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What's the best headlight haze remover??

Tank

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What say the masses. Headlights are looking a bit fogged. There's quiet a few different types. Anyone use one that's hands down restores to new look?

Thanks.
 

Javajoe

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Buy new ones. At least look at how much aftermarket ones are. Most of the time trying to get the haze off is miserable and does not really make them look like new. If it’s a slight haze, well maybe. Let YouTube be your friend.
 

ChiliPepperGarage

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Headlight replacement! 🤣

I've tried several different methods over the years and they always fade back pretty quickly.


My truck headlights were getting pretty bad so I sanded them with multiple grit sandpaper until 3000. Then painted them with several coats of clear. Worked pretty good for a couple years but now the clear is coming off. I'll probably just replace them.
 

McKay

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What say the masses. Headlights are looking a bit fogged. There's quiet a few different types. Anyone use one that's hands down restores to new look?

Thanks.

I have wet sanded them before polishing if they are terrible. I like Novus plastic polish for that stuff. Works good on boat canopies/windscreens too. I use a black or white foam pad for fine polish.
 

SoCalDave

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Mine are starting to show their age as well but at $500 each I'll pay someone to give it a try.
 

JUSTWANNARACE

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High speed foam wheel with Comet, then finish polish with wax of choice. I've had best luck with that on really bad ones.

I've always had good luck with 0000 steel wool and toothpaste. Then an orbital buffer with a sponge pad and light compound. Then finish off with a wool pad and 3M Glaze(polish)
 

CLdrinker

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And swirl remover or light rubbing compound.
 

LargeOrangeFont

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Buy new ones. At least look at how much aftermarket ones are. Most of the time trying to get the haze off is miserable and does not really make them look like new. If it’s a slight haze, well maybe. Let YouTube be your friend.

This. Buy new ones. Otherwise Maguiars Ultimate Compound works well, and you don’t need any of the above theatrics. UC on a microfiber, wax on wax off.. done.

But you’ll be doing it every couple months.
 

SBMech

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Soak a rag in brake clean. Wipe quickly in rapid strokes across the face sideways or vertical your choice, but stay consistent. It only takes a pass or two to remove the top layer of ruined plastic. If you flinch and the rag sticks or you flub it, start over.

Soak another rag in WD40, wipe down plastic. Reapply monthly. Makes them fairly clear. Not as good as micro polish and sand for an hour....

But it takes literally 2 minutes to do both.

I charge to perform the Maguiar's kit polish, but like others have said, it might last a year if you are lucky....I usually only see them last for 6-8 months.
 

Dan Lorenze

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The lights on my Tahoe were looking pretty shabby.. I bought a set on eBay pretty cheap, plus they come with new bulbs.
 

Bigbore500r

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@Tank
Just get new, once they get foggy and have to be stripped and polished, they don't last long before they re-fog.
These are what I put on my last cat-eye chevy, you saw them. I was happy with the quality and they stayed moisture-tight, which is the challenge with non-oem replacement light housings.

 

Willie B

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Soak a rag in brake clean. Wipe quickly in rapid strokes across the face sideways or vertical your choice, but stay consistent. It only takes a pass or two to remove the top layer of ruined plastic. If you flinch and the rag sticks or you flub it, start over.

Soak another rag in WD40, wipe down plastic. Reapply monthly. Makes them fairly clear. Not as good as micro polish and sand for an hour....

But it takes literally 2 minutes to do both..

…I’ve done this several times to my Expedition…gotta be on your game because otherwise you easily can stick the rag to the lens…

… I got tired of doing this over the years…so now I just drive with my brights on at night…lol😳
 

Racey

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Once you polish them there is no anti scratch coating on them. So they will fog back up quickly, just buy new ones.
 

traquer

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Wet sand, than clear coat (get the 2 compound spray can). Then wet sand and polish. $50.

Or get new ones, but only get OEM since anything else has pretty shitty light distribution and will haze up in a year or two. $500+
 

sonicss31

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I’m usually a skeptic on removing haze but this shit works. About $15 from Amazon. These taillights are on my 2002 Lightning. For got to take a “before” pic.
EB2AA376-7FB6-48CB-8801-E639758CAF53.jpeg
AE6CC3C0-E945-43C6-857B-EE9289EB2BA5.jpeg
 

badgas

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Wet sand and clear coat ! This method worked best for me.


I had tried the mothers kit and other types of polish and did not look as clear nor did it last.
 

traquer

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Wet sand and clear coat ! This method worked best for me.


I had tried the mothers kit and other types of polish and did not look as clear nor did it last.
Yep. Everything else is a shortcut. I guess it's ok if you want to sell the car but even then I would do it the proper way. Plus it's fun to paint shit and pretend you're a painter
 

USMC2010

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I swear by chemicalguys.com for any vehicle cleaning or protection. When it came to my headlights Amazon won. I'll be cleaning up my oem cases and reselling on ebay soon.
 

PlanB

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The guy that did the clear bra on our Harley’s also does car headlights. He says it cures the fogging issue. Might be something to look into.
 

petie6464

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Yep. Everything else is a shortcut. I guess it's ok if you want to sell the car but even then I would do it the proper way. Plus it's fun to paint shit and pretend you're a painter

This was my way of doing then for years. I did a set on a 4th Gen Ram and the clear reacted with the lense 😒 I was able to repair them but it took the better part of the day, they turned into "alligator hide" working from 220 to 3000 gritt to repair. Now I use that $15 3M kit, it works amazing.
 

77charger

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I’ve done some wet sanding with 1500 then grab some mild rubbing compound and a buffer. Did good for me.
 

Tank

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@Tank
Just get new, once they get foggy and have to be stripped and polished, they don't last long before they re-fog.
These are what I put on my last cat-eye chevy, you saw them. I was happy with the quality and they stayed moisture-tight, which is the challenge with non-oem replacement light housings.

Yeah, I just haven't had a lot of luck buying the aftermarket headlights. They seem to go to shit just as fast as if you clean the OEM parts.

But maybe I'll try it.

What were the bulbs you got. Those were nice too.
 

LargeOrangeFont

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This was my way of doing then for years. I did a set on a 4th Gen Ram and the clear reacted with the lense 😒 I was able to repair them but it took the better part of the day, they turned into "alligator hide" working from 220 to 3000 gritt to repair. Now I use that $15 3M kit, it works amazing.

A $10 bottle of Ultimate Compound works even better and you can use it on anything. I Even used it to get scratches off the finish of my furniture a couple times.
 

LargeOrangeFont

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Yeah, I just haven't had a lot of luck buying the aftermarket headlights. They seem to go to shit just as fast as if you clean the OEM parts.

But maybe I'll try it.

What were the bulbs you got. Those were nice too.

Nearly all the aftermarket lights suck. The only kinda good ones are the higher quality OEM looking crash replacement ones, TYC, etc. the rest have crappy light patterns, don’t adjust, get hazed in 6 months, etc.
 

Desert Whaler

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I'm going to do the sand & clear coat to mine this weekend . . . I've heard the key is to use a 2-part '2K' Clear spray paint . . . . it has an 'activator' in the can you have to pierce to realese it and then you shake the can. Only down-side is is that once you've used it, you've only got about 10 days before it goes bad. But I've been told it's the best.

This is the stuff.
 
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nowski

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I can't say it's the best but for $8 bucks it works pretty damn good...

Meguiars.jpg
 

PaPaG

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What say the masses. Headlights are looking a bit fogged. There's quiet a few different types. Anyone use one that's hands down restores to new look?

Thanks.
By far the easiest and quickest I have used is Mothers Mag Polisher, I did not believe how easily it cleaned the worst of worst fog...
 

Tank

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By far the easiest and quickest I have used is Mothers Mag Polisher, I did not believe how easily it cleaned the worst of worst fog...
From what I've seen metal polish (like what you're saying) works really, really well. I have laying around the garage. Figure I'd give it a shot this week see how it works for now.
 

mjc

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I have a kit my son got me for repairing F16 canopy's. It is an Air Force thing but works really good on simple thing like headlights.
 

traquer

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I have a kit my son got me for repairing F16 canopy's. It is an Air Force thing but works really good on simple thing like headlights.
Nice! Well that's the coolest solution in this whole thread haha
 

Bigbore500r

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Yeah, I just haven't had a lot of luck buying the aftermarket headlights. They seem to go to shit just as fast as if you clean the OEM parts.

But maybe I'll try it.

What were the bulbs you got. Those were nice too.
There's a guy in the valley that stocks all the stuff. Probably the same crap you get on Amazon but its "verified good stuff" lol
 

nowski

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Here's a couple pics I took of a neighbors beater Honda using Meguiar's PlastX. In just 2 minutes time I went from haze to no haze...


-1.jpg
-1.1.jpg
 

was thatguy

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What say the masses. Headlights are looking a bit fogged. There's quiet a few different types. Anyone use one that's hands down restores to new look?

Thanks.
Every time I’ve polished them I’ve ended up just getting new lenses eventually.
That and that alone is the “best” way.
 

Desert Whaler

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Has anyone here actually wet-sanded them from 400 grit to 2000 and sprayed a legit 2K Clear?
That's the jam I'm going with . . . we'll see, . . . might be bogus . . . but i've researched this till my eyes crossed.
 

02HoWaRd26

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Do not do not do not use bug spray. It just causes a chemical reaction and melts the plastic. Sure it looks bitchen in seconds but in minutes (weeks really) it looks worse than before and leaves the plastic soft! There’s actually an entire video series on why not to use bug spray on YouTube.
 
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