Car headlight polishing / restoration

Faded headlights don't just detract from the aesthetic appeal of your ride—they're also a hazard. By reducing their light output at night, yellowed car headlights impair your vision, putting you and everyone else in your car at risk.

Fortunately, it is quite easy to make dimmed headlights transparent again. What's more, you don't need to spend a fortune at a mechanic because you can do headlight restoration yourself.

Here is our guide to restoring car headlights.

What causes dimmed headlights?
When you first buy a car, usually all its parts, including the headlights, are pleasantly transparent. After some time, they are no longer as transparent as when they were purchased, for the following reasons:

• Oxidation: Most modern cars have polycarbonate plastic headlights. Unlike glass, polycarbonate plastic develops microscopic cracks that turn yellow in sunlight, eventually causing cloudy or foggy headlights.
• Time and weather conditions: although polycarbonate plastic headlights are usually covered with a film when new, this film wears off over time due to harsh weather conditions.
• Water Vapor : Condensate trapped in a car's ignition is also a common culprit behind dimming headlights
• Dirt and chemicals: Over time, your car's lights can build up a thin layer of chemicals and dirt, causing dimmed headlights.

How to restore car headlights?
Grinding is the best and most effective way to restore headlights. Headlight polishing removes the tarnished material layer from the glass, restoring the lenses to their former luster.

There are a variety of headlight restoration kits available for the general user.

Simpler sets come with a microfiber cloth to polish with, and of course polishing paste and light protection paste.

For the more demanding customer, however, there are sets that also contain sandpapers and a base that can be attached to the electric drill to which the sandpapers are attached.

If you decide in favor of a set with sandpapers, we recommend watching the tutorial videos beforehand. Without any knowledge, you can ruin the lights even more by polishing yourself with sandpaper. It is important to use the correct number of revolutions on the grill, with too fast revolutions you can, for example, melt the plastic glass and ruin the fire.

In general, the process looks like this:
1. Clean the fire.
Grinding headlights without proper cleaning will grind contaminants deep into their surface, resulting in a rough, uneven, and poor adhesion surface.
2. Cover the fire surround with masking tape, for example.
You don't want to accidentally sand off your car's paint, adding another expensive car problem to your list.
General Basics of Headlight Grinding:
Note that the higher the number on the sandpaper, the finer the sandpaper (2000 very fine grit, 600 coarser grit). Start with the coarsest option and gradually move towards finer.
3. Wipe the surface clean to remove sanding residue.
4. Apply a protective agent
applying a protective agent prevents the headlights from oxidizing again. You'll want to use multiple coats to maintain the amazing shine of your headlights achieved by sanding.
This article provides general instructions, but be sure to use the polishing kit you purchase as directed in the kit's instructions for use.


Preventing oxidation of headlights
While foggy headlights aren't completely inevitable, check out the steps you can take to prevent your headlights from oxidizing quickly.

• Park wisely : The main cause of yellowing headlights is UV radiation - parking your car in the shade whenever possible is the easiest way to slow down the oxidation of your headlights.
• Wash the car : As mentioned, car headlights sometimes get cloudy due to dirt and chemical layer. Washing your car regularly with the right cleaning products will help prevent fogging.

Final headlight restoration
Headlight restoration is a project you can do yourself on a leisurely Sunday afternoon by following the tips above. However, keep in mind that headlight restoration techniques with cloth are only effective for a short period of time. Grinding is the best option for permanent headlight restoration.

You can find the car headlight restoration kits offered in our online store here.

Videos:

Product: 300ml Headlight Restorer Liquid Turtle Wax



Product: Kit for polishing headlights TURTLE WAX 
 


Product: SONAX headlight restoration kit
 


Product: SONAX PROFILINE headlight protective cover (10 packs) 50ml


Product: Kit for restoring the transparency of car headlights VAPRON K2