retail cost. Though it just what I needed to rehab the headlights on wife's 01 van.



Followed the directions and the result was that it made very little improvement. After reading this thread, I figured I needed to start coarser, so I did.

Worked the lenses over with Comet cleanser, rinsed and hit them again with Bon Ami. Made a big difference. Might do that again and then try the RainX kit again.

Used the 3M kit on my grandpas van, a 2002 Honda and it didn't make them look new but wasn't too far from it.

Kept the wheel and a few pieces of leftover sandpaper so I can do it again when needed.

Was skeptical before but was impressed at the end result.

The plastic itself will yellow and that has to be removed. Cleaners won't do it. You have to use some kind of abrasive to sand the yellow off, as you found out.

Yup. That's what the pads in the kit are - three grades grain size sandpaper. it just didn't start at a coarse enough grit.

I don't remember the brand name, but bought the one the guy at the parts store recommended. It brought the lenses back to near new condition on my 9 year old truck. It was worth the price to me.

If they are not too yellow, a rag with diesel or kero will make them clearer for a few weeks. I know, redneck as hell, but it does work,

water and baking soda. Make a paste, rub a bunch. They'll clear right up. The UV coating sounds like it might extend the time between massages. Here's a video to help explain everything for you.

I bought a Sylvania kit because it received fairly consistent good reviews. I used it today and am happy with the results. It's straight forward- apply activator a couple different times, sand, sand, sand, polish and then apply the clarifying compound. If you use this kit, don't be tempted to "touch up" the clarifying compound unless you do it immediately. On the second headlight I think the towel used to apply it got too saturated and I had a run. I didn't smooth it fast enough so the second lens has a bit of streaking but still quite an improvement over how it was before.

I should've taken before pics. They weren't yellowing yet but were getting some cloudiness. Not terrible but figured it would be easier to do them now than wait til they had the look of the windows in a smoker's den. The second pic is the one I tried touching up but as you can see nothing is evident in the pic. The two horizontal lines that run all the way across the lens are part of the lens on the inside. This is on a '06 Tundra.

After pics: