Oxidized / Cloudy headlight fix! "This ol' car" edition.

[Racer88]

My old car's (205,000 miles!) headlights had a serious case of "cataracts!"

I decided to give the Cerakote headlight restoration product a go. For $18 and a bit of "elbow grease," it was worth a try vs several hundred dollars on new headlights. It appears to work, at least cosmetically! We'll see if I can tell a difference in the quality of illumination at night.

I'm shootin' for 300,000 miles on this car! The only $$ I've spent on this car has been for oil changes, tires, and brakes. NOTHING else (knocking on wood).

Amazon product ASIN B084RQKLV8
View: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B084RQKLV8

 

[Michele]

This ‘ol Truck
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Real headlights don’t oxidize

We tried that on the 05 car…works well but has to be redone eventually

 

[Racer88]

Real headlights don’t oxidize

Nothing oxidizes in southern California!

 

[svt-bansheeman]

I finally after 2-3 years of waiting did my retro fits. I wet sanded with 1500-2500 then buffed with a polish compound.

 

[Racer88]

I finally after 2-3 years of waiting did my retro fits. I wet sanded with 1500-2500 then buffed with a polish compound.

Much better!

 

[svt-bansheeman]

Not if but when the housings get cloudy again, just buff them. Flitz or mother's on a slow buffer works fine, or by hand.

I hear clear coating keeps the gloss look but the one I tried must of expired because it went on and dried cloudy. After taking even longer to redo it, I chose not to try some new clear.

 

[USApat]

I did this a couple of weeks ago on three vehicles. A wet sanding party that took most of the day. Some of mine were yellow too and quite pitted.

I am going to probably clear coat mine. I have never painted headlights, but I've painted a decent amount of other stuff. It's my understanding you want to use a clear designed and formulated for headlights (plastic). I can't tell you which one might work from experience, but I'm probably gonna try the Spray Max version. They make a small 4 oz can specifically for headlights. (At least I recall the can is about 4 oz.)

 

[USApat]

This ‘ol Truck
​

Real headlights don’t oxidize
View attachment 9837

We tried that on the 05 car…works well but has to be redone eventually

Shit, I wish they made cars with these lights still. Five bucks and no issues. Buy the old school European glass bulbs and install H4 bulbs and you had bright white lights. No thousand dollar bullshit headlights that fade yellow and have crappy LED china bulbs that break and wear out. My friend mows through bulbs on her Mazda. LEDs suck. The light is blue (home bulbs) and fuck with your eyesight and can screw it up.

 

[no4mk1t]

I'll be interested to see how the Cerakote product holds up.
I polished the hazy lights on the wife's car and brought them back. Now one of them is starting to get hazy again.

 

[Michele]

When my lights are all bunked up I just wash with soap and water, rise and they come out crystal clear.
Of course they don’t make lights like on my 66 Chevy any more.

 

[bkbrno]

I did the Cerakote kit on my 2006 VW a couple of months ago. We'll see. 2 years ago, my brother buffed them out through 2000 grit and compound. That lasted about a year of looking good but by 18 months they were cloudy again.