JemmyTran

Here is a picture of it. I called lexus for the outer lens only but they said thay I would have to buy the whole headlight and the cost was $836 each.

Kansas

Oh my! How on earth did they get like that? You might check eBay for good used headlights.

I've refinished plastic headlight lenses numerous times with kits bought at auto parts stores and the lenses have always come out looking like brand new.

It really is a developed skill. I've done it so many times that I can restore a set of headlights to like new condition in about 10 minutes.

Frankg2

Looks like the results of a course sand w/o water. Regardless, I believe this could still be polished up. You just need to use a buffer with fine compound.

Also, there are numerous sealants with UV protection specific for headlamp lens. Regular car wax will not protect the plastic from fading and yellowing again.

Lavrishevo

iTrader: (1)

If you don't have the tools an auto body shop could possibly polish those out as well. Maybe. Rather, hopefully.

JemmyTran

I bought the 3m kit and it comes with everything needed. I used my electric drill to sand it with water.

BradTank

This thread finally inspired me to do something about my headlights. I bought the SYLVANIA Headlight Restoration Kit that has been highly rated by Popular Mechanics. It's around $15.

So far I'm really pleased with the job it did, below is a before and after.

It definitely scares the hell out of you when you do the job as it appears to make the headlights hazy until the final step.

The first step is a cleanser, it smells almost like an ammonia. Then it gives you some fine grades of sandpaper that you use to wet sand, 400, 1000, and 2000 grit. Then you use a rubbing compound type paste. After all of that, the headlight has a cloudy appearance, I thought for sure I had made it worse, but the final step is a sealer, it's almost a Urethane type gloss coating.

Definitely worthwhile to do this, and unless your headlights are cracked, I would think ANY headlight lens can be restored.

Lavrishevo

iTrader: (1)

Looks great. What I want to know is what they will look like 6 months from now. Seems to be a common problem. No longevity with all these kits.

http://www.amazon.com/Sylvania-38771...DateDescending

Edit: Another note, you can actually polish the lens with regular toothpaste and it will polish out the oxidation as well but there is no way to prevent it from returning. I would make sure to do a light polish and wax the headlights every other car wash to help prevent the oxidation from returning and having to do it all over again.

Edit 2:
Check out this video. Notice how they use a plastic primer before applying the clear.

BradTank

Having a link to Amazon that only shows the reviews with 1 stars is a bit biased view of the product, especially since with over 500 reviews, the average rating on Amazon is 4.5 out of 5 stars, so it's about 100 to 1 for positive vs negative reviews, so you're talking about a nearly 99% satisfaction rate.
http://www.amazon.com/Sylvania-38771...owViewpoints=1

Popular Mechanics rated it on of their "Editor's Choicef" for SEMA
http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars...on-kit#slide-8

And Consumer Reports said it was the best of the kits they tested:
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/h...ying-guide.htm

I look at a kit like this the same way I would look at car wax. When I put car wax on my car, I don't expect to never have to wash or wax the car ever again. If it lasts a year, I'm fine redoing it, just like I'm fine waxing my car once a year . I've tried plastic polishes like "Mequiars Plastx" and rubbing compound and it did absolutely nothing. Toothpaste is not going to cut it.

At the end of the day, because the headlights are a composite, they're going to get scratches and oxidation, especially when you've got 10 years and over 100k miles. The only way to fix it is either sanding it down with some form of abrasive and then resealing , or buying new headlights. I'm open to other solutions, but I really don't see any other way. Considering you can do this in about 20 minutes in your garage without removing the headlamps, it's about as good as a solution as you're going to find.

Lavrishevo

iTrader: (1)

Sorry, Brad I think you missed what I was trying to point out with all the kits are the same. A temporary solution. I'm sure the kit you got is great. The 3M kits I am sure is great too but none of them offer a more permanent fix. This is all I am getting at. I am starting to see oxidation on mine but I would personally rather have the headlights removed, sanded, primed and sprayed. The "re-sealing" that comes with these kits do not work longer then a few months. Plastic needs to be primed and then get multiple coats of clear to last for years not months.

BradTank

No worries, I just want to make sure that a few bad reviews aren't the final word on it, especially since the reviews from Amazon customers are overwhelmingly positive (nearly 100 to 1), you're always going to have a few disgruntled idiots that didn't read the instructions.

I think what got a bad rap are the polishes that just took off the top coating with an abrasive and didn't have a sealer step, those are the ones that quickly yellowed.

Any "solution" is going to be temporary, even if you resprayed it with a professional paint gun, it's still a coating that's going to be exposed to the elements (UV, dirt, sand, rocks, etc) and eventually wear off revealing the plastic underneath.

The kits out there that have a sealer are really not any different than the video, it just doesn't come out in a spray gun. But it's the same basic concept, you're taking off the top coating with abrasives and then sealing it.

The sealant is definitely not something that's just comes right off like a wax or Armor All, it's like a liquid plastic. I had a little bit of it on the bumper, and even before it had cured, it was very difficult to remove, not even rubbing compound would take it off, so you want to be careful with the masking.

I definitely don't think it's something that's only going to last a few months, my guess is I will get several years out of it, but we'll just have to see. In which case, you just do the same thing all over again and take of the old coating and reseal it.

I'd be curious to hear about the other kits, my first instinct was to get the 3M kit because just about everything they make is professional grade.

Tmarbury

I have used 3m and Meguiars products on my 06 and Sequioa; the 3m work ed best! Took less than 45 mimutes and I was done (following the directions). I also, cleaned my 1996 Honda Accord hadlights (worst ever) and I never had removed the headlights because of yellowing on the inside. That maybe related to a defected in the headlight.