How To Clean Yellow Headlights

Yellow or oxidized headlights are a big problem with vehicles today. The big question is how to clean them and keep them looking like new. The best thing to do is NOT just to clean them but restore them either with a DIY headlight restoration kit or call in a professional headlight restoration service. Before we go into how to clean or restore them, we need to understand what they are made off and what causes them to get discolored or oxidized.

From my three years experience in the headlight restoration service industry I have found it is a combination of things that causes your headlights to yellow or become discolored either cloudy, foggy or hazy. Pretty much disgusting, more like an eye-saw.

Here are the major contributors for yellow headlights: 

• Headlights are now made from poly carbon plastic instead of Glass. This type of plastic is very hard but very porous. So they need to be sealed.
• The debris from the road which is basically small rocks, sand and pebbles being kick up by on-going traffic at speeds of 30 to 80 mph acts like a sand blaster on your headlights. Now this debris eventually chips away the sealer of your headlights making small dents and cracks. Then these dents and crack starts to collect dirt and grime from all around.
• The suns UV rays combined with the acid rain and the acid from the stomach of bugs plus the petro chemical from the asphalt on the roads eats away on the sealer on your headlights like a cancer. Before you know it your once nice crystal clear looking headlight gets foggy, cloudy and yellow. If at this point you don't address the situatation of restoring them your headlights can and will start to get heavily oxidized resulting in a rough to the touch feeling. Apart from looking ugly you will be loosing a great deal of your light projection which can result in an accident.

The Solution Headlight Restoration:

Now we know the cause of your headlights yellowing we can solve the problem by restoring the headlights. First you will have to clean them and then sealing them for a longer lasting result. Over the year I have used different ways of restoring yellow headlights. The most effective method is the wet sanding process, polishing and sealing. This process produces the best results. You can accomplish this by using a do it yourself headlight restoration kit or calling in a professional headlight restoration service. The average pair of headlights takes about one hour to be restored properly.

Basic Headlight Restoration Procedure: 

1. You will need to tape off or mask the yellow headlights to protect your vehicle paint job.
2. Start sanding the lenses with a 1000 grit sand paper then go to a 1500 grit and then a 2000 grit. I suggest using wet/dry sand paper. While sanding, keep the headlight surface wet with a spray bottle filled with water or use a garden hose running slowly.
3. After wet sanding wash headlight with clean water and then polish the headlights with preferable a water-soluble polish.
4. Before your final step of sealing the headlights you need to dry them off completely. If necessary use a blow dryer to ensure that there is no moisture on them because a drop of water can ruin your entire finish. Then finally seal the headlights with a good quality polymer sealer. The quality of your sealer will depend on how long your headlights will stay looking like new.

Basically that's how you clean and restore yellow or oxidized headlights. Good luck in restoring yours.