slcsubaru.com

Headlight Cleaning DIY

-Before-

Passenger side-



Drivers side-



-After-



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-Items Needed-

400 Grit Sand Paper
800 Grit Sand Paper
1000 Grit Sand Paper
2000 Grit Sand Paper
Windex (or other window cleaner)
Turtle Wax Rubbing Compound
Blue Magic Headlight Lense Restorer
Water in a spray bottle or just a cup.
Buffing Wheel and Drill (I just used a Rag and a little bit of elbow grease)
Beverage of Choice and good tunes

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-Step 1-

Initial cleaning. Spray your headlights with a bit of windex and wipe them down to get off all the basic dirt and stuff.

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-Step 2-

Sanding. Start with the 400 Grit Sand Paper, get it wet and start sanding! If you get spots that *stick* then wet the sandpaper again and continue. Make sure you go over the whole thing a few times. I sanded from end to end and then in a whirl motion, but it is entirely up to you what you want to do. Wipe the headlight with a dry towel *I used a blue paper towel* after sanding it with each grit of sand paper. Now progressively use smaller grit doing the same thing. Some cloudiness will be present during the sanding process, but dont worry, that will be gone at the end. After sanding clean again with a bit of windex.





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-Step 3-

Buffing out sand marks. Get your rubbing compound and put a goodly amount on either a rag or a buffing wheel. Put a nice layer of Compound on the headlight. Then just buff it, or wipe in circles for a few minutes until it looks as though its just tinted a brownish/orange color. Then take a moist cloth and wipe it all off. *I used a blue paper towl.











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-Step 4-

Headlight Lens Restoration. Get your blue magic and a towl. *Once again I used a blue paper towl. Shake the bottle well! Then apply a bit to the towl. It will come out kinda fast and a bit runny. Apply to the headlight in a buffing motion. Apply it well over the whole headlight. It will almost disappear. After Blue magic has been applied. Clean the headlight with windex again.





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-Step 5-

Repeat with opposite headlight

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-Step 6-

Install headlights back onto car and enjoy your choice beverage as you look at your nice clean *non-yellowed* headlights!!



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Just as a comparison -







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If you don't want to do this but you want your headlights cleaned, hit me up and we can work something out.

that is a good write up....love how you showed what type of product you used....+1

good write up. no details left out.

Thanks Guys

i tried just using that headlight restore stuff and it did a pretty good job alone. im sure if i spent more time on them doing sanding and all, they would look brand spanking new. good writeup!

Yeah that headlight cleaner is a miracle worker!
I like the new look.

Thanks

do mine now

I just did my fogs today.
I would do yours but I need to get a polishing compound to add to the list. It will make them look better. I was using the Blue Magic as one. But I wouldn't mind getting a better one.

well I went on lunch from work and bought some good stuff.

I could do yours. I could try cleaning it with the Blue Magic and this new stuff I got.

I have turtle wax polishing compound

I have a spray on stuff, that cleans the yellowing and also adds a wax covering. Its basicly a waterless car wash and wax. Its expecially good for rims, if you have tons of brake dust. It cleans the break dust off, and also adds a coating that the brake dust wont stick to. Lasts for about 4-8 weeks if I remember correctly.

i just used something called liquid glass on mine and they are clear as glass now...ha. they were pretty damn yellow too. all this just seems really excessive.

Yeah I guess so, but these had some really nasty road rash on them. *as you can see in the pictures.

I use blue magic and then some maguier's stuff. Then I use window cleaner after that, and some spray on detailer stuff for just de-yellowing

Awesome write up. Looks pretty good, and I'll have to give this a go once I reseal my driver's side headlight. One question I have, "Blue Magic Headlight Lense Restorer," where did you find this locally?

Will this same process work for scraping that has occurred on the headlights when using an ice scrapper on them to get the ice off during the winter time? Mine have this issue and I wonder if this will work.

Blue magic was an autozone buy.

It should work, you might need to sand it slightly more, but it should work.