The dreaded headlight haze

I am just now starting to see signs of the haze starting to creep in along the inside top ridge of the headlights on my 13', What do you guys do to keep this at bay? Or do you just wait until its bad enough then open up the assembly and clean the inside?

 

polish and wax regularly

once they start to peel the best fix is to remove all of the UV coating by wetsanding and polishing and the have a professionally applied automotive clear coat to protect

 

stupid question maybe but what will polish and wax do if the haze is forming on the inside?

 

If it's on the inside there isn't much you can do unless you separate the lenses from the body of the light. Then do what's needed to clean them up (wet sand, polish etc).

I'd pick up a set here on the for sale forum as there are plenty I've seen in good condition for a good price. Might be worth doing as it will save time and possibly money over doing all the above described work.

 

Oh it's hardly noticeable at this point. Just a tiny bit. Headlights still look great, but maybe when I get to that point someday down the road I can do that. Thanks

 

Yep just separate the lens from the housing then hit it with some wet 1500 then down to 2000 grit.
Funny story I blew a headlight in my CBR and the bulb caught on fire briefly causing some white powder residue on the inside. Instead of cleaning it with a rag I sprayed some carb cleaner on the inside and it instantly hazed up. I spent a couple of hours wet sanding to get it clear again.

 

Maybe a silly question; are you sure it's forming on the inside and not just an optical dillusion?

My 06 has the haze that started at the top and is working its way down. I plan on replacing rather than refinishing. I think it'll be quicker and I'd pull them out anyway to refinish them. My OCD will want them perfect.

 

I use Turtle Wax headlight restore kit, it really does a nice job. It last about 6 weeks, after that they begin to haze again so I clean and polish the headlight lense once every 6-8 weeks.

 

Believe it or not, the wipe new head light restoration kit works wonders and lasts a long time (over a year). A friend of mine has a chevy Silverado who used the turtle wax kit to refresh the lenses and then used the wipe new kit to seal them. I believe their product contains some sort of ceramic property as it left a coating on the lenses when he was done that stuff was 100% transparent. I was actually really impressed with that stuff for being a "as seen on TV product". Might wanna give it a shot next time you polish the lenses, it might prevent you from having to do it so often.

 

Old detailer trick for internally fogged/dirty headlamp housings: Fill the lamp housing with water with a bit of dishwashing liquid added--and quite a few ice cubes and larger bits of crushed ice. Shake the housing for several minutes, them rinse and repeat 'til its as good as it's goIng to get. The ice behaves as a very mild abrasive that will not scratch up the reflector or lens.

Here's a before-and-after shot of my '98 SL500 (I buffed out the plastic surround)...

 

No matter what I did I could not clean mine up. Just bought new ones altogether

 

I had good luck with this method on my Subaru, the headlights were fogged up pretty bad. Wet sand and then rustoleum clear coat.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEJbKLZ7RmM

 

Hit a deer at 50+mph right smack in the front end and have the insurance buy new ones. But make sure you bugger up both of them. Otherwise you get the stupid look I got with one new light and one hazy one.

 

This is awesome!!!!! Nice trick!!!!

 

I just bought one of the kits from an auto parts store. Took about 30 minutes with a cordless drill. I won't say it looks like new, but pretty close. It's been about 1 1/2 years and mine still look good.

 

i did my 03 matrix and my 05 truck this past fall. first time since we bought them new. they were really bad. i used the Turtle Wax kit. worked great. just follow the instructions exactly and take your time..

if you have a bit of hazing don't sweat it for now.

$13 Turtle Wax T-240KT Headlight Lens Restorer Kit

https://www.amazon.ca/Turtle-Wax-T-240KT-Headlight-Restorer/dp/B001TI5IIQ