O/T Faded Vehicle Headlight Lenses

I priced reconditioned headlights for our Dodge Caravan and they wanted $137.00 each. The ones in our van were so faded over you couldn't see thru them. So I found this buffing kit at our local tractor supply store for $14.95 plus tax it was the only one on the shelf so I nabbed it up. Knowing it wouldn't be there if I came back. I used it on the headlight lenses and now we can see the bulb thru the lense. We drove the van tonight in the dark and what a difference it has made. I was told that the salvage yards are using pedestal mounted polishing wheels to clean up used head lights and taillight assemblies. It sure works. This kit is a Fourney Brand, kit #72111. It came with 3 polishing wheels and 3 polishing compounds. I highly recommend it.

I went to My parts store to buy that kit And the man behind the counter that I went to high school with said I can sell you that kit or sell you some real fine sand paper and steel wool, Will take a little longer to do but will be a whole lot cheaper. Don"t remember what grit it was But felt about like plane paper, Took Me about 1 hr to do two headlights.

I got one of those kits for my granddaughter's Grand Am and it does work. It did a respectable job. The driver's side lense was a little more pitted so I got brave and wet sanded it with 2000 grit sandpaper and then buffed it with the big buffer and a fine buffing compound. It did polish up but I don't know if the sanding and buffing made it any better than the passenger side that was done with the kit and drill wheel. One thing I found out about using the big buffer is those plastic lenses melt very easily. The drill mounted buffer is a safer bet. Takes a little longer but you won't melt plastic with it. Jim

I used 1000 grit wet/dry sandpaper with soap water 8 weeks ago and that didn't help. But this kit made a huge difference. It took me 20 minutes total for both lights. We can actually see the light beams pointing out now from the van.

Yes years ago at work we used a big angle buffer on a chip on a windshield. We pushed real hard and the glass got hot but it took out the small exterior chip that was in the windshield. I was convinced..

I feel Your Pain ,, YA wanna do Mine ?? ,here is my rant !,, What in the world was Wrong with REAL lites that cars had for 90 years ???? ,,, if they ever burned out a guy could go to junkyard and get all you wanted for 5 bux or napa and pay ten for one ,, a simple phillips screwdriver and you can put them in with a flashlite in the parking lot in 3 minutes and be good to go,,,, and you didnt blind nobody and you could see fine/ as oppossed to those modern bull $$$hit blue lites that blind you to the point that you run in the ditch to get away from them when you encounter them on a winding road ,,, ANOTHER THING ,, everyone biches that no one rarely dims their lites anymore ,, IMHO if the DIMMER SWITCH WERE ON THE FLOOR WHERE IT HAD BEEN FOR 80 YRS, your left ft would automaticlly tap the dimmer /AS OPPOSED to moving hands to find the turn signalswitch and yanking or pushin forward while steering thru a curve ,, the gals simply will not do that on a rain slik nite ,,... and now GM and rice mobile makers has got the brite idea to put touch screens on the dash ,, WTH!! that is no different then TEXTING ON A CELL PHONE ,, WHICH IS ILLEGGAL AS IT SHOULD BE,,..dam some of this countrys smart modern engineers are stupid and lack common sense ,, thats my rant .........

Yep better made cars with a lot of plastic. I prefer my 1980 Chev head lights

But, but the old lights were vertical and caused so much wind resistance, they weren't stylish, in fact they were butt ugly. You've gotta remember, style before function, that's what sells cars. We didn't have near the headlight problems when we had the old round or square lights, but they weren't aerodynamic and they didn't look cool. Jim

I used something like that on the speedo cluster lens of my old truck. Somebody had used some kind of abrasive on it, and it was barely readable. Cleaned it up real nice.

John B.,

Great to know. Thanks for posting! We finally got rid of the vehicle, but our old van headlights were badly clouded/discolored.

Food for thought in future vehicles. They ought to still make headlight lenses out of glass - for sure.

did my late FILs 2002 taurus with toothpaste and a wash cloth, went from near white to new looking in 20 minutes. total cost, less than $.25. chuck

On the same rant, what became of 13,14,15,16 inch tires?

bought a kit at local store, i think it should work, because one night while there was moisture on lenses, i rubbed on them with my glove, that where i saw they might come back to life...

Best thing they ever done was to get the dimmer switches off the floor and out of the crud and salt that was on the floor!!! As the switches and plugs went bad and mounting bolts broke off due to corssion on 3 pickups and 3 semi trucks I extended the wires and relocated the dimmer switchs up to the dash. NO MORE PROBLEMS!! HAVEN'T HAD TO REPLACS A DIMMER SWITCH OR PLUG SINCE!!! Armand

Maybe they should make headlight lenses out of glass, but I doubt that they will. My guess is that the decision to use plastic is a combination of weight savings and the demand for better aerodynamics to make the government"s mileage requirements. And I suspect that the automakers can make the lenses cheaper from plastic than glass.

I never found the round or rectangular glass headlights ugly, and it was nice to be able to go to almost any auto parts store, hardware store or often even grocery store and find a replacement headlight on the shelf for only a few dollars. I think that some "modern" headlights make vehicles look sinister or goofy looking.

But I had to replace the old glass headlights fairly often. They burned out and sometimes broke from flying rocks. The only times I have had to replace plastic headlight assemblies was from collision damage, usually with deer. I have yet to have a plastic lens headlight break from rocks. And I very seldom have had to replace the actual tiny bulbs they have used for the last 20 or so years. But when you do have to replace a bulb or headlight assembly, it costs a whole lot more than replacing an old sealed beam.

The lighting in most modern vehicles is way more effective than the lighting in the old sealed beam vehicles. I think the modern designs are probably great advances over the old standard sealed beam days.

Unfortunately some of the plastic lenses weather over time and get cloudy or yellowed. There are kits at most decent sized auto parts stores to polish out most of the weathering on headlight lenses. The kits cost around $20 and will make most plastic headlight lenses look a whole lot better with only an hour or two of fairly easy labor with an electric drill and the kit.

Were glass headlight lenses better? Maybe, in some ways, but probably not in a whole lot of other ways. Good luck, and polish on!

First, let me say thanks John B, for the tip. I had heard those kits work, but never really talked with someone who had used one.
Second, I am of the same sentiment as jhikempr and fixerupper, I never saw anything wrong with the "old fashioned" sealed beams. They produced sufficient light and if you were going so fast that you couldn't see far enough ahead, you were going too fast! What people don't realize is the fact that when one of these "styled" headlamps has to be replaced you're gonna pay through the nose! It probably doesn't cost that much more to make one of the new lights compared to the old sealed beam, but it's a specific application, therefore they can charge a lot more. When I was at a dealership a few years ago, one model Lincoln had a special high intensity headlamp that listed (if I remember correctly) for over $400. OK, I'm done now.

agreed. bill

When I wanted to do the lens covers, I found that there were 2 different basic kits available. One uses strong chemicals that require you to tape over any painted area as the chemicals will strip the paint. I didn't want to take a chance using that type and ruining the paint so went to the dry type.

The one I bought at Harbor Freight ($10 on sale) uses a sanding disc in a drill. I tried using my cordless drill but it wasn't fast enough to do much good. Changed to my electric drill and cranked up the RPM's and it did a really good job. A little buffing after the sanding and covers looked like new.

3M's 39008 headlight restoration kit WORKS. Well worth the 20 dollar price to bring back two very badly scratched and worn headlamps. The 3M kit uses sandpaper of different grades to get down to good plastic, then you buff it out with polishing compound.
3M 39008 headlight restoration kit

I also used toothpaste and a buffing wheel. Worked like a champ!

The only problem I"ve had with polishing is it doesn"t last. In less than 6 months they"re dull again. They have some kind of a hard coating that keeps them clear for a long time. Once removed, they dull quickly. Am thinking about trying clear coat after they"re clean.

I noticed the 3M restoration kit mentions applying wax after polishing. I usually wax the light lenses when I wax a vehicle, to make it easier to clean bugs off the headlights.

I usually work them over with a DA sander with 800 or 1000 grit paper, then buff them with a buffer, first with medium buffing compound, then with a finish compound.

Works great, and it's stuff I already have in the shop.

My left corner light was smashed. So
I replaced all the front lights on my 2000 Camry.
This site is the best for mirrors and lights.
Yes, China made, but so are the ones you get from dealers. Plastic items just aren"t made in USA anymore.
Pete
For less then 100 all new head and corner lights