Repairing Yellow, Faded, Scratched Headlights (Write-Up)

J

OCCUPY LoD :)
On Sunday, Barry came over and we had a "Car Day" at my place. He did an oil change and was going to polish his car up (which he didn't do, haha).

My list of things to do was: Converting to Aftermarket HID's (both low beams have been burnt out for over a year but the headlights were so bad that no one flashed me while I drove with high beams on). Polish Headlights. Change Oil and Rotors in Erin's car and also charge the A/C.


So....here we go.....get your supplies.

4300K HID "Ultra Slim" Kit from eBay.
2000 Grit WET Sand Paper
1500 Grit WET Sand Paper
Meguirs Headlight Polish
Electric Buffer
New Terry Cloth Pads
Bucket of water :)
76a255a1.jpg

89170897.jpg

6c74f73b.jpg

5bf4888f.jpg



Step #1: Remove Headlights. Pull off the plastic Beauty Covers over the headlight/header panel. Using a 10MM socket and extension, remove the 3 bolts holding on each headlight. Next remove the phillips screw holding the headlight onto the fender. Then slide the headlights out and unplug the light bulbs. I found it easier to unscrew the parking light bulbs rather then unplugging them.
43b098be.jpg

03bddad9.jpg

8662487a.jpg

14efba10.jpg



Step #2: Gently clamp one headlight into a Vise and wipe down with your favorite cleaning solution. I used Corona (and then water only). :)
6b694d5c.jpg

542efe5b.jpg

b7eede9d.jpg

9e71b2d8.jpg



Step #2.5: (Optional) I chose to remove the plastic moulding under the headlights. They both came off with a large screw driver to pry the very old and hard clips up. The moulding slides out. Made for easier buffing.
8cbadf9a.jpg



Step #3: Wet sand the headlight using the 1500 grit sand paper while continuously dipping the paper in water.
df686005.jpg



Step #4: Wipe the headlight clean with water and a rag. Using the electric buffer and Meguir's headlight polish, hit the headlight with a quick buff job.
55c94a2d.jpg

90718499.jpg



Step #5: Wet sand the headlight with the 2000 grit sand paper real good to smooth everything out. I had some serious yellowing so I did an extra batch of 1500 and then sanded with the 2000. Once you've sanded with the 2000 real good, then do a real good polish job on it. I didn't have any sealer, but some people choose to use a final sealer or even better, some 3M clear plastic covering (can purchase on eBay). My headlights could probably be sanded some more but it's my "beater" car.
7a584143.jpg

483ad70a.jpg

32ff5263.jpg



Step #6: Reinstall the headlights and adjust if necessary.
b7531aac.jpg

a1f27f48.jpg

bbfdd1e3.jpg

20bd0fe2.jpg

303190b7.jpg
 
Thanks for the helpful input on my write up. And YES, its my beater...you should see the outside.
 
i can see it lol, i see white paint all over the bumper. even a beater deserves some love jesse come on! great write up too i started doing these headlight things back when dinosaurs roamed the earth but never did a write up, its very helpful. now mow the lawn too.
 
Wirelessly posted (LOUD NOISES!: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8F190 Safari/6533.18.5)

This is true, I'd think giving it HID's and polishing the lights was enough though, it must be needy. :) Ya...the lawn...it's all weeds! ;)
 
Back
Top