How to Clean Fogged Headlights

Car Headlights

Foggy headlights don't give as much light as they were intended to, which can be quite dangerous. The headlights are coated with a clear coat of paint, and this paint can turn yellow over time, causing the fogginess. In addition to not being safe, this is also very unattractive. You won't be able to wipe the fog away, and will have to take the time to clean the headlights and get them back to their original condition.

Difficulty:

Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• 600-grit sandpaper
• 1,000-grit sandpaper
• 1,200-grit sandpaper
• Bucket
• PlastX
• Flannel cloth
• Microfiber cloth

1. Wet your headlights with water and begin sanding them down in a clockwise motion with a 600-grit piece of sandpaper. Make sure you do a thorough job. It should take at least 10 minutes for each headlight. Have a bucket of water handy so that you can keep your sandpaper wet--never use dry sandpaper.

2. Rinse off your headlights and begin sanding counterclockwise with a 1,000-grit piece of sandpaper. Continuously moving to a finer grade of sandpaper will get rid of any scratches produced by the previous grade of sandpaper. Again, sand each headlight for about 10 minutes and make sure the sandpaper is wet.

3. Finish grading with a 1,200-grit piece of sandpaper after you have rinsed off the headlights from using the 1,000-grit sandpaper. Use a clockwise motion and dip the sandpaper in the bucket of water from time to time to keep it wet.

4. Rinse the headlights off. They won't look very good yet. Allow them to air-dry or use a microfiber cloth.

5. Place a teaspoon of PlastX on a flannel cloth and rub on to the headlight by moving your hand in a circle and applying a little pressure. Do one small area at a time. Then apply more PlastX to your cloth and work on the next section (see Resources).

6. Give your headlights a final buff with a microfiber cloth. They will now look as good as new and the yellow fog will be gone.

Tips & Warnings

• You can always replace the headlights, but this would be much more expensive.

• Wear gloves while sanding your headlights to avoid injuring your hands.

References

• Fixing Foggy Headlights

Resources

• PlastX