Cloudy Headlight Restoration DIY
Cloudy Headlight Restoration DIY
Car headlights may become cloudy as the plastic lens oxidizes after five to six years. You can fix a cloudy headlight glass yourself with a few easy steps without replacing it entirely.
Why Do Car Headlights Get Foggy Overtime?
The polycarbonate plastic used to make automotive headlights can degrade when exposed to UV radiation. Because sunlight is a powerful source of UV rays, these headlight lenses require protection from them. Automakers apply UV ray protection films to headlamp lenses, although they typically fade off within 5–6 years.
When exposed to UV radiation after the protective covering has disappeared, polycarbonate headlights begin to oxidize, yellow, and degenerate. With the oxidized plastic, a fresh yellow film forms over the headlight lens. In addition to making your headlights appear foggy and yellow, this film also blocks the light bulb's ability to illuminate the road ahead.
Headlight Restoration Steps
Once you have the necessary equipment and supplies, headlight restoration is an easy task that takes 20 to 30 minutes to complete at home. Three primary steps are involved in restoration, which are
- Abrasion was used to remove the oxidized layer from the headlight.
- Polishing and compounding.
- Putting a protective layer on again.
At the very least, you need the following supplies to fix your headlight.
- Using a cleaning cloth and soapy water
- 600–3000 grit sandpaper and a foam pad
- Car Compound and Polish
- Protective coating for headlights Or a wrap for a movie
Step 1: Taking the oxidized layer off the headlight Lens
To begin the process, rinse your headlight with soapy water to remove dirt or grime, then wipe it down with a microfiber cloth. To remove the hazy yellow coating on your headlights, start with coarse sandpaper (600 grit) and wrap it around a foam pad while applying constant pressure. Using sandpaper and water sprays in between, begin wet sanding the headlamp surface.
Sanding will make your headlight lens much more foggy, but it is not something to be concerned about. The consistent haze that develops during sanding results from tiny scratches from the procedure that we will subsequently remove during compounding. Rinse the headlamp again and use a microfiber cloth to wipe it after completely covering it. Now, go through the entire sanding procedure again, using progressively finer sandpapers. Increase the grit level from 600 to 1500 to 3000 to prepare the headlight for compounding.
Only headlights with a noticeable hazy yellow film on top must be sanded. If your headlamp is in better shape with a little haze on the lens, you can skip sanding and go straight to the following step.
Step 2: Compounding and Polishing
After sanding, the lens's surface is covered in a thin, consistent haze coating. The next step is to buff out these tiny scratches. In this phase, you can use a drill, a wool pad, or a microfiber cloth to apply compound to the headlight lens. Apply enough compound to the fabric and repeatedly rub the headlight lens while maintaining constant pressure.
Start by applying horizontal, vertical, and circular strokes to the headlamp surface. With every pass, be sure to cover the entire headlamp. When using the compound with a drill, keep the wool pad constantly moving to prevent excessive heat buildup and burns in one area.
After rubbing them with the compound, your headlights should revert to their original state. To make them even more noticeable, you can polish them using a fresh microfiber cloth using the same process as the compound.
Once compounding and polishing are complete, use a microfiber towel to clean the headlight and rinse it with soapy water or glint.
Step 3: Reapplying a protective layer
Now that your headlights are clear and shining, you should take precautions to shield the lens's polycarbonate surface from UV ray damage. After all, avoiding damage is better than restoring it later. Numerous systems exist for this purpose, each with a trade-off between cost, retention time, and application convenience.
One of the best preventative measures is to put a headlight protection film on the lenses. A heat gun, a wrapping squeegee, and a spray bottle can apply these plastic films to the headlamp. The average lifespan of these films is five years. The best thing about using a protective film like this is that you can peel it off when it oxidizes rather than following the previous procedures to apply a fresh one. This technique prevents abrasion on each restoration from consuming the material on your headlight.
Another appropriate way to shield the headlights from UV radiation is to use a headlight coating from a reputable detailing company, such as Meguiar's. After properly cleaning your headlamp, apply two to three light applications of these protective coatings in a spray container. These protective coatings usually last for a year or two, but to prevent the headlights from oxidizing again, it's best to reapply them once a year.
Mechanics frequently apply clear paint coatings to headlights as a protective covering. Clear coats aren't supposed to be applied to headlights for a reason, even though they can shield the lens from oxidation and last for a year or two. Light can readily distort when a clear coat is applied to a headlight lens' surface because of refraction caused by the substantial difference in the refractive indices of polycarbonate and the clear coat.
You can restore the shine to your headlights by following the easy procedures shown above.
Some people need to change their automobile lights to increase brightness and headlight performance. They can do this by utilizing higher-wattage light bulbs or LED bulbs like Ledlightjeep.