Cleaning yellow headlights (aquafresh) toothpaste

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Yeah I said with touthpaste. Decided to test this myth on my wife's Altima. 5 years in Guam was rough on the headlights and we paid the Navy autoport 60 dollars to clean them back in 09. They re-yellowed in 2 years pretty good.

So do it work, yes, not much elbow grease required, took me about 15 minutes to do both use aquafresh toothpaste, I'm sure the brand does not really matter. And a microfiber cloth, no high speed drill, no buffers, no 20 dollar kit. Just toothpaste and a microfiber rag.

So does it work, yes it does.

Before

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After
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Before
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After
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Nice! I used a kit on my daughter's Elantra and the kit did a good job. It had a sealant in it that I applied after the polish (it is supposed to slow the yellowing).

I was impressed and happy with the results. Aside from the lack of sealant (which may or may not do anything), your results are equally impressive from the $2.50 tube of toothpaste.
 
Good job, I bet it was minty fresh after -as well as prevented cavities caused by your cars sweet tooth.

If there is one thing I can't stand, its cars with poor dental hygiene.
 
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Toothpaste + microfiber towel and 15 minutes elbow grease
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I'll try your method this weekend, I have 3M headlight kit and did the cleaning on my E430 a little more than a year ago, it starts to get a slight yellowing again.
 
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be sure to put a coat of wax on the lenses each time you wash the car to slow the yellowing process.
one guy on this forum said to use wd-40 to prevent that.
i did my ma-in-laws car with damp ajax and then toothpaste and followed with a coat of kit wax paste.her lenses were very bad,lights reached about 30-35 feet before cleaning.after cleaning 100+feet.
 
Anything with abrasives in it will work, so I just use the cheapest stuff I can find...
 
Originally Posted By: HTSS_TR
Which is cheaper than a cheap toothpaste that can do the cleaning ?


Turtle Wax rubbing compound (red can). $3 at Wal-Phart.
 
Yeah I know a guy that has done this before. He uses small orbital buffer and it works. I just buy a 5 buck thing of Blue Magic at the Auto Store to do it, but I have used Turtle Wax Polishing Compound in a pinch.
 
Originally Posted By: Robenstein
Yeah I know a guy that has done this before. He uses small orbital buffer and it works. I just buy a 5 buck thing of Blue Magic at the Auto Store to do it, but I have used Turtle Wax Polishing Compound in a pinch.


Turtle Wax polishing compound (green can) will work, but it isn't as abrasive as the rubbing compound (red can). It'll just take longer. The best method is using the orbital buffer starting with the rubbing compound, then finishing with the polishing compound.
 
Thanks for sharing!
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I will try this out on the Grand Marquis this weekend. I have to 'refresh' the headlights ever so often, although once I replace them, I plan on clearcoating the news ones prior to installation.

That said, the original headlights on my Montero are glass, and boy am I grateful for that. Almost 12 years, and they still look brand new.
 
Is it possible to do the TW rubbing and polishing compounds by HAND?
I have already sanded with 800 grit and 1500 grit, but didn't get to polish much - my old, old 3m plastic polish had dried in the bottle - i stored it too long, I guess...prob. 10 yrs old
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So my plan was to go with TW polishing compound -green upside-down bottle, but would it be better to RUBBING compound before that, even if it's by hand?

also: can someone provide links to the 2 TW products, just to make sure i get the correct stuff?
 
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