Issues With Plastic Headlight Lenses and How to Clean Them With a Headlight Cleaner

In the past, automakers designed headlight lenses made from glass so they were limited in the size and shape they could produce. Since then, auto manufacturers began designing cars with plastic or polycarbonate headlight lenses. This modification mainly occurred due to the change in the design of cars--cars became lighter and more aerodynamic, plus plastic was by far less expensive to produce than glass. Today this plastic material is the chosen choice because it is very light and can be transformed into unlimited sizes and shapes to satisfy new car designs.

Issues With Plastic Headlight Lenses and How to Clean Them With a Headlight Cleaner

Issues With Plastic Headlight Lenses and How to Clean Them With a Headlight Cleaner

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Issues With Plastic Headlight Lenses and How to Clean Them With a Headlight Cleaner

Issues With Plastic Headlight Lenses and How to Clean Them With a Headlight Cleaner

Polycarbonate has its advanTAGes but also has its disadvanTAGes---namely oxidation/discoloration. To the naked eye one cannot tell that these plastic lenses are actually aporous material that expands ever so slightly when it gets hot. Degradation of the lens occurs over time. Having your headlights on or being exposed to the heat of the day causes the pores to open allowing debris from the road to get in. Debris, together with a combination of environMental factors such as the sun (UV rays), smog, acid rain, car exhaust, and harsh chemicals used to wash you car can cause the plastic headlight lenses to become oxidized.

Plastic oxidation leads to lens discoloration, which transforms new, clear, bright, shiny plastic to a dull yellow tint that appears to be foggy, hazy, or cloudy. This process (oxidation), as described above, not only becomes an eyesore but also is unsafe. Because of the degradation of theplastic lens, less light passed through resulting in diminished visibility during night driving. The car owner either had to deal with these cloudy yellow, oxidized headlight lenses posing serious safety issues or purchase expensive replaceMent headlights costing hundreds or thousands of Dollars.

We feel it is necessary to inform the public so that they may know and learn how to restore, clean, polish, and clear those cloudy, yellow plastic headlight lenses on their own without putting more money into the car manufacturer's pocket. One can restore headlights to like-new condition by taking off the top layer of oxidized plastic. This can be achieved through polishing, wet sanding, or through the use of chemicals. Automanufacturers would rather you go to them for a headlight repAir (charging as much as $ 150) or headlight replacement ($ 100-$ 1,000). The top layer of plastic on the headlights contains a UV polymer that retards or slows down the aging of the plastic lens. Therefore, it is important to use a polish (containing UV polymers) or UV coating to slow down the oxidation or discoloration of the lens. Parking your car in the shade or garage, or maintaining the lens by washing, waxing, and polishing a minimum of every three months, could avoid damage to the headlight lens.

There are many companies that specialize in headlight restoration and one can easily find one by simply putting in a keyword phrase such as "cloudy foggyheadlights"into any of the popular search engines like google, yahoo, or msn. There are two types of headlight cleaners/ headlight restoration kits:

1. Basic Headlight Restoration Kit (for light discoloration)
2. Advanced Headlight Restoration Kit (for more severe discoloration)

Issues With Plastic Headlight Lenses and How to Clean Them With a Headlight Cleaner

Cleaning and Restoring Yellowed, Hazy Headlight Lenses

Are your car's headlights , cloudy or yellowed scratched? You're not alone. Unless you give your car's plastic headlight lenses regular care, in 24 months or less they can deteriorate to the point of being completely opaque, making it very dangerous to operate your vehicle at night and in reduced visibility conditions. The solution is easier than you might think. The good news is that you can restore this dangerous and unsightly problem in about 20 minutes. It's easy once you know how.

Cleaning and Restoring Yellowed, Hazy Headlight Lenses

Cleaning and Restoring Yellowed, Hazy Headlight Lenses

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Cleaning and Restoring Yellowed, Hazy Headlight Lenses

Cleaning and Restoring Yellowed, Hazy Headlight Lenses

Why Do Headlights Become Yellow and Dull?

The problem is not caused by abuse or neglect, as you might think. It is an environMental problem. Without regular maintenance, UV rays from the sun, acid rain, salt and road debrisdegrade and Parrot all clear plastics, including lens covers. If your vehicle has halogen or another type of high-intensity discharge (HID) headlamp, the problem can be worse. These sealed beam units operate at high temperatures, further contributing to degradation and yellowing.

What Is The Solution?

The solution is an easy restoration process. Headlight restoration is a plastic repAir process that removes surface damage and restores clarity to the lenses. Even severe cases of hazing, yellowing, scratches and can be fixed in less than 30 minutes.

You might be wondering why fix instead of replace? Your headlights are a sealed unit, so you can't just replace the outer cover. If you have an expensive car withhigh-performance lighting, replaceMent is very expensive. Restoration vs. replaceMent can save you $ 150 to $ 600 for lens, so it's well worth the effort. Plus, it's easy!

What kind of results can you expect? It may look hopeless, but most likely the damage is superficial. Even if your light covers are completely opaque, they can be restored. As long As the plastic has not yellowed all the way though, you have a very good chance of full restoration.

Try A Low Abrasive Polish First

If the damage is slight, you may be able to fix it with a simple plastic polish like Meguiar's PlastX. I recomMend trying this method first. It won't be wasted effort or expense, either, because you need to use the polish regularly to maintain yourlighting.

NOTES: Never use a household glass cleaning product like Windex on clear plastic. Household glass cleaners contain ammonia, which causes clear plastic to yellow.

If the polish alone does not work, then you need to remove the damage with a very fine sand paper (2000 grit is very safe) and polish to restore a clear finish. While it may sound scary or complicated, it's not. Wet sanding is quick and easy.

TIP: You can test to see if your headlights will respond to hand polishing with a small dab of tartar control toothpaste. Toothpaste is slightly abrasive. If the small test area vastly improves, then you know polish alone may be all you need.

Sandpaper & Re-polish Procedures

To clean away thedamage with wet sanding and polish, you need the following Supplies:

Polishing towels Bucket of soapy water Latex gloves (if you have sensitive skin) Painter's masking tape (1 "to 1.5" width is best) Plastic polish Wet/dry sand paper (600, 1200, 2000 grit) Sanding block (1 "x 2" erasure works great) 2.5 "Velcro backing plate for use with 3/8" drill or cordless drill 3 "foam or wool polishing pad with Velcro backing

Here are the correct steps for restoring plastic headlight lenses:

STEP 1: Clean the headlight lenses. A bucket of soapy water works best. Clean the surrounding area, too. Dry thoroughly.

STEP 2: Use painter's masking tape to mask around the headlight. This will helpprotect your car's paint finish. This only takes a couple minutes, so don't skip this important step.

STEP 3: Wet sand each headlight. First determine the amount of damage to each lens. If your headlight lenses are scratched or if they are completely opaque, you will need to start with 600 grit sandpaper. Sand thoroughly, and then progress to 1200, then 2000 grit.

If your lenses have no scratches and are only slightly opaque, you can probably get away with using 2000 grit paper only. The first sanding step is where you will actually remove the scratched and cloudy layer of plastic. The finer grades of sandpaper are to remove the scratches left from the previous grit sandpaper.

As you sand, your sanding water willturn milky. This is the damaged layer being removed. Use plenty of water for lubrication and to keep the sandpaper clean. Keep sanding until the surface feels perfectly smooth. The drippings will become clearer as the damage is taken away. Dry thoroughly between sanding steps to check progress.

STEP 4: Re-glaze headlight lenses using plastic polishes on a 3 "polishing pad (foam or wool). First connect the Velcro backing plate adapter to your drill.

Apply several dabs of polish to the pad and begin polishing the lens. As the polish begins to dissipate, add a little more and continue polishing. Stop polishing once the lens is completely clear again. Finish with a final hand polish using a small amount of polish on a microfiber towelor applicator.

STEP 5: Wax or seal to protect. Use a good car wax to reseal the plastic and protect from the elements.

STEP 6: Maintain monthly with a quality plastic cleaner/polish. The products I recommend most are Plexus and Meguiar's PlastX. If polished regularly, your car's clear plastic lenses will never need restoring again!

Cleaning and Restoring Yellowed, Hazy Headlight Lenses

Be Safe, Save Money - Fix Your Dim Headlight Lenses

It was a dark and stormy night - and I couldn't see a darn thing in front of me. Despite the headlights being on high beam, the light was swallowed up by the darkness. In the bright light of day, I took a look at my headlights. I figured they were dirty, but even after cleaning them there remained what looked like a dull yellow film.

On older cars headlights are all one piece, essentially big light bulbs. The lenses were clear glass. When you replaced a headlight you had a fresh new lens, so other than cleaning them, there wasn't much to do. These days, headlights are usually lamps that are installed inside a plastic lens assembly. You may change the lamp inside your headlight, but the lens the light has to shine through stays the same.

Plastics age over time and can will change color or get scratched. This discoloration is the result of years of being blasted by dust, road grit and being bombarded with sunlight. Light from the lamps inside is diffused. The effect is like a flashlight with peanut butter smeared on the lens.

My car is a good vehicle, but it is old and well-used. I don't like spending a lot of money on it unless I have to. On the other hand, I didn't want to run someone over because I couldn't see them. The solution was to restore the lenses by polishing away the damaged surface using abrasives and polish.

Most auto parts stores will sell a kit with everything you need. I bought one for around 15 Dollars. It contained four sheets of wet-dry sandpaper, a soft flannel Cloth, some plastic polish and good instructions on how to proceed. Wet/dry paper is specially made to allow you to sand or polish surfaces while they are wet. Miniscule particles are ground loose from the surface as you sand, clogging the spaces between abrasive particles on the sandpaper. Clogged sandpaper isn't able to smooth anything. Keeping the surface wet allows particles to float and wash away as you sand and prevents clogging.

In this case, the grit of the sandpaper was very high, beginning with 1000 grit on up to 2500 grit. Furniture makers don't usually use sandpaper much higher than 320 grit, so you can imagine just how fine this paper is. My lenses were only moderately damaged, so I started with the 2000 grit and began to wet-sand the lens. I methodically sanded and wet the plastic, keeping the surface flooded with clear water. I did not have to remove the lens from the car. A tip: If your sandpaper starts to feel slippery, that means you need to rinse the paper and probably the surface, too. Don't be stingy with the water.

Once I had thoroughly sanded the lens with 2000 grit, I used the 2500. I rinsed the lenses clean and dried them an began the final step. I applied the plastic polish, buffing the surface to factory-new. I spent about 40 minutes on the Job. The next morning driving in to work early in the dark, I could really tell the difference.

Considering that two new headlight assemblies can cost over 100.00 (not including shipping and installation), restoring the headlights was an easy money-saver. If you can scrub a shower or polish a silver spoon, you have all the skills needed for this Job. Just visit your local auto parts store and ask about a kit for restoring your headlight lenses.

headlight lens polish

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