jfelbab

Meguiar's makes these two kits.



Both work well, but the first kit does not require any sanding of the lens and is intended for recovering from mild UV damage.

Headlight Restoration Kit

Heavy Duty Headlight Restoration Kit

The Headlight Restoration Kit uses a fairly gentle polish (PlastX) and will not remove much of he UV inhibitors in the lens. Yet if the lens is showing damage it has lost much of the UV inhibitors already. I'd recommend coating the lens with Opticoat 2.0 after polishing which will provide UV protection that is permanent. If you already own a PC just buy the PlastX. This process is best done by machine but if the headlights are not too bad you can attempt a correction by hand.

The Heavy Duty Headlight Restoration Kit comes with the sanding material for dealing with badly damaged lenses. It uses the same PlastX polish for removing the sanding haze. If sanding is needed then the UV coating is mandatory, IMO, or you will be doing it again after a few months of exposure to the sun. Fortunately, this kit comes with a protectant.

You could also use Ultimate Quik Wax or Ultimate Wax liquid, (which are actually sealants) on your lenses to provide the UV protection but this is not a permanent solution so you need to reapply regularly.

The paint around the edges of the headlights is typically very thin so be sure to tape off well so you don't burn through or otherwise damage the paint.

TCKeyz

Thanks that helped a lot! I think Ill go pick up a kit today. Is it worth the extra money to buy the meguiars heavy duty headligt restoration kit over the other just for the protectant/sealer? Or would normal sealants / waxes do the job? As I can just pick up sand papers for cheap.

jfelbab

Most sealants will protect the lens for a few weeks so you will need to keep up that protection. Wax and some paste sealants use solvents in the product that can harm plastic lenses over time so I'd only use a liquid sealant if you go that route.

Cheap sandpapers are really a bad idea for finishing clear lenses. The problem is the size of the abrasives is not very uniform on cheap papers. This means you have deeper sanding marks and must remove more material to finish the job. If you think you might need to sand the lenses, I'd suggest you get the HD kit. Meguiars sanding material is widely recognized as one of the best. Also don't attempt to sand without a proper sanding block. You can't effectively smooth a lens with your fingers.

TCKeyz

Just got the HD kit and restored a pair of headlights on a 1998 Sienna. Turned out great. Sealed it with the sealant that came with it and topped it with Meguiars NXT 2.0. I will keep the rest of proper headlight sealant for my GS and just re-wax the headlights on the Sienna every few weeks thanks for all the help!

BTW, for anyone looking to use PlastX with the drill attachment buffer, I found that for the best results, you need to move very slowly through the headlight. If you do it at normal speed with many passes, the PlastX paste will dry out before you finish the job and takes a lot longer to get to the desired result.