Turtle Wax Polishing liquid on a foam applicator pad. It requires no hard pressure. just wipe it on the surface like you were polishing your paint. It immediately cleared up the plastic to a crystal clear finish.

 

Apparently you just had a little dust on your headlights.

Listen up people, I've been a professional detailer for 40 years and I'm going to tell you the one and only way to restore faded yellow headlights...

First you sand the headlight with 600 grit sandpaper, and you sand the living daylights out of it. You'll swear you're screwing them up beyond repair. Then you sand it with 1000 grit sandpaper, and again, you sand the living daylights out of it. Then you sand it with 2000 grit sandpaper, and of course, again you sand the living daylights out of it. And then the final step is to polish it with a high speed polisher with a wool pad and plastic polish.

That is the ONLY way to correctly recondition your faded blurry yellowing headlights. Listen good... there is not one single headlight restoration kit on the market that works, no not even one.

Another secret you need to know is... no matter what method you use, there is a 99% chance that you WILL make them look worse than they did before. This is one area where you need to seek the help of a professional, plain and simple.

When I train my helpers to restore headlights it takes an average of about 25 to 30 restorations before they even start to meet my standards. The #1 problem... they never sand them enough with the different stages of sandpaper. Common sense tells them they're destroying the headlights so they're reluctant to sand them the required amount. Sometimes in detailing a vehicle, you have to kill something, in order to bring it back to life!

In any case, Turtle Wax, should only be used for waxing turtles, you damned sure don't want to use it on your vehicle.

I hear a lot of talk about different car care products and most of it is total BS. In my opinion you can't beat the products from PRO Car Beauty Online-Home They're the second oldest car care company in the world. For every one product you find that halfway works, these people make 3 that do actually work.

 

No offense to to you but the title of the thread is " How to clean faded headlight covers" Not "How to clean faded Yellowed Headlight covers"

We all know that the proper way to remove dust from your headlight covers is to gently wipe them with Acetone and 180 grit sandpaper.

 

Since this a broad appeal forum, Randy is encouraged to post photos of his methods so that more can learn the best ways to deal with this. I suspect head light restoration is an area where snake oil is not uncommon (and who knows, it might work).

 

Randy, I am curious what I should expect to pay a pro to provide this service?

 

Before I give an answer to that, it's important to know that there are 2 kinds of detailers (as with any other profession).

The first kind of detailer is the one that learns a little about detailing, and working for a detailer he sees the work rolling in, and decides he wants his own shop. These are the most dangerous detailers of all. They'll burn your paint down to the primer, bleach your $1000 rims snow white, completely ruin your window tinting, and all sorts of other things, all while charging you at least double what you should be paying. These kinds of detailers are EVERYWHERE, and they include MOST mobile detailers. Craigslist is almost exclusively these kinds of wannabe detailers. Stay away from these kinds of detailers at all cost. They are anything but professional.

The second kind of detailer is the one that has built up his reputation one customer at a time over a period of 5 to 10 years. He knows about detailing because in the past he has burned someone's paint down to the primer, bleached $1000 rims snow white, completely ruined window tinting, and all sorts of other things. He has learned the hard way, from experience. He has also learned what he should be charging for his services and how to please his customers so they keep coming back. He knows that repeat business is where the money is, and so he's going to bend over backwards to serve you. This kind of detailer is a professional. Seek him out at all expense.

Wannabe detailers will try to charge you at least $80 to do a pair of headlights, and most likely will do it with a kit from wal mart, following the directions in the kit.

Professional detailers will do your headlights for $50 a pair because they know full well that you'll be back to get a $60 - $75 inside and out wash and wax, and once you see the wash and wax, you'll come back when you need it again or when you need a $150 full detail.

My advice is to NEVER let a detailer touch your ride unless he can give you references and PROVE that he's made his living totally from detailing for at least 5 to 10 years. Any less experience than that, and he's still in the wannabe stages. You might as well let him "practice" on somebody else.

 

How about videos? These are not my videos but they do show the process. He probably used 1500 grit sandpaper because 2000 grit is hard to find. I use 2000 grit because I know where to get a steady supply and it makes polishing easier. You should also note that it takes a LOT longer to actually do the headlights than what you'll see here. Normally it takes about 30 minutes to an hour depending on how bad they are.

- 600 grit sandpaper

- 1000 grit sandpaper

- 1600 grit sandpaper

- polishing with a wool pad

- waxing to help keep it new

- the end result

Any questions?

 

Exactly what the Dr ordered. We have a lot of posts on how to change an air filter and not so much on the heavy duty side of detailing. Thanks. Please post more when your time allows.

BTW, over at Hilton Head near me, the boat detail guys get $1200 and up on the 40+ footers tied up in the marina.

 

Boat detailing takes a lot more time, believe it or not. And it's a lot harder to polish and wax gelcoat than it is clearcoat. Most detailers charge per foot for boat detailing. Usually it's between $15 and $25 a foot, depending on the condition. More than that is a little steep.

 

I have a question on this process. Plastic headlights are clear-coated to protect them from yellowing by UV rays. As the headlights age, this coating begins to fade and yellow as does the outside of the lens. Wetsanding and buffing makes the lens look all shiny and clear again, but without any UV protection it will turn yellow again pretty quickly. I picked up a can of UV clear from an autobody supply place when I was buying some 2000 grit paper. They recommended it for recoating the lens. From what I've read, you can spray this after sanding with 600 grit which makes sense since I have never prepped a car for painting with anything finer than that.