brider

I did a search, but didn't come up with anyone complaining about the hazy and cloudy headlight COVER lenses; the thing that the bugs and gravel hit. The PO of mine owned a house at the beach, and I think mine got sandblasted over the years, and now they're really cloudy and ugly-looking, when they SHOULD be clear.

Is this just a "cover" over the headlight units, or is this an integral part of the headlight assembly, and must be replaced as a big unit? Can the covers be polished to a clear(er) condition?

GTA_Driver

According to the dealer, you need to replace the entire headlight unit.

Find one of those tint shops, some of them polish plastic headlights. I polished them on my '01 A6 (they were turning yellow and hazy), and the difference is amazing. Now if only I could do that to the rest of the car to match the headlights!

They also put protective film, total I spent about $100 and 1 hour of their time.

thejulex

Just sand paper it down to smooth surface and polish. It will look brand new after you're done.

GTA_Driver

If you're new to this, it's a lot of work, potential to cause damage to the paint, and still have a crappy end result.

all(over)road

I gotta say, the '3M headlite restoration kits' are the best from my experience. Easy to use with a cordless drill...takes maybe 30 minutes each lite and works awesome.

And then, www.lamin-x.com for the 20 mil films to protect the fresh lens....

Don't bother with the wipe on/off creams or the info-mercial products, the only way to 'restore' is to sand off the degraded plastic and polish it all up when its done.

5v/cyl

I also just used the 3M headlite resto kit and it worked amazing. It's a bit scary at first b/c it sands the lens in 4 steps and the first step looks like you just ruined your lights. Keep going through the steps and the end result looks like brand new lenses. Got my kit from NAPA for $20.

brider

THAT'S what I was fishing for, thanks!

testarossaguy

My nephew had a headlight resoration kit from Sylvania laying around in his store, and asked if I would try it out. I did all the work by hand and it took me about 2.5 hours. The results were far better than I expected! They are literally like new! I'm still amazed...

12vWhat

Has anyone ever used a 3M product that didn't rock? I used 3 different kits trying to get my headlights back up to par. 3M was the last one I used and the last one I'll ever use (have to do it again though because I didn't protect it afterwards)