How to Clean Oxidized Plastic Headlights
Oxidation of the plastic lens of car headlights reduces the distance the headlights light up the road. Replacement of these headlights can be very expensive, but repair is easy and inexpensive using materials you already have in your house.
Other People Are Reading
Instructions
-
-
1
Wet a small cloth, such as a face cloth and wring out until it is just damp. Fold it to a square about 4 inches across.
-
2
Squeeze a ribbon of toothpaste onto the folded cloth.
-
-
3
Rub the toothpaste on the surface of the headlight. If the headlight is badly yellowed you may need to rub for several minutes, rinsing the cloth and applying more toothpaste as needed.
-
4
Rinse the toothpaste from the headlight surface.
-
1
Tips & Warnings
Be patient. Cleaning the yellowing from a headlight can take a lot of rubbing. The headlight shown in this article was badly yellowed, but cleaned up in about 15 minutes.
Resources
- Photo Credit Photos by KKLowell
More Like This
Comments
-
I used A&H toothpast with baking soda & peroxida. no more yellow. about 15-20 min.
-
It did not work even a little on my lights.
-
Plus you didn't have to deal with all those nasty chemicals. Good job!
-
You just never know what every day products around the house can do.The headlights on my car were yellowish but thank to my toothpast they are brightagain. Its just amazing.
-
Alienpriest
Mar 13, 2010
Tooth enamel is much harder than plastic Tooth paste is excellent for cleaning glass but it will leave a haze of microscopic scratches on plastic. It is always best to avoid abrasive creams or paste when cleaning a transparent or translucent lens used for light projection.
