There's a high probability that while driving your car you don't think too much about the health of your headlights, as long as they turn on im ok, right?. No all the time. There are several reasons your headlights performance can start to degrade over they years and one of the biggest headlight killers is something called oxidisation.
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Okay so let's break this down before I start to confused myself. Oxidisation is a process whereby headlight lenses become cloudy through a slow chemical reaction over many years. This process creates an uneven layer over the headlight lense which can stop up to 50% of the light coming through the lense. It can also fragment the light coming from the bulb so the beams of light coming from your headlights aren't straight. Not a problem you want on your car, for sure.
Fortunately we can solve this problem in several different ways. Three of the most common ways to clear your headlight lenses of oxidisation are glass cleaning solution, A headlight repair kit and my personal favourite, toothpaste. Below I shall explain the process used with each of these products to help clear those headlights.
Firstly, Glass cleaning solution
Step 1: Firstly apply the glass cleaning solution to the headlights and try to simply clean them.
Step 2: After cleaning the lenses with glass solution, dry the headlights and apply a car polish or plastic polish making sure not to get polish on any rubberised parts of the headlights and not to apply in sunlight.
Step 3: Either polish by hand or use a buffer. This will help seal the headlight from future damage.
Secondly, A Headlight Repair Kit
Step 1: Purchase a headlight repair kit. There are many different products available but as long as it contains Sandpaper, tape and lens polish you are good to go.
Step 2: Mask around the lens. Use the tape to create an area where the lens cleaner will only touch the headlight lens and not the paint on your car. The lens cleaning solution can ruin your paint.
Step 3: A general rule of thumb is that the worse your headlights look the grittier the sandpaper should be for example 500 grit, if the headlight doesn't look that bad but still needs a clean start with 2500 grit sandpaper. Before using the sandpaper you must wet it with soapy water. Get a cloth and soak it in the lens cleaner, once wet apply the lens cleaner to the headlight.
Step 4: Removing the oxidisation. Start using the sanding paper in a side to side motion to start removing the oxidisation. Every once in a while soak the sandpaper in the soapy water. The key to an even clean is to make sure the headlight is constantly wet. Continue the sanding process moving up through the grits one by one. 500 grit, 1200 grit, 2000 grit and finally 2500 grit. Apply plastic polish after the 2500 grit sanding, letting it stand for 5-10 minutes then wipe everything off.
Step 5: Apply Protectant wax once the lens is clear. This seals the lens and protects it from future damage. Apply the wax in one clean motion working your way down the lens.
Step 6: Finally remove all the masking tape and BOOM! You've completely replenished your headlights to tackle another moon lit sand dune!
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Lastly, Toothpaste
Step 1: Apply toothpaste to a sponge and rub the entire headlight vigorously, for a couple of minutes.
Step 2: Wipe off all the toothpaste. Apply professional car wax wait till the wax dries and wash it off. Voila! Your headlights are clean again.
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