Why You Should Never Use Headlight Restorer

This is for plastic lens headlights.

Most of you already know, but those that don't, don't use this stuff. Sure it looks fantastic for 6 months, maybe a year, but then . . . part of it wears off, it fogs up, and is nearly impossible to fix. I've anonymized the brand but they're all the same. Just happened to have one in my wax box, I think my wife bought it. Figure out how to get it sent to you without me doing any work and it's yours.


Before: Wife's 2011 Rav 4. The pics don't show that well but you can see it fogging and see the edges of the restorer crap. This all has to come off (and it didn't, see below.) I rough taped and masked the lenses off to reduce cleanup and prevent burning the clear coat of the paint during buffing where it comes close to the lens.





Tools required, 320g, 400g, and 600g wetodry sandpaper, gloves, bucket of water, drill, buffing pad, fine polishing compound. Not shown is masking tape, scrap paper, and regular paste car wax. The more experienced of you will want to use a more aggressive polish, but remember these are plastic and can burn easily.






Wet sand, and focus on the plastic coated areas. I went in with 320g on this and it's just not enough, we're looking at new (expensive) headlight lenses to fully get it out.



If you look closely, you can see the edge of the "restorer" layer (on the top, bottom is bare lens.) . After an hour or so of hand sanding I threw in the towel, and am not going to get more aggressive with sanding. Finish it off with 400g first, then 600g.



Hit it twice with the buffer, throw a coat of carnuba wax on it and call it good. Wife says it looks great but I know it's only a matter of time before the foggy craptasticness comes back. I'll keep buffing it for now, but new lenses are the only thing that will fix this.


This is why you don't use "lens restorer." Eventually it just makes things worse.

 

I used to do professional restorations. The kits we used worked really well. Consisted of like a 7 stage sanding, clean with ethanol, coat with special coating, then leave cure under UV light for 10-15 min. Came out looking like a brand new light as long as you did the prep work correctly.

Not sure how the real long term reliability was. Seen one job after a year and it will looked new.

But yes, the aftermarket compound/wax kits are a joke. They just remove the haze for several months, then it returns. Usually worse than before.

 

Sorry but you are wrong. Most lens restoration products work great. What causes the oxidation or fogging is UV rays from the sun and other environmental factors. The lens come with built in oxidation/UV protection from the factory. Over time this protection deteriorates and the headlights start to oxidize. Once the original protection is gone it’s gone. Granted when you restore the lights what ever method
you use the process destroys what ever little protection is left. Headlight restorer will make your lights look like new.
If you want to keep them new looking and not oxidized you need to apply a UV protectant. If you don’t they will fog up again in a couple months. I did my lights over 3 years ago and they still look like new. I did touch them up a little once but not a complete restore job. My truck is outside 24/7. The UV protectant I use is Meguiars Headlight Coating. Instructions say to apply once a year but I spray it on the lights every 6 months. Takes a few minutes. Easy peasy. Guys always complain that they restored their lights but the oxidized again in a short time. That is because they didn’t protect them.
Here’s a pic of one of my headlights 3++ years after restoration and a pic of the protectant I use.

 

Buff out 10 or 12 shitty "restorer" jobs and get back to me. Have a look at the pics of my '03 headlights. They are originals, over 20 years old, and good as new. All you need to do is buff them out every couple years, and they'll stay that way. Plastic lenses don't need coating.

 

Plastic lenses absolutely need coatings, it is known and proven they oxidize in the presence of UV. They have a coating from the factory (it's not "restorer", it's a UV protectant) for just that reason and when it starts to fail is WHY it starts to oxidize. You yourself said it was going to haze in a few months, that is BECAUSE it doesn't have any coating.

You end up fixing the "kits" because of the person doing the job not necessarily because of the kits.

I polished mine myself then coated with Sylvania coating. Looked great two years later. On those I started with 400 and worked up to 2000, this isn't wood working, nothing below 400 touches my cars.

Fwiw Project Farm on YouTube did a review of different kits.

 

Literally, the only reason brand new headlights aren't oxidizing and fading within warranty period - is because they have a UV-protectant clear coat on them when brand new.
When they eventually wear out and visible deterioration begins to show, that coating has worn off.
It stands to reason that no matter how much you buff them, to make them nice/clear again - the protectant is even more gone...and thus should be re-applied.

In short, the issue isn't the kit - the issue is your process. Lenses absolutely do need a UV-protectant coating if the goal is to not re-buff them every year to every couple of years.

 

Wrong again. The reason they oxidize is that the factory UV coating/ protectant breaks down and deteriorates. You can buff them all you want but if you don’t apply a UV protectant they’ll oxidize again quickly. You can buff them as you did or you can use a kit. Both do a good job, the kits just make it convenient for most people. The bottom line is you need to apply a protectant to prevent reoxidation from UV rays and other environmental contaminants.

 

I'm not going to argue with you. The pictures in the original post and the 20 year old lenses speak for themselves.

 

The earth is flat, the moon landing was faked, and our leaders think our best interests are more important than their bank accounts......

 

Headlight lenses are polycarbonate and need UV protectant. The fact you need to buff them out every couple of years is evidence of that lol.

Taillight lenses are typically acrylic and don't need anything, but they aren't as resistant to stone chips.

"I am not a crook!"

 

This was my latest headlight restoration job:

Before:



After:



I used the Cerakote system, which is supposed to be guaranteed for the life of the vehicle. We shall see...lol

 

I don't remember what I used but did the headlights on my 07 three times over the years. While not quite as good as new, I was pretty pleased with the results each time. When they needed to be done a 4th time I just bought new headlight assemblies.

I think WHERE you live makes a big difference. And if it can be stored in a garage away from sunlight makes a difference too. My truck lives outside in the GA sun. I'd imagine Florida or Arizona would be worse and Minnesota lenses should last longer.

 

Yep, my 08 Tacoma lives outside in Tidewater VA, and I've done the headlight restoration several (3?) times before. Hopefully this Cerakote ceramic coating lasts.

If not, I have a pair of new OEM Toyota headlight buckets on the shelf.

 

I plan on using Griots this week. I have talked to some people that have used it and they were impressed . My local detailer was wanting $90 per light , I thought Id give the Griots a try first

 

Don't hate the playahs.

 

Yes, I am fortunate to be able to keep my vehicles out of the sun as much as possible but I still do this: every so often, especially after it rains or bugs splatter the lenses, I take five minutes to clean them with water on a soft towel and apply a coat of Meguiar's D156 spray wax as per the instructions. That is spray on and buff off. Lenses on the wife's 2014 RAV4 @ 196,000 still look pretty damn good.