Last time we covered some important tips for driving atnight. Having clear and working headlights is essential in any low-lightsituation; one cannot rely on a car navigation system with an in dash navigation screen alone. Most modern headlights are made out of polycarbonate, which is greatbecause it is durable and will not break easily in a minor fender-bender. Thedownside to polycarbonate is it oxidizes over time and turns cloudy and yellow.Hazy, yellowed headlights do not provide proper visibility – good news is youcan easily resurface your existing headlights instead of having to replacethem. Here is a quick guide for restoring your headlights.
There are many kits out there for restoring your headlights,but they all have the same basic tools you can get from anywhere you like. Themain choice you have is whether you want to polish them by hand, or use anelectric drill. Using an electric drill makes the job go quicker and easier,but some people do not have this tool so it can be done by hand.
Start by masking off the area around your headlight. Use twolayers of thick masking tape around the headlight itself. Then thoroughly scrub and clean yourheadlights, making sure they are free from dirt or caked on tar and bugs. Afterthey are scrubbed and dried, get them extra clean by wiping the surface withrubbing alcohol.
Most kits include several different grits of sandpaper orbuffing wheels. They polish the surface of your headlight using polishing discsand compounds. You can also polish your headlights without a kit bywet-sanding. We will cover the wet-sanding method first.
Buy wet/dry sandpaper in 1000, 1500, 2000, and 3000 gritincrements. Soak the sandpaper in cold water for 10 minutes or so before youbegin. Spray the surface of the headlight with water, and begin with the lowestgrit sandpaper first, sanding in onedirection back and forth over the surface of the headlight. Make sure thesurface remains wet – if it starts to get dry, spray it down again.
Next once the headlight sheds the yellow color but is cloudyfrom the sandpaper, switch to the next grit of sandpaper, working in the exactopposite direction of the first grit and keeping the surface wet. Do this again with every grit, switching thedirection, until you get a nice, polished surface. The last step with 3000 gritsandpaper will probably take quite a while without a buffing wheel, but willmake your headlight look like new.
After resurfacing your headlight, wash them off thoroughlyand wipe them dry. Then apply a UV Plastic sealant to the headlights so theydon’t oxidize so quickly in the future. This should keep them looking nice andbright for years to come.
Using a kit with an electric drill is much the same assandpaper, just a bit quicker. One main difference is that you often do notneed to wet the surface, and instead will use a polishing compound. Each kithas specific instructions so make sure to read them carefully to get the bestresults. Work with the drill on a low setting and use light to medium pressure– if you press too hard, you can heat the plastic and cause it to warp. After you have finished with the last andfinest polisher, your headlights should look like new. Make sure to clean thesurface well, dry thoroughly, and apply a UV Sealant the same as you would ifusing sandpaper by hand.
The end result should be a shiny, brand new-lookingheadlight that is protected from UV and thus further oxidization. You can cleanand re-apply the sealant at the intervals suggested on the product to retainyour headlight’s clarity and shine. With clean and clear headlights, you’refree to enjoy night driving as much as you like.
