willard00

iTrader: (1)

hey guys, just searched our how to's to find this out and i didnt see a how to. so after searching google heres what i found:

-head over to autozone and buy some Mother's Aluminum and Mag polish.
-get a rag, rub the polish into the headlights with a little elbow grease
-when it turns a little blackish, wipe it off with a clean rag
-headlight should look as good as new!

If really bad:
-wet sand with 1500-2000 grit sand paper then follow steps above spending about 20-30 mins per light. that should get em lookin nice!

other things that work well:
-blue magic plastic polish
-Meguiar's Scratch-X

just thought a bunch of you would find it useful! plus maybe itll get thrown in the how to's

credit given to: www.dsmtalk.com/forums members

99grnmaxgxe

iTrader: (11)

Haha I have that polish used for my engine, and cleaned my aunt's headlights with that, works great! The good thing is, it only cost $4 at Wal-Mart.

ethnic6

iTrader: (5)

ahh walmart, what won't they sell short of little thai boys and muscrats...

99grnmaxgxe

iTrader: (11)

LOL, at least they have the cheapest stuff in town!!! BTW I heard toothpaste works well at cleaning headlights also, just haven't tried it yet.

ethnic6

iTrader: (5)

toothpaste huh... how come those things have so many uses, I heard they can plug up holes in ur walls too...

99grnmaxgxe

iTrader: (11)

They also clear up pimples and fix scratched CDs.

nismo4life

my friend did that to my talon headlights, they had cancer, they look like i just ordered them from mitsu .

Dan_E_Hughes

would that be the traditonal paste or gel

99grnmaxgxe

iTrader: (11)

I don't really know, but I think the regular paste would work better than the get.

matrix11229

Get Meguiar's Plast-X. It's made especially for renewing headlights.

skweaky

iTrader: (3)

i did that today. i baught this kit from walmart that goes with a drill. its a liltle foam polish pad(no to be confused with a power ball). its flat hard foam and it worked quit nicely. took about 5 minutes tops.

willard00

iTrader: (1)

yea thats what i used. works nice, but its $5 rather than the $3 for the aluminum polish

ManualMaxima

iTrader: (10)

i have used this before and fawked some headlights up........

t65k3

iTrader: (3)

I bought some plastic restoration polish form Autozone, which included a pieces of different numbers of sand papers. Took me about an hour. The faded yellow headlights became clear again. Cost me about 14.99 plus tax.

the_3d_man

iTrader: (1)

I just went out and got some of that Mothers polish for 4 bucks and tried it out. I'm impressed. My headlights (left more than right) had turned yellow and cloudy over the last year. It made them clear again! I mean, it's not like brand new, but you wouldn't know unless you got really close.
If I'd known that it would work this well I would have taken a before pic.
Here is a pic from 8 months ago (you can see it was starting to get cloudy back then)

Here is one from 10 minutes ago

99grnmaxgxe

iTrader: (11)

Looks good, use some of that polish in your engine bay too!

t65k3

iTrader: (3)

Here comes a question. I got a light bulb exploded in the assembly. The whole thing was coated with powders, and quartz pieces. Is there any way to clean it without taking it all apart? It's nasty. I got it clean, but not as good as the original.

98SMG

I used Plexus on my plastic headlights and it worked great. Takes out that yellow tint.

zoutv

Okay....I did all recommended above, and it is a lot cleaner, but not quite 100%.

I bought the Mother's Aluminum and Mag polish and it never turned blackish on the lamp?? Am I supposed to let it sit for a few minutes?

Should I have bought the Mag's plastic polish?

Dubbya

iTrader: (16)

Mother's Powerball and Plastic Polish ftw! Very easy to use too.

the_3d_man

iTrader: (1)

If walmart had had plastic polish I would have gotten some, but they didn't so I used Mother's Mag and Aluminum. It never turned black. I just kept rubbing it on the light with a rag for about 10 minutes, then wiped it all off to reveal the cleared up lense.

jalanb

[QUOTE=t65k3]Here comes a question. I got a light bulb exploded in the assembly. The whole thing was coated with powders, and quartz pieces. Is there any way to clean it without taking it all apart? It's nasty. I got it clean, but not as good as the original.[/Q

Same thing here...how do you get the inside clean ???

Ceasars Chariot

iTrader: (16)

amazing ? its hard to believe it works so well. which product is working the best

the_3d_man

iTrader: (1)

The Mag and Aluminum polish worked pretty well at getting rid of the yellow cloud, but probably won't do anything for scratches. If you have it available I'd be willing to bet that the plastic polish gives better results. I wouldn't know which one to use though. Prolly alll good.

ik95

can u use Meguiar's Plast-X to restore fog lights????

the_3d_man

iTrader: (1)

If it's plastic and not glass.

matrix11229

I think you can, it's not gonna harm them (I used it on my taillights and corner lights too but they were ok before).
If it's not gonna help, you can return it to autozone and say you didn't use it

FX45

thanks for the tip

jalanb

anyone have good place I can read how to remove the headlamps and clean (not light) the whole assembly inside ??? I had a light blow and it is very dirty inside.
Thanks

tdbak

Good mantainance tip, just wax your headlights when you wax the car. It keeps them clear and fills the little pits and scratches.

If you wear glasses try putting pledge furniture wax on them, does the same thing.

GodFather

iTrader: (10)

That picture in your sig is blurry, you'd need to perform the same procedure to your camera, buff those yellow's out or something. LOL. J/K.

Good thread, though. My headlights' been old, but never got the yellow's yet.

GStrength

iTrader: (4)

how come the polish doesnt turn black are you supposed to let it sit for awhile

albo

thats a good. thx

kcryan

iTrader: (1)

Wal-Mart doesnt sell thai boys anymore???



On a side note, the toothpaste, only use it before your gonna move out, otherwise it will smell like mint forever (not good mint...)

maxedoutboi06

Ok, got a quick question since we are on the headlights, My headlight adjustment **** is broke (the one that moves the light up and down) and I need to get the light down, is there a way I can take it out and fix it myself?

the_3d_man

iTrader: (1)

the polish doesn't turn black cause you're not polishing metal. The polish would turn black as you wear off a very thin layer of metal normally.

euRo

iTrader: (6)

I sanded some foglights

All i used was sandpaper and things below. I started with 60 or 100 and worked my way up to the fine, 2000
.. never tried it on headlights but doing the foglights took me a lot of time. didnt use the

left sanded - right unsanded.


the stone chips are still visible... at close observation but still look better than on the right.

I also don't have glass polish so i used chrome/metal polish and then plastic like finish stuff - Black Magic

*not taking any responsibily if it doesnt work for you*

soflymaxi

rubbing compound or brasso (metal polish) also works well