Headlight Restoration - Cheap & Easy!!

[grcy_gttr]

For a while now, my headlights, as well as my girlfriend's, were mad crazy yellow. And I kept saying "I need to do something about that"...until one day I did. I did a little googleing (if thats even a word), on how to remove oxidation from headlights...and I found out that toothpaste works really well (the actual past, not the gel type). So I went out and bought a tube of Crest cavity protection, for about $3. Other than the toothpaste, I used a microfiber towel, and old bottle of water, and a little manual labor...

The left and right headlights of my Mazda before the were cleaned

The left and right headlights of my Mazda after they were cleaned

The left and right headlights of my girlfriend's VW before they were cleaned

A before and after while working on the VW (the left is what they looked like before, and the right is what they looked like after)

So total, it took me about 15 minutes for each car.

 

[BOOSTR]

Impressive. Maybe I will put Crest paste on my buffer pad instead of wax and compound. Report back as to how it holds up in a few weeks if you can.

 

[915_P5]

Nice, ive been meaning to do this to the p5

 

[grcy_gttr]

I'll post back in a few weeks to let everyone know how they hold up. I know its not a permanent fix, and probably doesn't hold up as well as the 3M Restoration kit does.

 

[pcb]

Now that's the kind of "mod" I like,... tooth paste instead of expensive marketing.

I'm definitely doing that.

The only thing I'd suggest is to "seal" it to help protect it from re-oxidizing. I'm gonna go with simple and cheap clear coat,... and you only use a small part of the spray bomb so there's plenty left over for other experimental projects.

 

[Luken10]

Nice results! Just so everyone knows though, while toothpaste is good at the job, if you spend a bit more you can get even better results. However most people wouldn't notice the difference unless they were side by side.

If you use some sand paper used for wet sanding, as well as some good pads and compounds for a drill, your headlights will absolutely stand out brilliantly on the car.

 

[pcb]

OK,.. then I'm gonna apply the toothpaste using my black wet sandpaper and then my clear coat,... all of which I have on hand, so I won't be procrastinating any longer.

I will do it tomorrow. (maybe I'll use Perrier for my water so I don't feel like such a cheapass)

 

[Flav]

OK,.. then I'm gonna apply the toothpaste using my black wet sandpaper and then my clear coat,... all of which I have on hand, so I won't be procrastinating any longer.

I will do it tomorrow. (maybe I'll use Perrier for my water so I don't feel like such a cheapass)

Let's not get carried away... it's an 11 year old car now and the economy is in the shitter.


Also big thumbs up to OP for this

 

[grcy_gttr]

OK,.. then I'm gonna apply the toothpaste using my black wet sandpaper and then my clear coat,... all of which I have on hand, so I won't be procrastinating any longer.

I will do it tomorrow. (maybe I'll use Perrier for my water so I don't feel like such a cheapass)

Procrastinators unite...tomorrow!

Its kind of cool....you can actually start to see the toothpaste turn brown/yellow as you work it...

Let's not get carried away... it's an 11 year old car now and the economy is in the shitter.


Also big thumbs up to OP for this

OP?

 

[Flav]

^ OP = Original Poster. Forum slang, sorry.

 

[pcb]

This urban dictionary has helped me with many Googly acronyms.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/

WTF, FTW, IIRC, BUMP, etc.

 

[Maroon]

I am interested in how this holds up. I have Maguiars Plastx. It lasts for about 3 weeks before the light looks foggy again.

 

[CTt3P5]

I am interested in how this holds up. I have Maguiars Plastx. It lasts for about 3 weeks before the light looks foggy again.

That's due to the lack of the UV coat from over the years. You can buy some UV blocker and put it on for a longer solution or put a good coat of wax on the lights after polishing them. I was using the Meguairs about every 3-6 months on my lights before buying the Sylvania Restoration Kit which included everything I needed. At $20 it isn't as cheap as a tube of Crest but has held up great all summer.

 

[hornsfan10609]

That turned out pretty well, I have had the best luck with the cheap headlight kit from walmart. It lasted about a year and then I tried the 3M kit and my headlights looked bad again after about 2 months.

 

[mp5build2013]

i clean mine every month with a sock and rubbing compund. they look like new, and if you really wanna do a nice job get some polishing compund and polish them after. but honestly, rubbing compund is more than enough. ive seen my neighbors use those fancy kits and a corldess driver and mine still look better after about 5 min.

 

[pcb]

The toothpaste worked for me,... I used colgate though.

That was the most productive 20 minutes I've ever spent on my car.

 

[JesseM]

Sweet! My passenger side headlight is super yellow to the point where its significantly faded at night. I've avoided fixing it because the foglights compensate. But I will most definitely be doing this, nice find!

 

[hat1018]

Has any one ever tried spraying clear over their restored headlights? Or clear vinyl overlay? Curious to know if either of them would protect enough to not have to shine the headlight lenses up all the time.

 

[grcy_gttr]

I used tire shine from Armoral...just to see if it would work (and thats all I had at the time)...hopefully it will work...I'll try to post some pics on Sunday, which would be a week after I did this.

 

[tweety2300]

There is a protective film over the headlight to keep this from happening, over time washing bugs etc removes it. To keep them like this get a GOOD can of clear coat, not $3 Walmart special, it needs to be specifically for plastic not metal or multi purpose. Clean the s*** out if head lights and use 2 coats. Give it a day or 2 to cure as in not driving it and not turning the lights on. Then apply a light coat of wax and you will be good to go

It's best to wet sand them first as well. Did this on my moms car ( its usually the test dumby since its not driven much) and its been good for over a year