How to Restore Cloudy Headlamps

Written by Tony

Wednesday, 06 August 2008

My Acura is now about or 6 or 7 year old now since it's a 2002 and some things are starting to wear. I'm trying to keep up on those things so that my car stays in nice shape. One thing I noticed happening this year was that the headlights were starting to look foggy or cloudy. You see this on a lot of cars. It happens because the headlamp covers are made of plastic instead of being glass like how it used to be on cars. You get wind and debris hitting them and the plastic just wears down.

You should get them restored and cleaned (it's actually on the outside of the lense although it looks like it's on the inside) so that your car looks better and so you get better visibility out of your headlights, making driving safer. I see some cloudy headlamps on cars and wonder how they can see the road at night. It can be pretty bad. You need clear headlights to drive safe.

There are a few ways to fix cloudy headlights. I even did it myself and I have pictures below showing before and after.

Go to a car wash that actually has people at it. I don't know what kind of car wash you call this but it's one that's not all automatic but has real people there. Two here in Madison care Octopus Car Wash and Mermaid Car Wash. They should offer this service. I don't know how much it is but I guess $50 per light or something like that.
Buy a kit. The one I bought over at Advance Auto Parts is by a company called Permatex (this link is to a video that shows how to use the kit). I think it was about $15 or $17. Not bad. Here's another kit that's about $16.
Do it totally yourself. You'll need what comes in that kit I mentioned but it might cost less. Here's how to do it on Wiki How: How to Clear Foggy Headlight Covers. You'll need sandpaper and car wax along with some water and some gloves.

It took me about 5 minutes per light with the less fine of the sandpaper. As I went to more fine, it took only 3 minutes per headlight. I kept dipping it in water. Once you're done with the sandpaper, they may still look a little dull but that's where the car wax or polishing liquid comes in. That reall shines it up and you may have to do it 3 times, like I had to.

But they came out really nice and look pretty new. The whole process only took about an hour. I figured that if I'd take it to Octopus, I'd have to wait around an hour anyway, so why not just do it myself? :-)

Here are the pictures:

Left side before: