Ask Cars: Fixing foggy headlights
Ask Cars: Fixing foggy headlights
I'm assuming I can polish the plastic on the headlights in my 2006 Toyota Matrix. I plastic is still "clear", but all the road grit over the years have pitted and fogged the surface. Any advice on material for polishing?
I use what Project Farm recommends.
If there's deep pitting then there's no fixing that. Doing the regular polishing will clear them up, then follow up with a layer of clear coat. If they're so pitted that it's a noticeable problem then replacing them is probably the best option.
I've had excellent luck with this kit from Sylvania.
The two cars I've used it on had their headlights stay clear after I polished them since you coat them with a UV protective layer. Make sure to follow the instructions! If it says to polish for X minutes, make sure you polish for X minutes. It'll take some time but it's totally worth it.
This is probably not true, but I've heard of people using toothpaste as a polishing compound for cloudy headlights on these older cars.
I did this on my last car. (Acura RSX) Leave the car smelling minty fresh as well.
Sounds somewhat logical. Probably requires a lot of toothpaste ;)
I've used toothpaste on my 99 Avenger. It works, but not the greatest. You don't need to use a lot.
You still have to coat the headlights with a uv resistant coating afterwards or it won't last very long.
Toothpaste actually worked for me with my old 2003 Ford Taurus. They were yellowed pretty bad and the toothpaste did clear them up.
Probably not better than actually sanding and polishing and reclearing, but it does work in a pinch.
I wouldn't even screw around with polishing. It's a pain in the ass, and chances are high that they'll get cloudy again real fast.
Just buy some new ones and put em in. Yeah, they cost more than a polishing kit, but they'll last for the rest of the life of the car, where you'll need to repolish multiple times, spending the same if not more, and doing a lot more work.
Get a polishing kit and prepare to spend way too much time on it, but with enough work you can make them clear again.
The ones that is have had success with have a series of prgressively higher grit papers and then some liquid polish to finish.
Sand, wash, sand, wash, next highest grit, sand wash...
Any particular kit, or are there headlight specific kits?
Sorry, it has been a few years, they are generic through
08 camry, has famously shit headlights. 1) h11 to h9 conversion, you modify brighter bulbs to fit in the housing 2) replace the headlight assembly. Rockauto sells them, first one i spent the money on OEM but second i got aftermarket and it works fine. Easy DIY job.
I’ve heard amazing reviews about the Sylvania one, but could never find it. I bought a Cera-Kote product instead and posted the results on my profile. Still holds up just like when I first did it, to be honest. So far it’s been 7 months I think? Still crystal clear.
Okay, this is the tiny drop of information that I needed -- a product name which became a search term, which allowed me to find multiple similar products available locally and see that the price was reasonable. So I really appreciate it!
No problem! I would check out Product Farm’s video before you buy anything, as a number of similar products do NOT do a good job at all. I decided on CeraKote because of how hard Sylvania was to find (and it was expensive when I could) but I’ve seen similar products by CeraKote that have had great success, so I took a chance, and it paid off. CeraKote won Project Farm’s video on trim restoration, and I can attest to those results as well.
I've heard acetone works really well, but I haven't tried it myself.
Don't do it. It'll clear it for a day or so, but with no UV protection it'll haze up again really fast.
Get a proper kit, and make sure it has a UV protective coating to apply at the end.
Good to know, thanks!
That makes sense -- depending on the plastic, it will be soluble in acetone. I'd probably have to try with a corner or something first.