Misted up headlights

[Pip 12]

Just taken a Corolla in p/x and the headlights were the worst I’d seen, nearly yellow in fact and advisory on MOT. Tell me if anyone has tried this, I’m sure you have , and in a few days I will be back to square one. Well ten minutes elbow grease and a bottle of metallic t cut and these lights are shining like new. Always heard about the kits you can get for 30 quid and so on but at the moment they look new. Will they last ?

[Catalyst Auto 6]

have done this in the past and it lasted a few days before returning to a misted look.  Now depending on the extent, I either get the Autoglym kit and do them or if really bad send them to my smart repair guy.

I found the Autoglym kit to be really simple to use and usually lasts through the next few MOTS .

[MarkTVS 209]

https://www.bigredpowertools.co.uk/milwaukee-m12bps-201x
 

We use this! Excellent bit of kit for polishing scratches / buffing headlights etc!

[New year revolutions...... 197]

only way is to rub them down with 1200 them 2000 then buff with an electric wheel and compound

for long term you could then mask up and lacquer the lenses

[Pip 12]

Thought so, as they say if it seems too good to be true it often is.

[BHM 994]

As always it depends on your stock profile. 10 minutes with the G3 & the MOP does a good enough job on my stock - it brings them back to about 85-90%.

I’ve seen a colleague MOP them, then manually rub down with fine (1200 grit I think) sandpaper, then rebuff again with the MOP & half an hour later they looked like new. 

To be honest, even if you don’t possess a polisher then some G3 on a rag & 15 minutes of elbow grease will improve them which is good enough on an old banger like a corolla.

[Halfpenny 114]

As a quick fix a wipe over with DoT3 brake fluid on a cloth will remove the yellow (yes, really!) and then a polish will bring them up good enough.

For a proper job start with 300 grit paper, work up to 2000 grit. Then few coats of lacquer to finish and protect against UV (ideally 2K, but 1K works too).  That should last a couple of years.

[Frank Cannon 812]

It's the plastic lense anti UV covering that yellows, so you need to remove that aged layer, wet n dry, G3, handful of gravel etc. 

....the worst for going yellow were those MK1 Mondeos, they looked like my piss first thing Saturday morning after a heavy Friday night. 

......talking of which, I can't remember the last time I saw a MK1 or MK1 facelift Mondeo, all bangered and made into baked bean cans now. 

[BHM 994]

39 minutes ago, Frank Cannon said:

......talking of which, I can't remember the last time I saw a MK1 or MK1 facelift Mondeo, all bangered and made into baked bean cans now. 

Oddly enough I saw one last week - but it was the first one I’ve seen in years.

There’s also someone local who uses a 30yr old Maestro. It’s just a scruffy user, what a strange choice for a daily driver. 

[Frank Cannon 812]

Oddly enough, on my way to collect parts, had an X plate white Mondeo (last of) with collapsed rear springs in front of me....typical 

Looked soooooo small compared to todays D segment cars

[craigpughcars 13]

On 6/14/2020 at 12:23 PM, New year revolutions...... said:

only way is to rub them down with 1200 them 2000 then buff with an electric wheel and compound

for long term you could then mask up and lacquer the lenses

Like stated above , they do need coating for longer term protection , I've used Concept Vista on them before , Autosmart do one similar or those expensive lil bottles of Si02 

[DavidP_TT 2]

You can get a headlight restoration kit and it has everything you need to solve the problem. In the past, I used 3M and Meguiar's, satisfied by both, and one of the jobs I did was pretty tough, the headlights had a thick yellow film on them.

https://popular.reviews/headlight-restoration-kits/ 

https://www.wikihow.com/Clean-Headlights