Aaron Baird owns West Coast Recon based in southern California. A mobile automotive reconditioning company, it fixes most minor repairs on cars, including damage to headlights and tail lights. They can begin to look yellow and hazy when they are in need of being refinished. That’s when you need headlight refinishing.
Many headlights these days are produced from plastic, which can scratch and damage easily. Usually when headlights are old or have been left outside frequently, they begin to turn yellow and milky, so they are not clear anymore. As a result, they produce a lot less light. I would not say they are really dangerous but they look bad. They don’t look good.
This happens with age, especially if you park your car outside at night. If you pull it into the garage at night, you are usually okay. It’s because the sun’s UV rays damage the headlights, as well as road grime, salt and other debris. When they begin to look yellow and hazy, that is when you need them refinished.
Similar to Scratch Repair
Headlight refinishing is similar to scratch repair. You start with 800- or 1,000-grit sandpaper, water and a spray bottle. You wet sand both of the headlights, starting with 800-, then 1,200- and then 2,000-grit sandpaper. Once you have done that, you buff it out with buffing compound to restore the gloss to the headlights.
At that poin,t either the job is done – if everything looks good and you have restored the original shine to the headlights - or you might need to tape off the headlights and apply a clear coat to the headlights.
In some cases, you may want to buy new headlights, as it can be so bad that the headlight itself also has minute cracks all over it. We cannot repair headlights at that point and you will have to buy new ones. But that is usually because you have waited too long to have them refinished!
