Any headlight cleaner you would recommend... if you did a lot of them...
- Thread starter macarose
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I'm no expert but I had my local Jiffy Lube polish my old 2008 retired (won at auction) Police Crown Vic headlights and I was impressed! I noticed that shop used "True BRAND" headlight restoration kit. After researching that brand I understand True Brand is a woman owned company in Florida that supplies shops / car dealerships wholesale care care / car service products including Jiffy Lube and dealerships like you have...
I was able to find a few true Brand headlight kits ( the same ones my local Jiffy Lube used) on eBay at $10 each! I did my old car and a few friends and family members car and trucks as I was a hero! Was super easy to do and worked well!
You may want to contact that Company as I was impressed with the product and may be a good source for upsell products, headlight polish kits to fuel injection products to oil treatments etc. You know dealership money making stuff!
I noticed that company makes its own USA made PTFE Engine Treatment! Yes a PTFE in 2025!
I have some before and after headlight pics attached that I did with those $10 True Brand Kits, I wonder what the $ would be in bulk direct wholesale but even me just buying a few of eBay for $10 a kit, I was impressed.
SEE ATTACHED Pics of my results... look how bad that truck was! I was impressed and didn't expect that! And I can report it continued looking as good as the day I did the polish about 3-4 years ago util the truck was sold last month.
LINK: True Brand Products
I was able to find a few true Brand headlight kits ( the same ones my local Jiffy Lube used) on eBay at $10 each! I did my old car and a few friends and family members car and trucks as I was a hero! Was super easy to do and worked well!
You may want to contact that Company as I was impressed with the product and may be a good source for upsell products, headlight polish kits to fuel injection products to oil treatments etc. You know dealership money making stuff!
I noticed that company makes its own USA made PTFE Engine Treatment! Yes a PTFE in 2025!
I have some before and after headlight pics attached that I did with those $10 True Brand Kits, I wonder what the $ would be in bulk direct wholesale but even me just buying a few of eBay for $10 a kit, I was impressed.
SEE ATTACHED Pics of my results... look how bad that truck was! I was impressed and didn't expect that! And I can report it continued looking as good as the day I did the polish about 3-4 years ago util the truck was sold last month.
LINK: True Brand Products
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Wow!!
The problem is the fade comes back because the factory UV protection has been stripped away. The stuff that comes with the kits is short lived. Ceramics last longer, but I saw a video where the guy clear coated them. Probably a much more long term solution.
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As far as fade? That truck in above photo I did in 2022, truck was sold a few months ago but up until we sold it the headlights looked as good as the day I did it 3 years ago.
That eBay $10 True Brand kit included a small aerosol can of spray top coat...
I was impressed as I think it would have gone 3 more years but if it didn't a 2nd kit was only $10 so one could always polish again but based my 3 years with the truck I seen zero sign of fade or being short lived and I live in the Sunny South at the Beach and the Truck is outside 24/7 in direct sunlight...
Personally. I think headlights should be made out of glass ( as my 1995 Volvo was, was made by HELLA ) as plastic will always get sandblasted and IMO plastic headlight should be illegal but the EPA is the reason ALL headlights are NOW plastic as that tiny bit of weight savings is what Big Brother requires...
That eBay $10 True Brand kit included a small aerosol can of spray top coat...
I was impressed as I think it would have gone 3 more years but if it didn't a 2nd kit was only $10 so one could always polish again but based my 3 years with the truck I seen zero sign of fade or being short lived and I live in the Sunny South at the Beach and the Truck is outside 24/7 in direct sunlight...
Personally. I think headlights should be made out of glass ( as my 1995 Volvo was, was made by HELLA ) as plastic will always get sandblasted and IMO plastic headlight should be illegal but the EPA is the reason ALL headlights are NOW plastic as that tiny bit of weight savings is what Big Brother requires...
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Clean or repair?
For headlights in good shape, like a new car, a tiny bit of Dawn dish washing soap and water with a sponge or microfiber gets off all the dirt and oil quickly and doesn't seem to hurt the clear coat any. Then rinse with clean water and dry. (If air dry, use distilled if the local water is very hard, which ours is.) Maybe a minute per headlight? The headlights on our 2007 Prius are still hanging in there and if I clean them like that every 3 months or so and then polish with Nu Finish they are acceptable. The Nu Finish takes a little longer as it needs some time to dry before being polished/wiped off. I have previously used wax and some other products for the second step and they all attracted dirt faster than the Nu Finish. It is very dusty where I live, so there is plenty of crud in the air to land on the headlights.
There are all sorts of options for renewing foggy headlights, but that is a different and more complex problem. After headlights are repaired they will still need to be cleaned periodically, as above.
f355spider
$50 Site Donor 2025
The trick after polishing the lenses it to spend $50 on a precut headlight film kit. That will make it more permanent in my experience. The headlight film will need to be replaced every five or six years as it gets battered from sand, bugs and road debris. But the headlight lens will remain in good shape. Otherwise you have to repolish the headlight lens every 6 to 9 months.
Here is a couple quick ways on the cleanup of most headlight haze. The more severe cases will require sanding first.
This is a multi-step longer lasting result:
And this is a super quick and very cheap cleanup, but results only last 6 months before needing another 30-second drill polish per headlight:
This is a multi-step longer lasting result:
And this is a super quick and very cheap cleanup, but results only last 6 months before needing another 30-second drill polish per headlight:
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Before going all in on a headlight restoration first try just washing them thoroughly (get off all the dirt, oil, wax, or whatever that has accumulated) then polish them lightly. If the lenses are hazy but not yellow it may be due to surface scratches in the clear coat rather than the polycarbonate in the lens itself breaking down. When we bought our 2007 Prius in 2019 the headlights were like this - hazy but not yellow (and not peeling). I had some "Turtle Wax polishing compound and scratch remover" (in a tub) in the garage and used a little of that with a random orbital polisher. That got rid of most of the haze and they looked fantastic when wet - indicating no plastic damage. Since then I have just been washing and coating (currently with Nu Finish) without notable further deterioration. The purpose of the coating is to fill in the small scratches to produce a smooth surface. The coating materials used have an index of refraction that is much closer to that of the clear coat than air, and that reduces light scattering from the scratches. (These fine scratches can be seen with a high power magnifying glass and the right illumination and viewing angle. There are probably also some present which are too small or shallow to see this way.)
A full restoration would definitely look better than this, but I would not expect one to last 6 years.
Note, the procedure described above can keep a restored headlight done with the Sylvania kit, "OK" for several years. The clear coat from the kit picks up the same kind of scratches, and it benefits from this treatment too. Once the clear coat starts peeling though, stronger medicine is needed.
A full restoration would definitely look better than this, but I would not expect one to last 6 years.
Note, the procedure described above can keep a restored headlight done with the Sylvania kit, "OK" for several years. The clear coat from the kit picks up the same kind of scratches, and it benefits from this treatment too. Once the clear coat starts peeling though, stronger medicine is needed.
^^ THis. Polish is the easy part. Wet sand starting at 800 and get up to about 3500 grit successively. In 10 minutes it will look like new. And if you leave it, will be faded again in a few months.
Then you need a UV coating. The McGuires stuff - which I am pretty sure is just laquer - willget you a year - 18 months +/-. U-Pol clear will last much longer but is harder to apply.
Eventually the inside of the plastic itself, not just the surface start to degrade- like it has a million tiny bubbles. I assume from lack of UV protection?
f355spider
$50 Site Donor 2025
The fastest way I have found to restore a moderately bad headlight (yellowed, but still smooth surface) is to use Autosol metal polish on a rag...or even better, use a small random orbiter polisher. Once I get it cleaned up, a 6 month touch up by hand with the metal polish is all that is required. I find most plastic polishes to mild and take far longer to get a decent result.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003PHLTO...NTSOFSKRQ&ref_=list_c_wl_lv_ov_lig_dp_it&th=1
Again, if you want it permanent, buy a precut headlight film kit, or bulk clear film and apply to the headlight...that will protect if from yellowing again for years.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003PHLTO...NTSOFSKRQ&ref_=list_c_wl_lv_ov_lig_dp_it&th=1
Again, if you want it permanent, buy a precut headlight film kit, or bulk clear film and apply to the headlight...that will protect if from yellowing again for years.
The real problem is that headlight lenses are no longer made to be replaceable.
The US DOT has always had a philosophy favoring sealed, non-servicable units, but in the rest of the world, it wasn't an issue in the past.
Complex shapes and highly integrated functions have also served to discourage modularity, so one could argue that was the path that would be taken anyway, but the regs have done owners a disservice by ignoring the practical reality that most people are not going to pay to replace headlight fixtures when they cloud, and will tolerate the reduced performance, and its potential impact on safety. Or, resort to the short term fixes that have flooded the market.
One might argue that cheapskates wouldn't replace lenses separately, if possible, either, but at least that used to be an option.
f355spider
$50 Site Donor 2025
Buy or have professonally installed headlight film, change it every 5 to 7 years. I do this to all my cars. The headlights on my 2018 M550ix are around $2400 each. Not worth risking or waiting for them to cloud over. My 2001 BMW 540 still has the original headlights, as I had headlight film installed when I got the car.....and change it every 5 to 7 years. 380,700 miles...daily driven.
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Back in 2014 I purchased a new Subaru WRX and wanted to protect the new headlights day one. I purchased a kit, the XPEL brand and did it myself. You need a Harbor Freight heat gun, a spray water bottle ( water and 1 drip of dish soap ) and a small $2 plastic squeegee thing to get the bubbles out. Took me an hour on the WRX, The more curvy (round sides) the headlamp is the longer it takes to do but it was my first time.
Turned out very well and the XPEL is very thick and protects! I think I paid $50-$60 +/-?
I now get my new car / trucks clear bra and the shop covers the headlights with film but I find the XPEL is the thickest.
Turned out very well and the XPEL is very thick and protects! I think I paid $50-$60 +/-?
I now get my new car / trucks clear bra and the shop covers the headlights with film but I find the XPEL is the thickest.
does this plastic sheet reduce light transmission?
I've done the same on my last 3 cars. No effect on light output.
The Xpel self heals, it probably maintains a better light out put through time vs a non Xpel car.
Like everyone else here, I have my go to trick for cleaning up my headlights. Here's what I do. I've had an old can of polishing compound for years and I use a wet rag, and water to buff off the haze. It does a good job surprisingly. Then I have a bottle of "Harley Gloss", an all purpose polish which I get from the local Harley dealer. The reason I finish up with that is, it states on the bottle it has UV protectant in it. I guess if you read every bottle in the auto parts store, you can find another brand with UV protectant in it. I use what I use, as I already have it in my stash. And like pretty much everyone else, this treatment only lasts 6 months or so before they start clouding up again. And for those wondering, the Harley's headlight is glass.,,
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