Hey guys, ChrisFix here
today I am going to show you how to restore your headlights permanently
so your hazy, oxidized headlights go from
this...
to this
all for around $10 a headlight
you might have seen other methods
that get your headlights clear
like kits you buy in the store
such as the 3M kit
you also might have seen some home remedies
such as using baking soda, toothpaste, vinegar, bug spray
all of these methods are only temporary
and the lenses will just become hazy and oxidized over time
this method I am about to show you is the only permanent method
that doesn't require any maintenance
such as adding wax or adding a sealer every so often
not only do hazy, oxidized headlights look bad
they also decrease the value of your car
so not only will you make your car look better, but
you are going to help increase the value of the car
by fixing your headlights
Here is everything you are going to need to do the job
we have scissors,
a garbage bag,
and tape
this if for taping off your headlight
if you are going to keep your headlight on your car or truck
then you are going to need to tape it off
and use garbage bags to protect the paint
now if you are going to remove the headlight form the vehicle,
then you might just need some tape
we have paper towels
we have sandpaper
we have three types of sandpaper
400 grit
600 grit
and 2000 grit
If your headlights are really yellow, oxidized, and hazy, then you will need to start with 400 grit
but if they are not that bad, you can start with 600 grit
and we are going to be doing a wet sand
so you are going to have to use
a spray bottle or some type of water source
like a hose
and when you finish wet sanding you are going to
clean the lens off with alcohol
before you go to the final step
which is using a clear coat
in this case we are using a
gloss clear
and it is made for plastic
and the big thing is
you want it to be non yellowing and UV resistant
the reason your headlights are all foggy, yellowing, and oxidized
is because the
clear coat on the headlights gets
chipped off over time from rocks hitting it
and just the wear-and-tare of driving
and this clear coat will put a nice barrier
so the plastic cant get yellow and hazy again
most people have scissors, a garbage bag, and paper towels
but if you are going to buy the other stuff
it will cost you around $20
so to make your headlights permanently clear
$10 a headlight, that is not bad
especially since some headlights can cost over $100 each!
I have seen headlights that are over $250 each!
so let me show you the whole process
it's quick
it's easy
and you get awesome results that last the lifetime of your headlight
so the first step I would take is, if you headlights are easily removable
I would remove them
it is a lot easier to do this off the car
unfortunately for the PT Cruiser
it is a pain to get the headlights off
so I will paint them on the car
and just to show you the results you should expect
I was testing out different methods
different sanding grits
different clear coats
and what I am about to show you is how I got my best results
and you can see how clear those are
and this is permanently clear
this method will work on any headlight and get it nice and clear
and you already saw the results
so let me show you how to get those results
these headlights are pretty bad
so I will start with 400 grit sandpaper
if your headlights are not this bad
you can start with 600 grit sandpaper
400 is a little more gritty
600 is more fine
and we will finish it off with a little bit of 2000 grit which is super fine
Because we are keeping the headlights on the vehicle
now is a good time to get your tape out
and we are going to tape around the whole headlight
and leave a nice barrier so we don't scratch the paint
Im using extra wide painters tape
it will help later on when we put the garbage bad around this
because we have to cover the paint on the vehicle
so now we have the whole edge covered
there is no car paint exposed anywhere in here
Now I have my 400 grit sandpaper
and I have water, and I am just going to spray
the headlight with water
Im going to get my sandpaper
and I will spray it with water
make sure both surfaces are soaked
the water acts as a lubricant and prevents deep scratches
into the lens surface, you just want lite scratches
to buff out any oxidation you have
and you want to keep the surface wet
and I am not pressing hard
just go in a circular motion
now as you do this
with the 400 grit
you will notice a milky color
running down
that's all that oxidized, yellowing plastic
that's coming off your headlight
and that's good
you don't want to go crazy with the 400 grit
you don't want to press really hard
you can press harder with the 600 grit
since 400 grit is pretty coarse
on a headlight like this
you also want to get into the groove right here
and then our final sand with the 400 grit
is going to be a horizontal sand
not a swirl anymore
so you can see our scratches are horizontal
they're not swirled anymore
that is the last step that we did
the reason why you want horizontal scratches
is so that when you spray your clear coat
it is less likely to run
and has an edge to grab onto
I don't see anymore of that yellow, oxidization
or haze
I just see the haze
that was created from the sanding
so now we can move to the 600 grit
again get your headlight soaking wet
get your sandpaper soaking wet
and start with the 600 grit
with the 600 grit you can press a little harder
you can see the finer plastic particles
coming off the headlight
that is exactly what you want to see
now that we did a bunch of the swirling motion
with the 600 grit
we are going to switch to the horizontal sanding
and with the final horizontal sanding
with the 600 grit
we have that top layer
of the oxidized headlight
completely removed
and the headlight lens is getting really smooth
so now that we have finished with our 600 grit
we will move up to the 2000 grit
but before we move up to the 2000 grit
we need to clean these off
just going to use some water
and wipe it down with a paper towel
the reason why we do that is because
the 2000 grit is very fine
and any plastic particulate that is still on here
is going to clog up the sandpaper
and you won't get a good final sand
and this final sand is going to help
you get a really good finish on your clear coat
so just spray it down
and get a paper towel and wipe it down
now we are going to get 2000 grit
its going to be a wet sand as well
you don't want to press really hard on this
you just want to skim the surface
you are just going to cut down some of the edge that the
600 grit put on here
and after you do enough of the swirling motion
you can do the horizontal motion
and this will be the final touch
Good, you can see even with the 2000 grit
this looks a lot better
it's still going to be hazy, don't worry
you want it to be hazy
there's still going to be micro scratches on the surface here
the clear coat will fit that in
now you are going to dry it with a paper towel
and after it drys
you will see a nice haze on here
so now we will grab our alcohol
and we will put it on a low lint paper towel
so the lint doesn't get on the cleaned lens
and we will clean the headlight lens off
the alcohol removes any oils
from your hands that may have gotten onto the lens
and it also makes the lens dry quickly
because alcohol evaporates quickly
so as the alcohol drys
cut your garbage bag open
take the garbage bag
cover the front of the car
The whole point of doing this
is because when you spray the clear coat
you don't want the paint to over-spray
onto your hood or any of your paint
or plastic that you have
with the garbage bag all laid out
we will get our tape
and tape up the garbage bag so it is nice and tight
So the bag is all taped down, now we're gonna cut out the headlight.
You see the headlights right here? Lift the plastic, get a hole on it.
And just cut around the edge of the headlight.
Good. Now you can see we have this tape around here which gives us a good gap,
so you don't have to cut exactly on the headlight.
In fact, you don't wanna cut exactly on the head light.
You wanna cut it over, you have some room to put some more tape.
Like that! And will stick down.
So now, we're gonna tape the rest of the headlight off, and we can begin our spray.
We're gonna do one more warp down with the alcohol,
just to make sure that there's no dirt, there's no oils form your fingers on here. None of that.
And we'll let that dry.
With the headlight nice and dry, we're gonna start our clear coat application.
Make sure you follow the instructions on your clear coat.
So we're gonna give you guys the side views so you could see how I clear coat the headlight.
This is the final step, so make sure you don't mess it up here.
You don't want thick coats, thick coats are gonna run.
Make sure you do light coats, even sprays, don't worry about it if it doesn't look good.
We'll do multiple layers. It'll clear itself right up. And it'll make itself look good, Trust me.
That's all you wanna do. Now, we're gonna let it sit for five minutes.
And then we'll add another coat.
This is after our first coat. And I just wanna give you an idea of what it's gonna look like.
It's not gonna look perfect. You could see there's little, let's called orange peel.
It's just form spray paint going there. We're gonna get more layer on it.
It's gonna look a lot better. But don't put this thick, cause it's gonna run, and won't look good.
But eventually it's gonna look really clear and really nice.
After about five minutes later, we're ready for our second coat.
Good. We'll let that sit for another five minutes, and we'll do one more coat.
Make sure when you're spraying, you're also getting the top edge of the light,
and corners of the light, depending how your light is shaped.
You wanna make sure that you touch all the spots on the light.
Just a few minutes later, we're gonna put on our final coat on.
Perfect, that's it with the spray paint.
So now, we're gonna wait a whole day, the paint drys in 24 hours to full clarity.
And then we'll see what it looks like.
Fast forward to the next day, and this looks awesome.
We can take off our over spray garbage bag cover.
This is headlight looks amazing, you could see the optical clarity look great.
Look almost new. Now only does it look good,
but it's gonna protect the headlights as well with the UV clear coat.
It's gonna bounce out all the harmful UV rays out,
and will prevent any future yellowing or hazing or oxidation.
This is permanently gonna stay like this.
Now, at this stage, we have two options.
You can leave as is, or you can do a wet sand.
And the wet sand is just gonna take away any orange peel, which is typical spray paint.
Just get your 2,000 or 3,000 grade sand paper,
and you're gonna wet sand it, just like we did before.
Make sure you have a lot of water, you wet sand it.
And your final step, whether you wet sand it as 3,000 grade, or just leave it as is,
you wanna add some Carnuba car wax.
Just get your microfiber towel.
Add wax, just like you're waxing your paint job.
Cause now this is clear coated.
And once that wax start to haze up, you can buff it right out.
And that's the finish, it looks amazing.
Now let's take the blue tape off.
And that's how you make your headlights permanently clear.
This came out amazing, it'll come out just as good for you.
And only cost $10 a headlight.
You don't ever have to take the headlight off the car if you don't want to.
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