How To: Restore you hazed headlights.

Are your headlights yellow? Ill show you how to get rid of it.

I've polished my headlights twice since I bought my taco. I'd wax them and about 6 months later bam yellow again. So today I decided to put an end to it. After researching, I found numerous threads about UV protection. They talked about a gloss urethane made for wood by minwax. SO I decided to give it a go. I apologize about the horrible pictures, I took them with my phone not knowing they were kinda hazy.

Things you'll need.

1 roll of scotts blue paper towel.
Wet Sand paper- I used 3m 800,1000 and 2000.
Helmsman gloss spar urethane.
Mineral spirits.
Mixing cup and stick.
Denatured Alcohol.
Rubbing compound.
some sort of soft pad for a drill or polisher.




1- Masking off your fenders and bumper. I pulled my grille out and took the spacers between the headlight and bumper out.



2- Wet Sand your headlight to remove the oxidation. I started with 800 grit and worked my way up to 2000 grit.



3- Then when your done sanding bust out the rubbing compound and polisher. Polish using compound to your liking.

4- When your headlight is polished as good as you can get it. Then use Denatured Alcohol to remove all the leftover rubbing compound.
This is what I used.


5-Now you'll want to mix up your UV clear coat. Its a 50/50 mix. I used a cheap Walmart mixing cup. I mixed 4oz of spar and 4oz of mineral spirits. (This is way more than you'll need)



6- Once your clear is mixed take two sheets of scotts blue paper towel and fold it to look like this. This will be your clear applicator.


7- Then dip it in your clear and apply in a back and forth motion from top to bottom. No need for a ton of clear as it will run.


8- After you applied your clear let it dry for 20-30 minutes before reassemble/removing masking tape.

The pictures dont do justice. They look almost as if they came from the factory.

Before.



After.



Good Luck and don't be afraid to post your results.

 

I did this as well. It works really well. Went all the way up to 3000 grit and wetsanded with each grit # of sand paper. Also I used a foam applicator instead of a blue rag.

Before



After

 

how has it held up? also did you use the same clear?

 

Sub'd. Thanks for posting! I know I will be doing this within the near future. Probably within a month or so

 

+1 this is happening to one of my head lights

 

Yes I used the same Minwax Helmsman Spar Urethane.

It is holding up great. This is the most permanent solution to hazed headlights. Plus it contains UV protectants.

Im thinking of sanding with some 2000 or 3000 and applying another coat. I have some brush marks that I want to get rid of.

Sigs awesome isn't it?

 

Yeah it seems like there was some really cool idea at the beginning of this thread but I can't remember what it was

 

Yes. Lots of win.

 

I sit and watch it waiting for something to jiggle.

 

bassman did i hurt your brain? haha

 

Sub'd

 

Would using the same clear on new headlights keep them from oxidizing?

 

sub'd

 

So had a extra set of headlights I bought last year from another local TW member that I did the bhlm on and had not put back together as I was planning on a retro when I had the $...never did the retro so I slapped em back together and did this restore this past weekend. Could not believe the results! Super easy and they look brand new. Hope the finish will last. Pics.........

Before:


After:

 

Looks good! I have a spare set as well that's been sitting around. I may have to try it this weekend.

 

sub'd... best and easy info on headlights restoration I've seen

 

stupid question but which rubbing compound/ polisher are most people going with?

Cant wait to do this to my neglected headlights and fogs.

 

Sub'd... Need to do this on my 2012 already ....... I know.... Sad....

 

I skipped this all together, just bought new headlights off Amazon for $45 a side and did the BHLM again. I had wet sanded and polished the OEM's once, but then 12 months later they would look like crap again.

Thanks for the info though, they do look good.

 

Damn, that spar urethane ain't cheap! Just picked up all the materials to do this. Now all I need is a day off.