Headlight Restoration

[Snake556]

Hey guys, so since it was super nice out today, I decided to give my van a much needed cleaning, and then remembered about a headlight restoration kit I picked up from Canadian Tire a while ago. My headlights were extremely foggy, and I finally got around to using it today. So, figured I'd post up my results. Not on a Skyline, but whatevers! I'd highly recommend this stuff.

Items used:

Meguiar's Headlight Restoration Kit
- Includes: polishing bit, polish, microfiber cloth
Drill
Elbow grease


So, my headlights started out like so:



As you can see, milky cataracts.



So, off to work I went.


After about 5 min.


See the difference between the two



And the two done together! Huge difference!



And here's the finished product.




All in all, took me about 15-20 min, and the kit was about $30 or so. I would highly recommend it up if you need to restore your headlights. You see pretty much instant results as soon as that polishing bit hits the lense!

[bellis_GTR]

You could of just used your pee

But nice write up! Turned out brand new.

[Snake556]

Pfft. Pee is for nubs :P

I'm really happy with how they turned out! They look fantastic.

[Eat_Sleep_Shift]

yeah looks very nice! good to know it works so well!

[blkgtr02]

you can also wet sand with 600 or 800 and cut with medium compound then fine and polish to get it all minty again.

[Snake556]

Very true! Starting at 600 and moving up in grit to 800, 1000, then 2000 works fantastically well But this was just SO much less work :P

[future_R34]

I used a tube of colgate tarter control on my beater, and a white scotch brite pad on my angle grinder.

-$1.50 at the dollar store for the tooth paste.
-$0.00 from work for the scotch brite pad.
-$25.00 for the case of beer....

About the same as the kit I suppose.... Lol

[aN4rk1]

Wow Adam. Good results! I was considering that kit for my winter beater and parents cars.
I ended up doing something different and it turned out amazing. What I did was:

- Cut a small peice of 2000 grit sandpaper
- mix some hot (hot to touch) water and dish soap
- put the sandpaper in the water and let soak for 5 mins
- Sand entire headlight lightly, make sure its well coated with water
- rinse off
- Get a power ball (a spongy ball you can attach to a drill to make it spin: http://www.amsoil.com/StoreFront/ima..._05140_200.jpg)
- Get some plastic X
- buff with plastic x for 5ish mintues until crystal clear.

Oh and can you take a picture of the contents of that kit? I am curios as to whats so special about it.

[Daryl @ RightDrive]

Wow, that looks amazing!

I was curious, was the elbow grease included in the kit as you mentioned, or did you buy it separately? I've been looking everywhere for some elbow grease but no one sells it...

[Snake556]

I used a tube of colgate tarter control on my beater, and a white scotch brite pad on my angle grinder.

-$1.50 at the dollar store for the tooth paste.
-$0.00 from work for the scotch brite pad.
-$25.00 for the case of beer....

About the same as the kit I suppose.... Lol

Lol, very true! Not too far off at all

Wow Adam. Good results! I was considering that kit for my winter beater and parents cars.
I ended up doing something different and it turned out amazing. What I did was:

- Cut a small peice of 2000 grit sandpaper
- mix some hot (hot to touch) water and dish soap
- put the sandpaper in the water and let soak for 5 mins
- Sand entire headlight lightly, make sure its well coated with water
- rinse off
- Get a power ball (a spongy ball you can attach to a drill to make it spin: http://www.amsoil.com/StoreFront/ima..._05140_200.jpg)
- Get some plastic X
- buff with plastic x for 5ish mintues until crystal clear.

Oh and can you take a picture of the contents of that kit? I am curios as to whats so special about it.

That sounds like it turned out good, Rony! And for sure, I'll go take a pic now. Nothing overly special, just drill bitty-thing (sorta like a powerball), polish, and a microfiber to buff it all up with

Wow, that looks amazing!

I was curious, was the elbow grease included in the kit as you mentioned, or did you buy it separately? I've been looking everywhere for some elbow grease but no one sells it...

Thanks Daryl! And luckily it's not too hard to find! It also goes by the alternative name of "beer" :P

[403SKYLINEGTT]

Old thread, but I need help. Any step I need to take to clean inside the headlight, I believe the oxidization is inside as have tried polishing outside using toothpaste LOL, not going to try the sand as I do not want to further damage. Any advise? maybe step by step? please and thank you

[bobbo]

Which chassis do you have? 32, 33, or 34? plastic headlights or glass?
the 32 headlights you just heat them up in the oven at about 325 and the lens will seperate from the plastic housing. Once apart you clean the inside, get the adhesive from a windshield shop or an epoxy and reassemble.

[cooke24]

Wetsand 1500 grit. Then 2000. Then buff with a compound, then polish. Use heavier grit depended on yellow!ness.

[future_R34]

Old thread, but I need help. Any step I need to take to clean inside the headlight, I believe the oxidization is inside as have tried polishing outside using toothpaste LOL, not going to try the sand as I do not want to further damage. Any advise? maybe step by step? please and thank you

Get the kit and and try first. The toothpaste does work but not for long and not a good job. Bobbo is right when he says take them apart to clean inside, you can do it with the r33 too I believe.