How to Save Money Restoring Your Headlights

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By Stevie Stevenson
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Save Money Restoring Your Headlights

Restoring your car or truck headlights and tail lights. Many car owners would throw away the yellowing, brown hazing head light covers and spend over $100.00 buying a new set.

Overtime your headlight covers get a yellowish or brown build up that eliminates or reduces your ability to see while driving at night. In many states this unsightly and hazardous driving can earn you a hefty ticket. Today there is a simply solution to cleaning the head light lenses.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

sand paper
polish
elbow greese
or a drill

Step 1

First wash the outside head lens of your vehicles headlight. There is no need to remove the cover. You can simply do this project leaving them in place.
Step 2

Using either your hands ( which could be very difficult for many people and tiresome for the rest of us.) Or use a low to medium powered sander or an attachment that you can attached sandpaper to on your ordinary drill.
Step 3

Start by using a P 800 grit sand paper. None of the steps will scratch nor harm your lens if you follow these directions.
Make at least 10-12 passes over your entire lens cover.( Headlight Cover)You will see white build up. Thats what you want to see. If you rub your hand over the surface of the cover the white residue rubs off.
Step 4

Next white that white residue away. It feels a lot like powder.
Next use a P500 grit sand paper and pass over the entire lenses a gain around 10-12 times. this will turn that white residue into a finer material. Wipe the lens with a dry clothe.
Step 5

Now you will begin to really remove the discoloration with this next step. Take a P3000 sandpaper and dampen it and the headlight lens cover. You want to keep the lens moist or wet with this step. This is how you will completely remove any remaining stains and white residue. Keeping it moist or wet will reduce any chance of scratching the lens itself
Step 6

After 10-12 passes over the entire lens it will start to look clear. With some dried water spots . That's ok we will remove them in the next step below.
Step 7

Using a soft sponge or a car wax sponge. All you need is maybe a dime size amount o regular car way dabbed onto the sponge.
Smear the wax around the lens before actually turning on the drill or sander. This will reduce splatter. You can do this last step by hand like you would when waxing your car by hand.
Step 8

Continue to wax the headlight lens cover passing over an dover the lens until the wax is completely gone. As you are applying the wax it is actually drying than being removed. Now your headlights will look clear and new.
Step 9

You can use a terrycloth or other fine clothe to hand buff your headlight lens cover. This gives it that added clear look.
Step 10

Turn on your headlights and you will be amazed at how well you can actually see now.

Comments

hazeleyes946 said

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on 11/10/2009 That was a really good article and I learned a lot.

mardev said

on 6/2/2009 Interesting! We have headlights that could use this clean up technique to restore them - Thanks! RRCR'd and also tweeted at http://twitter.com/cyberthoughts 5*s