Clean Headlights

7/30/2019 Clean Headlights

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Toothpaste Method

Use regular white toothpaste for your headlights. Whitening toothpastes or those with mint haveextra compounds that could actually damage your headlights.

Apply toothpaste with a dry soft cloth. Rub in circular motions through small areas until the grimecomes off.

Steps


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Rinse with water and wipe with a wet cloth

Apply some polish for an even shinier look.


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Aluminum Polishing Compound Method

Recognize that the problem is caused because the outside cover is oxidized. This means theoutside surface needs to be polished in order to be clear again.

Wash the outside of the lights with soap and water as you would when washing the rest ofyour car. Dry. This step will remove the grime and dirt before you start polishing.

Apply an aluminum polishing compound with a dry soft cloth. Put a little compound on it andwork it on in small circular motions. Let it dry to a haze. Buff the haze off by wiping with a clean towel


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or cloth.

Repeat the polish and buff steps until clear again. It may need 3 coats or more.

Lasting Clean Method

Purchase one piece of 400 grit, 1200 grit and 1500 grit wet sandpaper .


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Clean the plastic headlight lenses at least twice with rubbing alcohol and clean paper towels.

Using a water spray bottle, wet sand the headlights thoroughly with 400 grit sandpaper. If thefactory coating begins to come off, you will notice a hazy "line" begin to appear and change shape asit is sanded off. It is generally best to sand the coating completely off.

Proceed to sand out 400 grit sand scratches using 1200 and then 1500 grit sandpaper . On

headlights with an interior texture where you cannot necessarily see the bulb, you can usually stop at1200 grit paper. The headlights will look hazy, but even and not yellow.)

Clean once more with paper towels.

Have a local auto body shop mask and spray the headlights with a plastic adhesion promotersuch as Bulldog, then spray with 2-3 coats of chemically hardened automotive clear coat. Thisshould cost between $20-50, depending on the shop.

The main benefits of this method is that it last years and not months as with buffing.

Rain-X And Wax Method

Buy a kit that has sandpaper pads, lubricant, cleaning polish/compound, and sealant (such asRain-X).

You can also buy the products separately. If you do this, the sand paper you're looking for is"Wet/dry" sandpaper in 800, 1000 and 2000 grit.


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Tape off all paint surrounding the headlight. You do not want any polish or scratches on the paint.

Spray the lubricant onto the headlight and the sandpaper. Be sure to start with the lowest grit.


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Firmly clean the headlight with the lowest grit until you can see the yellow film coming off theheadlight. Your headlight will look scratchy and cloudy after this step until you finish with the highestgrit.

Repeat the previous step, but use the next grit of sandpaper. Your headlights should start to lookless cloudy.


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Repeat one last time with the highest grit . Be sure to cover all scratches and your headlightsshould look decent at this point.

Apply the cleaner (such as Rain-X Xtreme Clean) to a rag and rub it onto the headlights. Allowit to dry and then buff it off.

Apply the plastic polish to a clean rag. Rub it onto the headlight as you did with the cleaner. Allowit to dry and then rub it off.


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Spray the sealant on a clean rag. Apply it evenly across the whole headlight. Let it sit for a fewminutes and then wipe off all excess liquid.

Your headlights should look brand new!


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Clean Headlights

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