Are you looking for different ways to restore your headlights to their previous former glory? Headlight restoration can be difficult if you do not know where to look or how to do it properly.
In this article, I am going to not only tell you how to correctly complete headlight restoration on your vehicle. But I will be showing you which headlight cleaner will make your job much easier! So let’s dig deeper into this matter and see how we can solve your problem.
Why are my headlights foggy?
If you look carefully at your headlights, you will see a lot of scratches. Each scratch is tiny and irrelevant, but when your headlight is covered in them, they decrease the quality of your headlights.
Headlights can also get foggy from the inside of the light as well. This is when moisture enters the headlamp with no place to go. With water sitting
in a plastic housing and the temperature starts to climb. The water can evaporate, causing moisture to be gathered on the plastic headlight housing.
This moisture will form a foggy effect that can also decrease the quality of your headlights working like they are supposed to. The moisture could have entered the headlight assembly through a crack as well. Make sure you inspect the headlight before cleaning, so you know where to concentrate your efforts.
Do I need to replace my headlights when they become foggy?
Replacing your headlights can become quite expensive over time. The best way to handle foggy headlights is to inspect the light then clean the headlamp with a restoring compound.
No, I am not talking about a headlight restore kit. These kits are expensive, and I have had no luck with them. There is another option you can use that will restore your headlights to their former beauty.
How can I defog my headlights permanently?
This option is the one I am speaking about, and it works amazingly! This option will clear up your headlights permanently and if you want to watch me complete the process in a video, make sure you check out my Youtube channel for more DIY auto repair and flipping cars for money videos.
You will need a few things to complete this process. You will need a polisher; I use a 6″ palm polisher to keep the area small and manageable. Next, you will need Meguairs 105 cutting compound, 205 ultra compound, plastix, and ultimate quick wax, two fleece polishing bonnets and three orange foam cutting pads.
All of these products I found on Amazon at great prices and found that Amazon was over $12 cheaper than local auto stores! These materials will not only work for your vehicle but any vehicle.
With the headlight restoration kits, there is barely enough product to finish your car, much less have an unused product for others. So make sure you share this process with your friends and family so they can have clean and bright headlights as well.
First, you want to park your vehicle in a spot that is out of direct sunlight. Then you want to wash your car, so all debris is free from the car. After you dry off your vehicle, you will need to use masking tape to tape off each headlight.
If you have the black exterior pieces, make sure you tape those off. Next, you will start with the Meguiars 105; this is going to take care of all of those scratches and give you that first cut. Make sure you so not sit anywhere for too long. The headlight is still made out of plastic and can be worn too thin if you stay in one spot for too long.
Make sure you have a microfiber cloth or one of the fleece bonnets on 
standby so you can wipe off the old 105 coat before starting the next. After doing one layer with the 105, you should see the headlight beginning to clean up. If you feel you need to do one more pass, then do so and get all of those spots you think need more attention.
Next, you will want to get a new foam pad and fleece bonnet for the 205, each product should have it’s own bonnet and pad to use. Do not try to cut corners and save a buck; this will hinder the final product. Make sure you cover the entire headlight to get those fine cuts that the 105 missed.
With the 205 product, you should only have to do one layer. After applying this layer, make sure you wipe it off with a microfiber towel or a fleece bonnet on your polisher.
If you feel that your light needs just a little bit more to be amazing. Adding that extra detail is when you will use PlastiX, this product will be that final touch on your headlights. You will apply this the same way as the other products.
Make sure only to do one coat of this product. Lastly, you will be sealing all of your hard work with the ultimate quick wax. The quickwax will seal the headlight just like a clearcoat would. The ultimate quickwax is a spray bottle. So you want to clean the last product off with the microfiber towel or fleece bonnet whichever you were using.
Then apply the ultimate quick wax making sure that after you spray it on you wipe it entirely off. This process will give your headlights a fantastic shine and great clarity as well!
How can I prevent my headlights from fogging up again?
Depending on how long you keep the vehicle for, your headlights will fog up again one day. Depending on the mileage that you drive your car, will decide how many scratches get on your lights.
Remember that the fogginess of your headlights came from scratches from road debris and bugs. So this kind of stuff happens, but now you know how to give your headlights that amazing clear clarity that your vehicle had when it was brand new.
What is the best headlight restoration kit to purchase?
I have tried multiple headlight restoration kids but found this to be that fast process to give me the end product that I am looking for. There are great companies that make headlight restoration kits by there is not a lot of product in the package itself.
If you wanted to try a headlight restoration kit, I would choose to go with the Meguairs kit. Their product has always been a pillar in the automotive industry. But if you are looking for a product and a simple process that will give you that fantastic end product you are looking for.
I would highly suggest you stay with the product and the process that I described and informed in this article. By doing that you will have a fantastic quality every single time!
Thank you for reading my article! I hope you found it beneficial and enjoyable to read. Come check out my YouTube channel for more DIY auto repair and flipping cars for profit videos. Thank you again!
