Headlight lens cleaner/polish?

[Farmer17]

So I see these commercials on TV where people take this bottle of goop and put it on their old car headlights and quickly wipe it off and their old awful looking headlight looks crystal clear like a brand new car! Well, I bought a bottle from the auto parts store and after much scrubbing on my 10 year old truck cloudy headlights it had absolutely NO effect on the apperance. Later I was at an automotive body shop having the owner look at my hail damage and asked him about polishing headlights. He showed me a 20 year old chevy he was repairing and one headlight looked like curdled milk and the other headlight they polished and it looked like new. It was amazing how much better the old clunker looked with a brand new looking headlight. He said he would charge me 140 bucks to do both of the headlights on my 2004 Nissan Titan, and my thoughts are, could I do that myself? It looks like the haze is all on the inside so is it very difficult to remove a headlight lense and polish it from the inside? I have always taken good care of my vehicles and enjoy doing simple things to enhance them but I was wondering if this is easy to do or better left to the pros?

 

[Cpo1944]

Maybe you got an inferior/ defective product? Take it back to the store where you bought it and see if they have something that really works.

 

[Hillbilly77]

There was a $20 kit at Wal-Mart that worked like a charm.
You wet-sand the lights and then apply the coating.

I did my old 1994 Silverado a few years ago and it made a huge difference.

 

[Pacrat]

You can do it yourself, I did mine a few years ago, I don't remember if it was a Mothers or Meguiars product but it came with a buffer for a drill. It worked pretty well but my vehicle was a 96 so they were really bad and although they didn't look new it did make a huge difference. You just have to be a little careful not to let the buffer sit in one spot too long and start melting the plastic.

 

[bamabiker]

I used something called CV Headlight Restorer/Defogger on my daughter's CRV and it worked OK. The lights did look a lot better when I finished but not like new. It's just for the outside. I think I bought it at Wal-mart.
That was about a year and a half ago and they probably need it again.

 

[kozmic]

I clay bar over the light lenses when I'm doing the rest of the car. It may not restore them 100%, but it does a damn-fine job and it doesn't require another product or process. It's one of those "keep it simple" things!

 

[4011]

Look into the aftermarket replacement lite pods. Some of them are cheap. You replace complete unit and the plastic is clear. Saw a set for a 2001 Pontiac for under fifty bucks. Jus sayn

 

[WuzzFuzz]

Did you shake the can before using?

WuzzFuzz

 

[KOLPIN]

You can do it yourself, I did mine a few years ago, I don't remember if it was a Mothers or Meguiars product but it came with a buffer for a drill. It worked pretty well but my vehicle was a 96 so they were really bad and although they didn't look new it did make a huge difference. You just have to be a little careful not to let the buffer sit in one spot too long and start melting the plastic.

PLASTX. I have used this to clean a lot of my friends headlights. Great product.
http://www.meguiars.com/en/automotive/products/g12310-plastx-clear-plastic-cleaner-polish/

 

[Smith357]

All you need is a good rubbing compound and elbow grease. If the frosting is on the inside of the lens you will have to open the unit. if it is a sealed unit you either buy a new unit or take your chances breaking it open and resealing it with a good clear marine epoxy.

 

[Farmer17]

All you need is a good rubbing compound and elbow grease. If the frosting is on the inside of the lens you will have to open the unit. if it is a sealed unit you either buy a new unit or take your chances breaking it open and resealing it with a good clear marine epoxy.

I tried rubbing compound and all the frosting is on the inside of the headlight, so I will see if the lense is easily removeable.