This was long overdue

A few years ago, my headlights started to discolor. Slowly but surely, until they ended up almost completely yellowed and hazed over as you can see above. More than once I had the lads at the car wash do what they could with chemicals, but it was only a temporary fix. Time for the tools!

About a [long time ago] I picked up a kit that 3M makes for fixing this. Cost was $20 at Harbor Freight. It contained multiple levels of sanding pads, including a wet sand disc, and some 3M polishing compound. The kit also included the green masking tape you see above.

The process was pretty simple. Attach the roughest pad to a disc attached to a drill and sand all of the discoloration off. Then, stepping down in roughness between steps, polishing it until it’s clear. The entire process was pretty simple and only took about an hour. I’m more than pleased with these results.

I doubt any of you have headlights as faded as mine, but perhaps you have a friend or relative. Trust me when I tell you the only way to get the lights clear is to actually sand material from the lenses. Chemicals alone might give you a temporary fix, but to keep them clear, you’ll need the big guns.

I’ll report back after a month or so to see how they are holding up!

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4 Comments

    1. The lenses are plastic. Sanding removed the discolored plastic. There was quite a bit of dust, as expected with the removal of so much plastic.

  1. DB, have you tried Plastix? I know of a few that have had good success with that, and a pad on a Porter Cable.

    1. I haven’t, but as I have already used the 3M system with great results, I don’t see the need. I found the thing that works and will probably stick with it. That’s how I roll.

      Thanks for stopping by Jim!

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