Headlight Covers Dirty?

[DubyaO]

Folks, I've noticed even after washing my car, the headlight covers always seem to be dirty. Maybe they're pitted or scratched...dunno. Does anyone else have this or is yours crystal clear?

:confused:

[SuperGLS]

Mine get very clear, not quite crystal, but very clear. Did you try some windex?

[yevRPS]

there are some rubbing compounds that can clear up the headlights if they're scratched or really dirty...can't remember the name off the top of my head.

[Dman]

they could be scratched up like u said, or more specifically probably little dings and cracks, but this would only apply if u have a lot of highway miles on your car in a relatively short time. Speed=more damage on impact from road debrii. At least thats true for me as my headlights are terrible as well as the windshield...

[yevRPS]

after some quick searching with the help of goole here're some results:
http://home.hiwaay.net/~lbrewer/howtoheadlights.html
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=6755&item=4521016171&rd=1

i've never used any of those products so i can't tell ya if they work well or not. do some research. or you could always try to score a new set of headlights off of ebay or get KDM headlights from dreamka4u or kspec if you want to get some chrome headlights. hope this helps

[DubyaO]

thanks all!

[hyunelan2]

Also, if you can't find any of that plastic polish stuff (I use the meguires variety), Turtle Wax Chrome Polish does a good job of cleaning up the plastic on headlights/taillights.

[kylemorg]

I believe they may be pitted or coated by the spray-on wax they use at the drive-thru car washes. Meguiars (or was it Mother's?) makes a plastic polish -- it's in a red ~60z bottle in the wax sections of some better auto stores. Autozone didn't have it; maybe I got it at pep boys.

It works pretty good to polish plastic, and it's not as aggressive as some rubbing/polishing compounds which can put fine scratches in the plastic and may make the problem worse.


I do cross-sectioning work as part of my job -- polishing coated metal pieces embedded in epoxy, so I have a pretty good handle on that.

Whatever you do, do not use solvent-based cleaners (think paint thinner) on your headlights; they can cause the polycarbinate to haze, craze (micro-crack), or become yellowed.

[DubyaO]

Cool...thanks kylemorg! I'll get some plastic polish and give it try.

[caseinajar]

i look closely at my 03 and can see what you mean. it is a thin layer of baked on film that over time wears away. i had the same kind of film on some paintball masks. i used some softscrub and my fingers or sponge. but this just takes it all off. i was wondering if anyone tried getting the dealer to replace the lens or the whole headlight.

[Dman]

i was wondering if anyone tried getting the dealer to replace the lens or the whole headlight.

it's really not likely that they will do anything like that unless the damage is extremely bad and/or the miles on your car are low. My dealer wouldnt even change my windshield which is in a pretty bad shape (caused by having 60k on a '03 car :tongue: ) as supposedly its normal tear/wear process. Good luck if u wanna try tho.... :)

[DubyaO]

Hmmm..Softscrub huh caseinajar? Good thought. Did it not leave little scratches or hazing?

[kylemorg]

You guys kill me... Why do you want to risk scratching your headlight lenses ($40+ dollars used, 120+ new) to save a few bucks rather than spending a bit of time finding and paying $5.00 for the right stuff? :confused:

I'd still try the plastic polish from Mothers. I found the bottle and have it right here. It's called Mothers Plastic Polish for all plastic and acrylics. It's a bright red 8 oz bottle, which I got from a place in Pennsylvania called "Auto Supermarket" for $4.49.

See attached pics for more info.

Better yet, go ahead and use soft-scrub and see what happens. Maybe you'll get lucky and it will work, but if you end up scratching your lenses worse I reserve the right to say "I told you so" :rolleyes:

[XTRAWLD]

Meguires makes Plasti-x. I use it on my headlights, fogs, tail lights, signals....and even the gauge cluster cover. Works really well. It helps reduce scratches, swirls, fine pits, and protects as well.

[04GTboySC]

i actually bought that stuff today even before reading this post it works really well

[DubyaO]

Brillo pad here I come! :-) Thanks guys!

[kylemorg]

HA! I thought about suggesting a brillo pad after the soft-scrub suggestion...

[04 elantra cvvt]

Okay, I found some stuff the other day made by Permatex. It is specificly made for restoring pitted, yellowed, and discolored headlight lenses. I sold some of it to a customer the other day, and they reported back to me that it worked like a charm. You might try to find some. I'll try to get you a part number for it.

[DubyaO]

Cool...look forward to the info.