Just wondering if anyone has had their headlights restored at WalMart and if so what did you think of it.

 

Getting it done relies more on the person doing it and the kit used I would imagine.

 

Personally, I like using the kit 3M sells at quite a few auto part houses. It has always given me the best results for cleaning up headlights with light to medium fogging. If the headlights are really fogged over, the tried & true wet sand & polish still gets the job done. There is a good write-up in the forum. I saved a copy & it is attached for reference.

Later, Dennis E.

 

Get a kit that comes with a clear coat so that your headlight will stay clear for several years.

 

Not to sound like a shill for my employer or anything, but Meguiar's has a headlight restoration kit called Perfect Clarity that comes with a UV clear coat spray. It's about $20 at retail and there's enough stuff in it to do 3 cars easily.

 

"Shiiiiilll!"...... but for $20,you can't go wrong there.

 

Just spent this morning restoring the headlights on my wife's 2006 VW New Beetle Convertible 2.5L. Used the 3M kit I previously mentioned in this thread. Results are fairly decent considering the headlights on this car were really in bad shape.

Later,

 

I find that if I use the Meguiar's PlastX Clear Plastic Cleaner & Polish every 6 months, the headlights say clear & bright. I use this product on the taillights & foglights, too.

 

is it true that toothpaste can be used as DIY cleaner for hazy headlights? anyone have tried this?

 

Start Friday after work.. maybe Sunday you'll have them decent.. Just spend the 20 bucks for the headlight polish kit. You'll thank yourself.

 

Toothpaste might be similar to the final compounding step that polishes the headlights after going thru the sanding/cleaning process. Can't see it being effective without using a polishing disk with a cordless drill. Then again, toothpaste might be too aggressive for this step as it's a paste rather the typical liquid polish found in most headlight cleaning kits.

Per other feedback, I'd go ahead & buy the headlight cleaning kit. Cost you somewhere around $20-$35 depending on whose you buy. The 3M kit I used took care of my wife's VW's headlights in about a 3 hour effort.

 

All of the above. All of the responders in this thread have quite a bit of personal experience in getting these troublesome headlight lenses back to a presentable state. I've use both the 3M and Meguiars and found that the materials they contain offer enough capability for anyone, who will take the time and follow the directions, to restore medium-medium bad condition headlights. And I mean restore. If one takes their time, they can be brought back to remarkable clarity.
A couple of caveats (1): I've been tasked in the past to restore a few pairs that displayed a horizontal line of damage. Opaque above and translucent below. This level of damage required me to start with an even more aggressive grit of Wet.dry. 600/800/1000/3M TriZact 1500 Blending Disc and 3M TriZact 3000. The line is caused by the tough outer coating being worn/eroded away above the line. You must start with a level playing field at that point-sand down to bare Lexan and start from there.

Caveat #(2): If you get really good at this, everyone and their brother will be asking you to do it for them. It got to the point, in my case, that I started buying the 3" sanding discs by the box. Even then, the 3000 TriZact are $1/each.

This becomes a pretty satisfying undertaking. I have a neighbors' kid and a 2000 Hyundai that looked like a real slug. Dad asked me to fix the headlights and I did. 99% perfect. The kid knocked on my door the next evening and ask for "some pointers" on how to make the paint and brightwork look a "little better".
Now I have competition! The kids POS looks great, he can see better, and he feels a bit more pride in what is, honestly, a pretty boring car.
This might be contagious!

 

I tried this a couple of times on an older car some years back and it worked to some degree. Not like the finish you can get with the kits and it did not last long either.
But I can say quite truthfully that the lenses never got any cavities.

 

Gingivitis? Not!