Homegrown Methods to Restore Headlights
- Headlights take a lot of abuse from the elements and road dirt.Charles Maraia/Photodisc/Getty Images
Over time, the plastic lamps on your headlights become hazy. This impedes their ability to shine through the headlight lamps and illuminate the road in front of you. It also makes your car look old and worn out. You can use an expensive pre-packaged kit to shine up your headlight lamps or you can opt for a homegrown method to restore your headlights. - Many people use a translucent shade of black to "tint" their headlights. This is commonly called "night-shading." You can do the same thing with scratched up foggy headlights by applying clear polyurethane or acrylic onto the headlights. The clear coat fills in the micro scratches on the surface of the plastic and eliminates the scratches that cause the headlights to look hazy. This is very cost effective because a can of clear coat sells for a couple of dollars at your local home improvement store.
- You can buff the haze and micro scratches out of your headlights for a long lasting shine. To do this, simply attach a cotton buffing wheel to your hand drill. Apply a small amount of automotive buffing compound (sold at most auto parts stores) to the buffing wheel and shine up your headlight just as you would when buffing your car paint. Plastic headlights react to buffing just as a car would, since in reality, the hard coat on a car is plastic. Use small swirling strokes at a slow speed and you can make your headlights look just like new.
- Although you will still need to purchase a buffing compound, you can save even more money by substituting clean cotton t-shirts or towels for the hand drill and buffing pad. Wrap part of the fabric around your pointer finger; apply compound and buff in a small, circular motion. This process takes a long time, but does save you money.
