DIY Headlight Haze Removal

[steadypimpin]

pep boys has the plastic cleaner and polish, in thw wax and car wash section.

[Wildman]

damn huge improvement man

[xluben]

wow, i have a headlight that looks just like that!

anyone find anything local (cleaner/polisher), preferably cheaper than $10 a bottle?

[xluben]

here's the kit i bought:



comes with sandpaper (1000, 1500, 2000, 2500), cloth, rubber gloves, polishing compound, and instructions:



here's the good headlight:



and here's the bad one:



close up:



here's after (it started snowing, i'll take a better pic some other day):



close up:



it is quite a bit better, but still not like the other one

here is a scan of the instructions (big image, so it's readable):



i basically just did exactly as it says to do.

cleaned the headlight
soaked the sandpaper
started with 1000 grit (i had no deep scratches, but A LOT of buildup)
side to side, then up and down for the next one, etc.
then circular with the polish
i probably did at least half a dozen runs with the polish and used nearly the whole bottle
a drill with polisher would have helped a ton for the last step(i have one but couldn't find it)
make sure to clean the headlight between each grit level and between each application of the polish

overall it was quite a bit of work, but does look a lot better than before.

also, the reflective area inside this headlight is damaged
(lost much of its luster due to previously having dirt inside the headlight),
so even if the cover was perfectly clear it wouldn't look at shiny as the other one.

[f23accord2000]

its called the power ball i got on when they first came out 25 dollers i payed works great the best poliher for rims and headlights all plastic

[miker_go]

guys, my headlights are kind of hazy. i saw this product online, im curious if any of you guys have any experience with this product. It's called Crystal View™

Official Website: http://www.crystalviewchemicals.com/myheadlight/

Youtube Video of Crystal View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGMBGQUMtOo

do you guys think its worth it?

[skep]

i dont even know if its worth it or not. i just never trust advertisement that much but if you do try it let me know how it goes cause i need to do my headlights too

[steadypimpin]

do you think one could do this by hand instead of a powerball?

[shavedaccord]

I heard any toothpaste with fluoride will do the trick also

[Dinzdale40]

a general tip when doing this...don't start out with something like 1000 grit sand paper...start out with a strong polish on the power ball...that should remove most of the light haze...i just don't think it's worth it to sand them down to remove 1 or 2 deep scratches...when most of the haze can be removed easily with that power ball thing and a good strong polish(maybe even toothpaste like darryl said)...in other words...save yourself some time and don't do something so harsh if its not needed...or else you'll spend most of your time trying to remove sanding marks...