Disclaimer: This describes my good luck with applying the techniques below to my own vehicle. If you choose to apply any of these techniques to your vehicle, or someone else's vehicle, you do so at your own risk. Your results may vary. I in no way warrant that this approach will be successful for you, and may result in irreparable damage to your vehicle, your marriage, your bank account, your credit rating or your status as a living human being. Don't blame me. I was ready to buy a new headlight if this didn't work. You should only attempt this if you're willing to do the same thing.

My 2001 Town & Country was recently in an accident and the repair included a new headlight assembly. A side-effect of this was that it made my remaining 6 year old headlight look AWFUL. It was significantly pitted and hazed from 6 years of exposure, lots of caustic carwashes and 98K miles of driving related "sandblasting". It looked like this:





Those are 3D defects you're looking at - they range from pockmarks so deep you could balance a BB in them, to the rest that just feel like it has been sandblasted with coarse sand. While it tends to just look "hazy" from the front, you can see in the first photo that, from the side, it's evident that this had serious surface damage across the entire headlight.

I had read a number of posts regarding various approaches to restoring hazed headlights. While I was not very optimistic, given the severe damage I was working with, I also didn't feel like I had anything to lose, so I thought I've give it a go. Armed with my new PC combo from Detailer's Paradise and a variety of polishes, here's what I did...

I began by masking around the light with painter's tape, then wetsanding the light with 1000 grit paper until it felt smooth. At this point, I was certain I had completely ruined the light. It was completely opaque milky. But it was smooth - I sanded a ton until even the deep defects were gone. I followed with 1500 and 2000 grit paper, just enough of each to knock down the sanding marks of the heavier grit. The light was still milky, but was a little less opaque. If I had 2500 and 3000 grit, I would have used it - but didn't have any. So I moved on to the PC.

When I ordered my polishes from DP, I got Swirl and Finish and Amigo, but didn't get any Cut. At the time, I was just getting what I thought I'd need in the future on my MINI. But I needed something heavier for the van (and especially the headlight). A local speed shop had a limited selection of Meguiar's polishes. I picked up a pint of #2 Fine Cut Cleaner.

I first polished the light with #2 and the DP yellow pad for probably 5 minutes. At this point the sanding "damage" was gone! But the light was just uniformly hazy. Then I switched to Prima Swirl and the DP orange pad for another 5 minutes. At this point, the light was clear, with just a little haze left. Then I followed with Prima Finish and the DP white pad for about 5 more minutes. Here are the results:


In these photos, what you see on the surface is a little dampness from driving in the rain, courtesy of the flash. The surface isn't hazy at all as it appears. But notice how the defects from the first photo are gone...


This one is really what it looks like to the eye - complete optical clarity. It's indistinguishable from the brand new light.



Success!

Note that above I omitted a few other things that I tried, but that turned out to be ineffective for this specific case. One thing I had read suggested using an aluminum / metal polish for this problem. I started by trying Mother's aluminum polish. It basically did nothing... though on a less damaged lens it might have helped. I also tried Renovo clear plastic polish. Again, if I had very slight hazing, this might have helped. But in my case, I had to resort to extreme measures...

 

Excellent results, nice writeup, and great job! Headlight restorations can be a lot of fun! The only thing to be cautious of is that some headlights have a protective coating on them such that if you sand them off, they will deteriorate at a much faster rate. However, this is only something I read, and have yet to experience. Sometimes a plastic polish like Meguiar's PlastX or even a coat of Meguiars #7 ShowCarGlaze can further improve the clarity of the plastic.

Richard

 

Thanks Richard - couldn't have done it without you!

Obviously I was WAY beyond caring about the fabled "protective coating" in this case... but that's one reason for the disclaimer.

I actually tried Renovo plastic polish after everything else and didn't see any difference. The Prima Finish left such a fine smooth mirror surface, I don't know if anything would actually improve upon it...

 

Haha that's great. Well and glad I could help!

Richard

 

^^ I would do the same if i was in the same boat.


nice work.

 

Good Stuff I did a similar process on my Mothers Minivan checked those forums apperently it was common and the ONLY other solution that anyone else had was buying new assembies (dodge wouldn't sell jus the lens) @ 150 per side.

 

Good writeup. Our '97 Town & Country was just as bad (if not worse) when we traded it in last year (I was about to say earlier this year but caught myself... ). My parents Insight is starting to get a haze over the lights so I'll probably try some of the over-the-counter stuff to clear it up before it gets too bad. Florida sun really wreaks havoc on paint and headlights...

 

Great job and results!

For future reference I would highly recommend first trying Plexus first. One step and I've seen some great results in similar situations. If not you can always continue on to the sanding and polishing job that you did.