Headlight cleaner/polisher

Got after the lightly oxidized headlight buckets on my 07 SR5. Turned out pretty well, even though the Meguiar's cleaner & polish is kind of old...looks much better.

 

might want to give some cerakote a try. Should last a while.

 

My colleague at work also used the cerakote headlight restoration kit with great success

 

Ditto on the Cerakote. Stuff is a wet and it lasts

 

Looks like a terminal, once-off product purchase. Dampness and 2 grit pads for wet sanding, plus a plastic pad applicator. I'll stick with Meguiars and seal with a wax coat.

 

I’ll 3rd or 4th the cerakote kit. Did mine almost a year ago and still look great

 

Before:



After:



One year later:

 

When last December i purchased my 3 gen tundra in preparation to pass my 2008 4runner to my daughter i polished i for the first time in its life, i used el cheapo HF polisher/buffer about $7 and Meguiar's Ultimate Compound $13.
Ran over the head lights as well. They still like new. Better then my previous attempts with specials restoration kits.

 

I used Cerakote on my wife's "13 Camry headlight and it scratched the hell out of it. Threw it away and bought a new headlight. She had hit a deer and the other one was brand new. I use Rain-X on my "07 Tundra headlight. Rub it in like a polishing compund. It also coats it. Try it, it works good.

 

Wow, I’ve done about 7 vehicles ( 4 were my own ) and they all came out looking like new. The first one I did has been over 3 years and still looks like the day I did it.

 

Improved! I just gave up on mine and replaced them with some Eagle Eyes OEM style total replacements, also threw in some silverstars while I was at it. Looks much better for around $200 all in!

 

I tried to do mine (can't remember which brand headlight restorer) and found out the reflective part of the light was so bad that I gave up on my '07. I got a real cheap set of Chinese replacements that look just fine but I'm sure they will not last that long. Since then I replaced the low beam bulb with a projector upgrade kit. Had I done that first I probably would have not worried about the dullness of the original light's reflectors.

 

I just cleaned up my headlights with the Turtle Wax headlight kit. Not too bad for $13 from Home Depot.

 

Just used this. Super easy to apply with great results.

 

I have used Klasse AIO to clean my wife's old 2006 Camry's headlights. It works well and they look like new. It is a sealant but it also has cleaners in it. I tried it on my niece's husband's 2014 Tundra that were hazed very badly. It cleaned them up some but Klasse would not bring them back to clear. I told him we would buy a headlight kit because we needed a more powerful cleaner to polish them out.

 

I just finished up doing a headlight restoration this weekend. I just had some simple clouding, nothing seriously bad like yellowing or deep scratches. Watched a ton of videos on YouTube to compare different techniques. I went with the following:

1. 3" border of painter's tape around each headlight
2. Cleaned both headlights with simple Windex 3x
3. Wet sanded with 1000 grit and 3000 grit sandpaper (soaked 5" x 5" pieces of sandpaper in water for 10 minutes before use)
4. Cleaned with Windex 3x again and let dry (can speed up drying process with a heat gun set on medium heat)
5. Applied Chemical Guys Headlight Restore and Protect with a fine polish pad until transparent
6. Hand buffed with a clean dry microfiber towel
7. Applied 2 coats of Meguiar's Keep Clear Headlight Coating

All total, maybe 1.5 hours for both headlights. It's not perfect, but a damn sight better than what it was and don't have to fork out the cash to have someone else do it.

 

Nice work!

 

Dummy question: what is "IPA" ??

 

Menzerna 400 and a wool pad on buffer , maybe 2-3 minutes per light

 

Bump. Saw some posts in other channels about headlights being shot. I'll take an educated guess and say their headlights are yellowing and probably need a restoration done on them. This was done Oct 24, so almost 10 months ago and still looking about the same.

 

For what it's worth I used the Cerakote Kit in February of 2023 and just had to do it again. Not bad for $18.

My 2019 sits outside all of the time in H-town, so it's always in the sun and heat.

I would expect any of the other headlight restoration products to last about the same.

As 2.5 owners we probably would not have to do it as much if the designers had not put a flat section on the lens at the top of the headlights. That's the area that seems to be the worst section.

Your mileage may vary.