Cleaning Oxidized Headlights
 

The headlights on my girlfriends explorer are looking extremely dull lately due to heavy oxidation.
She really wants to clean them up and get them lookin good again.

What all do you need to do it?
How do you do it?

You just need to clean the outside of the lens, correct?

thanks for the help!!

Autozone sells a cleaner thats kinda like a wax to clean headlites

From http://www.premiumautocare.com/how-t...--plastic.html

Polishing Scratched & Yellowed Plastic
The days of the glass headlight are long gone. Most vehicles made since 1990 have plastic lenses covering the headlights. These lenses protect expensive lamps from flying stones and road debris, but over time they discolor and become chipped from road stones. Without proper care, plastic headlight lenses will degrade until they turn opaque, which severely restricts the amount of light reaching the road. Most of the damage is caused by exposure to ultraviolet (UV) light. If you live in a southern state, headlight lens discoloration will become noticeable in as little as 2 or 3 years.

To maintain your plastic headlight lenses and taillights, I recommend regular use of the product called Plexus. Plexus is a combination cleaner, polish and protectant. When used regularly, Plexus will protect plastic lenses and windows from UV damage.

Plexus will not repair damaged or scratched plastic. For this you will need a plastic polish, like Meguiar's PlastX Clear Plastic Cleaner & Polish. It is one of the best product I have found for removing scratches and cloudy patches from clear plastic. Annual polishing with PlastX Plastic Polish will restore the transparency of plastic windows and headlight lenses.

I've also heard that toothpaste works well. Just scrub the outside surface of the lenses.

Rob

try this http://autopia.org/forum/car-detaili...light+cleaning

Mothers Mag and Aluminum Polish. Trust me, works wonders and can be found at Walmart. We used it at my old bodyshop. Mothers just came out with some plastic cleaner stuff made just for that, not sure what it's called, could try their site. Haven't heard anything about it yet though.

mothers plastic X, my buddy failed inspection for "foggy" headlights, we polished up the outside with the plastic X, and they look damn good, worked really good on other stuff to.

We didnt do it today, she wasnt feeling too great.

Would Billet Metal Polish work ok?

Here's my experience. If your plastic headlights are yellowed and in bad shape, no amount of polish will fix them. They need to be RESTORED!

My wife's Chrysler minivan's headlights were in awful shape. They were yellowed and looked really bad. I've seen this on Volvos, Neons and some Fords. Chrysler wanted $250 per headlight just for the part.

I tried the polishes, the restoration kits, even the best worked only marginally. Here is what REALLY worked.

First, I wet sanded the headlights with black, 320 grit wet/dry sandpaper (get it at an automotive supply). While I sanded the lens, I used a hose and flooded the headlight exterior with water while I was sanding lightly. I did this until the yellow color disappeared. I probably removed about 1 mm of the outer plastic layer. That is the layer which is oxidized.

Next, I wet sanded with 600 grit wet/dry. This should take you at least 20 minutes if you are doing it correctly. You will notice as the sandpaper wears down, it leaves a satin finish on the surface of the lens.

Next, I wet sanded with 1500 grit wet/dry and then 2000 grit wet/dry. By the time you are wet sanding with 2000 grit wet/ dry sandpaper, you are virtually polishing the lens. It will be slightly cloudy from the sandpaper, but it will be very smooth. Keep using lots of water while you are sanding, use a light touch.

Wet sanding is the key. Keep the water running while you are sanding, literally flood the whole area while you are working the sandpaper.

NOW, use the plastic polish! I used Meguairs Plast-X polish. After a few minutes of polishing the restored headlamps with Plast-X, the headlight looked factory new. My neighbors came over, looked at the restored headlight and the old one, They freaked. The difference is hard to describe, it looked like a brand new part.

Figure on at least one hour per headlight if you are doing it right. I saved $500 in parts alone.