Great headlight cleaner
 

Just bought some Blue Magic Plastic/Plexiglass cleaner from the local auto parts store (about $6). I scrubbed it onto my headlights with a clean cloth and was amazed at the difference! I did each light twice, and then scrubbed the center "waterfall" piece. Took about 5 minutes and it looks so much better. Should have bought this stuff years ago.

Dave

I used it last week and am very pleased.

Do you think it performed better than the "3M Plastic Cleaner"?

I ran over my bottle of 3M with the Fiat :o (it didn't like that much) so now I have to buy some more.

Randy (Pleading guilty to plasticleanercide) ii

I used it a couple of days ago. Cleaned corners, too. Very pleased. Will do every week and see if they improve with each cleaning. Wonder if there is a limit to how close to new they can get.

I've said it before and I'll say it again:

Old n0 7 Chrome polish. It kicks the snot out of any of that watered down plastic polish. It doesn't leave scratches either. Ask phil about my headlights. It's all chrome polish and elbow grease.

- Rob

Watch it Cash, talking crap about Jack Daniels might get you in trouble with a couple of the regulars here ;)

clean headlights
 

Honestly my favorite is the meguires two step system. I think they are #10 and 17 ?? If you can find it buy it. It doesn't take long but it works wonders.
Just out of curiosity what kind of chrome polish are you using?

Janvil plastic solutions

http://www.janvil.com/

I'm a believer in wet sanding with 1500grit followed by 3Mrubbing compound. Takes little time, and man are they clean! Smooth, too.

Because the yellow builds up so quickly, and I'm polishing them so frequently, I prefer not to use any elbow grease (maybe it's the sea air). That's why I use Turtle Wax's Polishing Compound. It works like a charm. Wipe on and wipe off.

I just looked at the headlight covers on my '92, in the dawn's early light, here at work. They are much, much better than they used to be. They are almost as good as the the HL covers on my '97 and rival the covers on the '94. I used the Blue Magic on them only once, about 2 weeks ago. I guess I'll use it on them again this weekend.

The Blue Magic seems to be a very finely ground pumice in a liquid carrier. I think about 5 applications will have the HL covers looking brand new. I should do the center waterfall grill to. It is quite yellowed. The difference between it and the HL covers is now very noticable.

I'll keep a running commentary on this subject each time that I use the Blue Magic.

Most plastic headlights are coated with a hard surface to resist road abrasion, so the downside to the use of polish is that this will eventually erode/remove the coating, exposing the softer surface underneath. Then the surface dulling will happen faster.

Another suggestion:
Polish lenses, then apply self adhesive clear plastic sheet as cover. This not only preserves surface and clarity, it also protects against stone impact. This material is available fom Griots Garage (800-345-5789 or www.griotsgarage.com).
I did this on mine 3 years ago, and they still look good.

Hey thanks! I think I'm going to try that! :)

Linkified

headlight
 

For those of us new to the svx world are you polishing the inside of the headlight cover or the outside? My headlights appear yellowed on the inside.

I cleaned the outside. big improvement. I thought my were yellowed inside, too. I think the outside tend to be more yellowed because of greater exposure to sun, etc.