Headlight restoration the right or at least the Obtuse way

There was a headlight restoration thread here recently I didn't see at the time so I thought I would start one to pontificate. I have followed the issue for years on car and detailer forums and I have built what I think is a foolproof method to quickly and easily get a near-flawless headlight lens without a ton of work and it is also basically permanent. The lack of a lasting fix is what turns a lot of people off. If you "watch to the end of the video" I will tell you the secret ingredient to produce a lasting result and you can use it from new and never have to worry about restoring headlight lens at least based on the internet and my personal experience. I use it from day one on a new car now and it costs me about 15 mins and 9 bucks a car per year to maintain. I do it along with paint correction and ceramic coat in the first couple of weeks of ownership.

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In the other thread I saw two things that stuck out.

First, just buy a replacement set, the Chinese ones are cheap. They are cheap but this method is cheaper and just as quick as replacement and you still maintain the OE quality reflector inside, or maybe you trust China to get it right for cheap. The other issue with replacement is sealed LED units are starting to get to the age they need restoration and the OE versions are usually over a grand each!

Second, was we need to go back to glass. We could but car designers would be really limited in the shapes they could use, today the sketch pad is limited only by imagination and the price point of the car. Plus polycarbonates are actually more optically clear.

At this point I have done, if my count is right, 28 sets for myself and family/friends and everyone of them still looks great, the oldest is 7-8 years in on a 20 yo car. My payment is a good meal and my requirement is they buy the EXACT products I tell them to. The problem with every kit I have seen is they either start too fine or finish too coarse and none of the decent ones have the secret sauce. My process requires 4 different items and I will give Amazon links (no affiliate links because I am pure of heart on my OT DIY channel!) but everything is available from multiple sources.


I am going to go through the steps now and will discuss the products to buy when their step comes up. Don't skip steps!

The stuff you will need that you probably have and don't buy specifically for the job

1. a drill or 3" polisher I prefer a 12v drill because they are light and easy to handle

2. some clean microfiber clothes which I assume in 2024 everyone has

3. a small water bucket

4. some 50/50 mix of water and 70% isopropyl alcohol if you have 90% handly just add more water to make it 35% you can use it in a sprayer or just in a bottle, I prefer it in a bottle

5. some paper towels


Step 1

If you are older than 35 or just don't like to work the crap out of your back put the front end of the car on ramps. For most people and most vehicles, it produces a much more ergonomic work area, I am 57 and can do it either way but prefer it on ramps, the extra 5 minutes is a non-issue for the benefit. It also keeps you more comfortable which means you are likely not to short a step.

Step 2

Mask off the headlights. If your headlights run along the hood in places raise the hood it means less work and less tape. I tend to do one headlight at a time because it allows me to stand back and see the fruits of my labor when I finish the first one and keeps me from constant repetition of the steps. Don't use one of those 10 rolls of blue tape you have in your garage buy tape formulated to be used on car paint. If you rip off some clearcoat don't come back bitching at me. My preference for easy to source quality tape is the yellow 3M car refinishing tape. Amazon

When you mask off use at least 2 layers and at least 3 layers around places where there are sharp corners in the lens. You will hit the tape at some point, make sure you don't end up in the paint!


Step 3

The kit you will need to buy Amazon

This is the most complete inexpensive kit I have found and it has quality 3M abrasives. I only use 3M, Klingspor, or Miraka abrasives for any job. If you get cheap Chinese abrasives a handful of oversized grit on a pad can ruin the scratch pattern and make it impossible to do a correct progression.

For this step you need to use the drill pad adaptor and one of the 500 grit discs.

Some people will say to wet sand, don't. It has its place on thin high quality paint but here it just slows you down and makes it harder to gauge if you have a uniform scratch pattern. Use the drill at full speed for all the steps and keep light pressure on the disc. In a perfect world you want the foam interface pad to be about 50% compressed. This job is rather fool proof so just don't ham fist it, let the tool do the work. I like to take two slow full lens passes horizontally overlapping intermixed with two slow overlapping full lens vertical passes. Before I take stock in my progress.

The 500 grit step is often the one people short. After the above, I wipe off the lens with water and a microfiber cloth to see where I am at. You want to make sure all the yellowing is gone and any deep scratches are barely visible, if they really catch your finger nail repeat at least one pass each direction checking after until you have those scratches and stone bruises almost perfectly leveled out.

When you are finished with the 500, remove the pad holder and pad from the from the drill and use it to manually go over the lens in a large swirling manner to even out the scratch pattern. You can use a small manual sanding pad holder but make sure it has a foam interface pad, a lot of the cheap ones do not.

Then wipe off with water and microfiber to remove the dust and any broken/stray grit. What you are looking for at this stage is a lens that is translucent and basically even white across the whole lens. You don't want any scratches left. When you get here you are ready for the next step. I tend to use one 500 disc per lens but if you feel like the cutting is slowing down put a fresh one on. Note that water or sweat on the lens will tend to foul the disc with gooey poly dust so keep it dry, these are not wet sanding discs!

This takes a lot less time to do than to read.