My corolla has a hazy front headlight that affects my night driving. I was wanting to restore it to clear. Has anyone had luck with the headlight restorer kits or should I look for a new light? Thanks.
I know there's a product I can't remember what it's called. My dad uses it for his Sienna all the time and on my moms 4Runner on the headlights and it works like a charm. Two of my friends have used the non-mint toothpaste/polish method and it works pretty awesomely I must say. If there's no defects with the light, I would just clean it instead of look for a new one.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by PhatRoyale
Check out the 3M headlight restoration kit. It's gotten good reviews.
That's what my dad uses on his and my mothers vehicle. Works great!
I know there's a product I can't remember what it's called. My dad uses it for his Sienna all the time and on my moms 4Runner on the headlights and it works like a charm. Two of my friends have used the non-mint toothpaste/polish method and it works pretty awesomely I must say. If there's no defects with the light, I would just clean it instead of look for a new one.
edit:
That's what my dad uses on his and my mothers vehicle. Works great!
On my camry, my results were only little improvement, and that improvement did not last. I'm looking to buy from ebay or amazon.
Check out the 3M headlight restoration kit. It's gotten good reviews.
i used this on my girls camry when she was out of town.
when she got back, she asked if i replaced the lights. they looked like glass when i was done. well worth the time, and money.
Most of the kits can and will make your plastic look better since you removed the oxidized layer, BUT... there is nothing to keep it from happening again. There are some kits that are supposed to have a good coating with it. Use the search engine to help you find them. I need to post an update to the thread I started about the Sylvania kit. Dont bother. Their coating doesnt last very long.
-SP
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I have had pretty good luck with mirror glaze. I'm an aircraft mechanic and we use it on cockpit windows for crazing. In time the crazing will come back, but it's very easy to apply.
This is the problem I had my with Turtlewax kit. After about 6 month some light haze had returned. On the other hand, on a different type of lens on a Suzuki I had no issues at all with it returning (Though the results were not as drastic as on the Toyota). I think it could be affected by how many scratches and pits your lights have too; mine were pretty beat up from years of salty roads and ice, which may have been why the haze returned to some extent.
Try polishing with some toothpaste (has mild abrasives), you'll get pretty good results just doing that. Don't ask me which brand!
Of course it will come back with time...
Do not use toothpaste, that is so ridiculous. I detail cars part-time and I've been doing headlights for 2 years now. I've seen so many gimmicks it's ridiculous. Does it work? Sort of, but people exaggerate what it really does and won't ever follow up and tell you it lasted a week. Mighty Car Mods (find them on youtube) did a big thing on all the odd things people suggested, and in the end they still went with the kit. However, I don't even like that method.
You need to treat it like paint. Sand, buff, polish and re-coat. The coating on the lights break down because of pollution, heat, UV rays, etc. You must protect it or it will just go bad again. The thing with those kits is they aren't suppose to keep it from going bad again. Sylvania does have a kit with a coating, but I haven't seen many people use it so I don't really know. I wouldn't trust most bad reviews either as I've seen plenty of people completely fail at following the directions properly when using these kits. It's not hard, but everyone thinks they know more than the people that do it for a living.
I've been keeping many lights looking fresh with just wax/paint sealant. I did order some new UV coating that is expensive and an even more expensive UV light to cure it. It's the best you can do. It'll also prevent me from having to always wax/seal the lights every so often. I do it like once a month when I wash the car and I use spray wax. Not great stuff, but convenient.
Buying new lights off eBay will only delay the problem as they coat lights with cheaper methods than many OEM quality manufacturers do; and you have to remove the old ones, install new ones and now you got crap laying around. If you want to buy new lamps, I suggest looking for a headlight restorer first. There are so many people doing it full-time now it's ridiculous. Find someone that does the UV coating and backs it up with a guarantee. Once I test it on my 3 cars, I'll be offering it to my customers. I watched a lot of these products come out and a few years later people are finally posting up long term positive results. I can now charge double .
But, if you still want to use toothpaste, I think avocado works better :\.
Okay, I will followup. A few pennies worth of toothpaste cleared up the haze from my headlights significantly. It has been 3 months now.
Quote:
Originally Posted by badquenga
Do not use toothpaste, that is so ridiculous. I detail cars part-time and I've been doing headlights for 2 years now. I've seen so many gimmicks it's ridiculous. Does it work? Sort of, but people exaggerate what it really does and won't ever follow up and tell you it lasted a week. Mighty Car Mods (find them on youtube) did a big thing on all the odd things people suggested, and in the end they still went with the kit. However, I don't even like that method.
You need to treat it like paint. Sand, buff, polish and re-coat. The coating on the lights break down because of pollution, heat, UV rays, etc. You must protect it or it will just go bad again. The thing with those kits is they aren't suppose to keep it from going bad again. Sylvania does have a kit with a coating, but I haven't seen many people use it so I don't really know. I wouldn't trust most bad reviews either as I've seen plenty of people completely fail at following the directions properly when using these kits. It's not hard, but everyone thinks they know more than the people that do it for a living.
I've been keeping many lights looking fresh with just wax/paint sealant. I did order some new UV coating that is expensive and an even more expensive UV light to cure it. It's the best you can do. It'll also prevent me from having to always wax/seal the lights every so often. I do it like once a month when I wash the car and I use spray wax. Not great stuff, but convenient.
Buying new lights off eBay will only delay the problem as they coat lights with cheaper methods than many OEM quality manufacturers do; and you have to remove the old ones, install new ones and now you got crap laying around. If you want to buy new lamps, I suggest looking for a headlight restorer first. There are so many people doing it full-time now it's ridiculous. Find someone that does the UV coating and backs it up with a guarantee. Once I test it on my 3 cars, I'll be offering it to my customers. I watched a lot of these products come out and a few years later people are finally posting up long term positive results. I can now charge double .
But, if you still want to use toothpaste, I think avocado works better :\.
I've heard marine spar varnish cut 50% with mineral spirits or paint thinner works to seal well also, but have not personally tried.
It doesn't last and tends to yellow. I've also seen many flaking issues. I'm no painter, but from what I understand it's not a true clear that would be sprayed on your cars/headlights to begin with. And "true clears" are not cheap. I've seen that it works, but you'd have to do it again every year.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Woz2000
Okay, I will followup. A few pennies worth of toothpaste cleared up the haze from my headlights significantly. It has been 3 months now.
Yeah, like I said it works but it's an over exaggeration. All you did was lightly clean/polish the light. It's like when your brake rotors rust while washing your car and the next time you brake, it's all gone. And the next time you get them wet, it's back. It's just surface oxidation, it's not hard to remove. However, you did nothing to prevent it from happening again and if you used an avocado it would have came out better. You can get the same, but much better effect using OTC scratch repair polishes like Meguiars Scratch X.
If you're going to fix something - fix it right the first time. But, I am a picky detailer and I wouldn't half-a** it. Just my $.02.
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1993 Toyota Corolla
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