How to Restore Cloudy, Yellow Headlights (Step by Step)

Cloudy, yellowed headlights are one of the quickest ways a car starts to look tired. Worse, they cut the amount of light reaching the road. The good news is that in most cases you can restore them at home in an afternoon, for a fraction of the cost of new lamps.

Why headlights go cloudy

Most modern headlight lenses are made of polycarbonate, a tough plastic. From the factory they have a thin UV-resistant coating. Over the years, sunlight, road grit and car washes break that coating down. It starts to oxidise, turning yellow, hazy and rough to the touch.

Restoring a headlight means removing the failed coating and the damaged plastic underneath, then refining the surface until it is clear again. Finally, you protect it so it stays that way.

What you need

• A headlight restoration kit, such as our Micro-Mesh headlight lens restore kit, or a drill kit if you restore headlights often
• Low-tack masking tape
• A spray bottle of water with a drop of washing-up liquid
• A clean microfibre or cotton cloth
• A UV-resistant sealant or lacquer for headlights

Step by step

1. Clean the lens. Wash off dirt and grit so it doesn’t scratch the surface as you work.
2. Mask around it. Tape off the paintwork and trim with two layers of masking tape.
3. Sand off the damaged layer. Starting with the coarsest grade in your kit, work wet in straight, overlapping strokes across the whole lens. The lens will look worse at this stage, evenly frosted. That is what you want.
4. Work through the grades. Move to each finer grade in turn, changing the direction of your strokes each time so you can see when the previous marks are gone. Rinse between grades.
5. Polish. Once you reach the finest grade the lens should already look much clearer. Finish with a fine plastic polish until it is fully clear.
6. Protect it. Clean off any polish residue and apply a UV-resistant sealant or lacquer made for headlights. Skip this and the lens will yellow again much sooner.

Tips for the best result

• Don’t skip grades. Each one removes the scratches of the one before.
• Keep the surface wet. Water carries away the debris and stops the abrasive clogging.
• Check the inside. If the haze is on the inside of the lens, or there is moisture inside, polishing the outside won’t fix it.

More on this in our headlight restoration kits guide.

Questions

How long does headlight restoration last?

With a good UV sealant applied afterwards, much longer than without one. Without protection, lenses can start to yellow again within months.

Can I use toothpaste to clean headlights?

Toothpaste is a very mild abrasive and can brighten lightly hazed lenses briefly, but it won’t remove the failed coating, so the haze comes back quickly.

Do I need to remove the headlights?

No. Mask around them and work in place.