How to fix Headlight Haze

[Mighty_Mouse_Ep]

I made this thread back in 09 and it was lost during the crash so i thought i would repost it
Dont know if this is in the right section so mods please move if needed.
ALSO I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGED HEADLIGHTS THIS IS JUST A GUIDE.

Tools needed
1. microfiber cloths
2. Meguiars Plastic-x
3. Bucket with a little car wash.
4. 800 grit 1500 grit and 2000 grit sand paper. You can go up to 3000 grit if wanted.
5. Buffer (optional)
6. Blue painters tape.


Here is a before pics of the headlights before i started. The car is my gf's 2001 VW Jetta 1.8T



Before you get started go ahead and put about a table spoon of car wash into the bucket with a gallon of water. Take sheets of sand paper and put then in the bucket and allow them to soak for about 5-10min.
While the sand paper is soaking. start off by masking around the headlights to prevent any paint from being scratched.
Should look like this when finished.

After you have the lights masked off take some soapy water and clean off the headlight. Once clean take your lowest grit sand paper in my case it was 800 grit then start sanding in one direction either up and down or left to right. DO NOT SAND IN A CIRCULAR MOTION. After the 800 grit paper the light should look really hazy and scuffed up.
800 grit

After you are finished with the 800 grit do the same thing with the 1500 but go in a different direction. If you went left to right go up and down.
1500 grit

Once your finished with the 1500 do the same thing with the 2000 and again go in a different direction.
2000 grit

Once you are done sanding take a buffer and apply some Meguiars Plastic-x to the headlight. If you do not have a buffer you can do this step by hand it will take longer but you will get similar results. I only buffed each headlight for about 5min you can get better results by buffing them longer but yeah of course i got lazy. If your using a buffer do not apply to much pressure and dont stay in one area to long because to much heat will cause the headlight to warp.
Once your done buffing take some wax and put a coat on to protect the headlights from hazing up later on.
Here are pics after using the Plastic-x the buffer and wax.

Before


After





If anyone has any questions please feel free to ask.

[PREJDMLUDE]

Good write up. One thing to keep in mind is haze may come back faster on some headlights than others. Hondas for some reason have a coating on them that we remove by sanding IDK what it is, maybe a clear coat of some sort. My toyotas headlights didn't have it and those barely started to haze after 2 years. just from my experience.

[fobman]

holy shit

[15000rpms]

I "think" that after these process, to prevent the haze from coming back, you should seal it with some kind of film.

[Mighty_Mouse_Ep]

I thought about spraying the lights with clear coat but I don't know how the clear coat will hold up with the heat from the lights. I did these lights back in October of 08 and they didn't start to rehaze until May of 09 I then just used the plastic x and a buffer and they came out looking just as good as before

[PREJDMLUDE]

Yeah thought the same myself. They have high temp clear coat. I was thinking on sanding it with 1000 grit, clean headlight with wax and grease remover then mask off rest of headlight off the car. Wax and grease remove again and spray and adhesion promoter and then shot the clear. Bake it in the spray both for time that is needed allow to dry to touch then take out allow a day to dry and sand with 2000grit and polish to shine the clear coat. Thought of that three years. Instead I opted to swap out headlights for type r HIDs.

[Andieldiablo]

when sanding do u have to keep the headlight wet? or do u just make sure the surface is clean before sanding?

[Mighty_Mouse_Ep]

when sanding do u have to keep the headlight wet? or do u just make sure the surface is clean before sanding?

When sanding yes you should keep the headlight wet i have seen some people take a spray bottle with car wash solution and spray the headlight during the wet sanding process. I just took the sand paper and got it really wet and made sure it was keeping the headlight wet when i was sanding.

[hkrayingboyz]

Better off taking the headlight off or leave it on the car? Which one you prefer and which way is easier?

[hkrayingboyz]

when sanding do u have to keep the headlight wet? or do u just make sure the surface is clean before sanding?

Wet sanding is meant give you better finishing when you are done and less chance of you damage or have deep scratch to your headlight.

[night si]

I use this same method and it works great. I use soapy water to provide more of a glide for the sandpaper so as to avoid any dry spots as the water dries while sanding.

[getfreshcrue]

My car doesnt have like headlamp haze it has like droplets of water inside of it like due! i have to dry it in the inside and reseal it right? how do i remove the headlamp and open that part? or what do i do?

[Twisted-X]

Did this today on my '96 Accord daily and it turned out better than I thought it would. The driver's side turned out super-clear, while the passenger's side had some issues with the clear coming off. Apparently 800 grit isn't enough to remove the clear that was on there, so I just used it to "smooth" the transition between the two until I couldn't see it from 10 feet away. The next problem I ran into is that 2000 grit sand paper isn't high enough to really smooth the bare plastic without the clear coat on it. Even after the PlastX its still a little hazy, but for 210k miles, I'm happy.

[mitchlikesbikes]

Did this today on my '96 Accord daily and it turned out better than I thought it would. The driver's side turned out super-clear, while the passenger's side had some issues with the clear coming off. Apparently 800 grit isn't enough to remove the clear that was on there, so I just used it to "smooth" the transition between the two until I couldn't see it from 10 feet away. The next problem I ran into is that 2000 grit sand paper isn't high enough to really smooth the bare plastic without the clear coat on it. Even after the PlastX its still a little hazy, but for 210k miles, I'm happy.

that's weird, when i used the plast-x it took the 2000 grit marks right off. did you use a buffer or do it by hand?

[RJEP]

I wanna try this cuz my headlights are hazing...but scared I might fuck them up...lol..