How to polish car headlights at home

Over time, car headlights grow dull and cloudy, which negatively affects the quality of lighting. Of course, you can buy new headlights to replace, but it can be difficult, it is not always possible to quickly find the right kit. And their cost will be quite high. Therefore, you should first try to polish the headlights yourself. In this case, of course, it is very important to comply with several rules and recommendations.

Why headlights grow dim

First, it’s worth saying a little about the reasons that lead to clouding of the head optics. There are only two main ones:

During driving, sand gets on the headlights, as a result of pebbles, dust and grains of sand damage the surface of the optics, and it becomes cloudy.
Another common cause is improper care. Often the car owner himself provokes clouding of the headlights when he wipes the dirty surface of the optics with a dry rag. And this is a fairly common situation. On the one hand, it would seem that a dirt is removed with a rag, but in reality the driver only wipes the dirt and scratches the surface with small dry particles, which leads to turbidity.

Of course, optics can also turn yellow and cloudy from old age, but in this case it will be very difficult, almost impossible to fix the problem with polishing.

Polishing automotive headlights at home

Conventionally, there are two methods that can help clean optics and eliminate clouding of the surface with your own hands. The first-involves the use of special chemicals and equipment, it takes more time and effort. The second is a simplified version, the so-called folk life hack.

Special polishing and grinding

In this case, you must take care in advance to buy a special tool for polishing. In stores now you can find a variety of compositions, it is best if you take a few pastes with different grain sizes. The following items should also be included in the ideal headlight polishing kit: sandpaper with grit P1000, P1500 and P2000; grinder or electric drill with speed control function; masking tape; and also circles from foam rubber of different softness.

Before starting the procedure, the machine must be prepared-take masking tape and carefully headlights around the perimeter, and then apply several layers of adhesive tape in parallel so that it covers all the main adjacent body panels and the radiator grill. This must be done so that when grinding does not damage the surface of the car.

When working with a grinding machine, safety precautions must be observed. If you did not have experience in operating this tool, then it is better to contact specialists, otherwise you risk doing more harm than good.

Sanding should be started with sandpaper. It is most convenient to take a small wooden block and wrap it with sandpaper and wipe it carefully, in a circular motion, until you remove visible defects and large scratches. In order not to have a lot of dust, it is recommended to damp sandpaper in water. The process is quite time-consuming and can take a lot of time.

At the first stage of polishing the headlights, it is recommended to use a more granular paste for polishing. When rubbing, do not press hard on the plastic. Treat the surface until it becomes smooth. Then you can apply a layer of finish paste, it is fine-grained and will allow to smooth out small roughness.

Once you have finished with the first step of grouting, you can proceed directly to polishing with a grinder. Remember that during polishing, the plastic will heat up. It is important not to overdo it with the revs, otherwise the plastic will overheat very much, which will lead to its damage without the possibility of recovery. Work smoothly, don't rush it is recommended not to raise the revolutions above 2000. From time to time, check the degree of heating of the headlamp surface, make small pauses, allowing it to cool.

After such a simple procedure, including them in the dark, the car owner will be able to notice a clear difference-the visibility of the roadway will be better. Of course, the result depends on how correctly all stages are carried out.

Polishing the headlights with toothpaste

This is a popular method about which you can find a lot of positive reviews on the network. It does not take much time and is noticeably simpler than the first in implementation. For polishing, you need a special whitening toothpaste with polishing particles. See that the packaging indicates that polishing micro crystals are included. Such pastes have abrasive properties.

The procedure for polishing a car headlight in this case is as simple as possible. Apply pre-cleaned optics to the required amount of paste. Then carefully distribute the contents of the bale on the surface of the headlamp. Wait a couple of minutes for the paste to dry out, after which you can start polishing. It is necessary to rub optics very actively, in circular motions. You can use an ordinary dense cloth or take a grinding machine. This option is suitable if the surface of the optics has minor damage and clouding has just begun. He will not cope with a more serious problem.

Professional headlight polishing

Of course, polishing the headlights at home can seem very difficult, and not everyone can do it right. The process requires a certain accuracy and skill. Therefore, if in doubt that you will do everything right, it is best to immediately contact a specialized service, where specialists will quickly put the optics of the car in order with the help of professional equipment. In addition, this option ensures that all work will be done as expected, taking into account all requirements and instructions, in the workshop usually after polishing, a special additional protective layer is applied to the headlight surface. For this, a special composition is usually used, similar to liquid glass, only designed specifically for headlights. This treatment will provide protection against moisture, fine particles of sand and dirt. And the headlights will not cloud so quickly.

If you don’t want to polish, and consider it a waste of time and money, you can always buy headlights to replace old tarnished headlights. The online store 130.com.ua offers a large selection of car accessories, lamps and optics.