hey guys what product do you recommend to restore headlights. my 96 crown vic are bad. can barely tell when the lights are on. thanx in advance.

 

Linky

 

great,as soon as the rain stops here in mass ill pick some up.

 

How bad is bad? I ask because it may be a monster of a task to accomplish if they're way-far gone...

For example... here are the headlights on a Mustang LX that I detailed a couple of weeks ago...





That's not road film. That's straight oxidation and breakdown of the plastic...

Here's what they looked like before they left me...





The end result didn't come easy.

I tried Plast X by hand with a foam applicator and managed to get nearly no where. After that short stint with tinkering with it, I pulled out my rotary and smacked on a wool pad (highest cutting power) and went to town. The headlights alone took about 2 hours... that's with a machine that's much more powerful than a PC.

I guess what I'm saying is that this may or may not be a simplistic task depending on how they look right now... Odds are that the PlastX can solve the problem but, it may take some serious oompah either from your arm or from a machine...

-RP-

 

they are not quite as bad as that mustang . ill put some elbow grease into it. each assembly on ebay was 25$. ill try this first.

 

There was an article on Wikihow that I followed on my friend's 2001 Mustang. I guess the article is not up anymore.

Basically, you got some 1500 grit wet and dry sand paper and sanded the headlights for bit (having thouroughly wet the headlights first, of course.)

When that was done, you rinsed it off, and "dryed" it using rubbing compound and some terry cloths. Do that for a couple minutes.

As a finishing touch, you polished it with some wax. I used some Nanowax. They turned out cleaerer than what they were, but not as clear as RockPick's example.

Before doing that^ procedure, we had tried hand applying some Pastic X, but but that only produced so-so results.

 

I would just spend the 50 bucks and get new ones... That would be the easiest and most cost effective way to do...

The plastX is what $10, sand paper $5, polish $10...thats one headlight right there not counting all your time and frustration...JMHO tho..

 

Bleh, when I looked online, I saw 90 dollars at autoanything for one headlight.

Guess I should have check Ebay.

The materials last for more than one headlight. Still have lots of rubbing compound and plastic X But yes, I guess the best results would come from new headlights

 

I should note, I sanded those headlights as well... that wasn't straight Scratch X.

I would concur with replacing them rather than trying to nurse them back to health...

 

Folks, I found out a remedy for this just last week. My mom's Mercury Grand Marquis had the clouded plastic headlight lens'. A friend of mine told me to put toothpaste on a rag and scrub the lens'. Danged if it didn't do a great job. It didn't take it all but I would say 85 to 90 percent of it and it was cheap. I just squeezed a small amount onto a micro fiber towel, scrubbed them and wiped off with another section of towel. Worked good for me.

 

gggarf......I've read about that being done before too. Actually it came about from a poster wanting to keep his car interior glass from fogging up. Yep, toothpaste. I use toothpaste on my bathroom mirrors now--works excellent.

 

I've had a lot of success with the Novus 3 step plastic cleaner system. There is a heavy scratch remover, a fine scratch remover, and a plastic polish. You can find it at www.bestplasticcleaner.com.

 

That's a VERY old trick.

I used to ride Mt. Bikes competitively... we'd use Crest Paste on our clear eyeglass lenses (typically Oakley) to keep them from fogging up on us.

It *does* work...

As for clearing up headlight lenses, I suppose that certain brands of toothpaste (non-gel versions), may have enough abrasive action to remove some of the fog.

Personally, I'm not sure I'd want something that abrasive on my teeth... I mean, it takes a pretty decent 'cut' by automotive standards to work through plastic oxidation... I don't think I'd want that cutting through the enamel on my teefeers.

 

From this thread I was encouraged to try to clean my Daughter's '04 Honda light lens that were really bad. The bit about using toothpaste with a grit encouraged me to try rubbing compound. A hand job did not do it. I had to whip out my Porter Cable and lay on a good layer of Turttlewax rubbing compound and go over the lens many times. It worked good. With us affectionados I noticed the slight swirls left over, so I layed on a layer of TurttleWax. TutttleWax has a slight grit to it. This smoothed out the very slight swirls. Of course I wrenched the lens after each application with plain water. Worked out well.

For those thinking I use TurttleWax for my own pickup, be at ease. I use Mother's Carnuba Cleaner Wax.

 

Me either.

I've never ever had headlight plastic fog or otherwise. So I dunno. This is all virgin territory for me. I've used plastic polish by hand, but I really couldn't tell much of a difference in the plastic VS. using a Syn sealant, on good plastic. Guess it needs to be cruddy first.