I Polished My Headlight

In a few hours this afternoon i changed my driver’s side headlight from this to this:

My headlights have been developing deep crackly patches of haze and yellow cloudiness for a year or so now, and it’s been getting worse over time.

[The yellowing is exaggerated a little in this photo because my camera wasn't white balanced for the low beam and fog lights.]

Following instructions from a DIY thread at VWvortex, i figured i’d give polishing them out a shot.

First things first, i cleaned the headlight to get rid of bugs and road grit, then popped the hood and masked off the adjacent body surfaces (bumper and fender).

I started off with 600 grit like the DIY, but had to jump down to 400 to sand off the deep crackle haze that was on the headlight. After several passes, i had an even, frosty haze. The trick is to keep everything wet while sanding—i kept hitting it with soapy water in a spray bottle, then wiped it clean to check the surface for areas that needed attention.

600 grit clears up the finish just a bit, and smooths out some of the swirls from the 400 grit stage. Shouldn’t be any obvious spots or scratches. It might take a few passes to erase deeper imperfections.

After the 1000 grit pass you start to see the potential for this whole process. The swirls and sanding marks from the heavier grits begin to polish away, and the lens starts to appear clear and feels very smooth.

1500 produces a very clear lens with just a slight fog. At this point you shouldn’t really see any swirls or imprefections—it looks very clean and clear.

Finally, the clear plastic polish buffs away the fine haze from sanding, giving you that original crystal-clear appearance.

The results:

Not perfect, but almost as good as new. Compare to the other headlight (which i’ll attack next weekend):

I may go over it again with the finer grits to get it perfect. There’s still some fine crackling and some of the deeper pits that i didn’t get. After each step it’s easy to see how even the finish is, and you can just go back over it again if it needs more work, or even back down to a coarser grit if necessary. I’d really recommend removing the headlights if you have the time and ability—it’s really difficult to get a consistent finish around the edges of the lens while they’re installed.

[Also check out the slideshow of the steps on Flickr.]

Updates and notes:

Several people on VWVortex have mentioned using power sanders, buffers, dremels, etc. to do the job much quicker, and this “5 Minute Kit” was mentioned in another thread. Also just found this restoration system ($40) while poking around. I did it all by hand with stuff i had lying around. If i can find a buffer or polishing drill pad i might try that next time.

I used a Vroom applicator pad i got at Target to apply the PlastX polish. And i skipped the rubbing compound prescribed by the original DIY because i didn’t have any. I also skipped the 2000 grit because i didn’t have any of that either, but the 1500 grit pass came out very clean for me, and the polish cleared it all up nicely.

Chalky white sanding residue came off the lens as i kept spraying it down (because you’re keeping it wet while you’re sanding, right?):

It got in the cracks of the bumper strips, but it rinsed out easily.

I periodically rinsed and wiped off the lens and sandpapers so i could better see the area i was working and because the papers would get loaded with plastic from the lens and loose their abrasiveness.

[In part 2 i repeat on the passenger-side headlight lens.]