Cleaning Headlamps - tintop

[greenwoo]

The Rav's headlamps currently have the power of 3.75 candles, so driving at night is 'interesting'. Typical cloudiness/yellowing of the plastic covers....
I know there's umpteen theories online about refreshing/cleaning, but before I buy a tub of sulphuric acid and a widget - anyone got 1st hand tips ( about cleaning them, not retaining body parts).

[andyf]

Some fine wet and dry followed by a good polish with some polishing compound works well. Mine were not too bad so I just used some brasso pads and that shone them up nicely. If you do hit them with wet and dry make sure that you give them a coat of UV protective clear lacquer afterwards otherwise you will be repeating the exercise fairly soon.

[Phil N]

Buy a kit from halfords, auto glym I think. It has an attachment for a drill and you use the different grades of sandpaper and a paste at the end. Quite easy and a good result at the end. Cost about £20-30 from memory. Youtube it for better results.

[Phil N]

https://www.halfords.com/motoring/car-c ... ZDEALw_wcB

[Wingco]

To be honest M, there are loads of things you can use but the cheapest and yes I've used it is toothpaste. You do need a good bit of elbow grease but it does work. If you get one with some abrasive stuff in it, some of the old style toothpaste is good but I have use Colgate and it works.
Only just saying !!

[Tony B]

I’ve done the toothpaste method before on some really bad Punto lights , took about 20 minutes per light but came up a treat!!

[steve m]

"It has an attachment for a drill"

Only saying, but is there an attachment for an angry grinder ??, as from memory its the only power tool Mark owns

[greenwoo]

actually steve, my 2 new fav tools are the SDS drill and the chop saw......the latter is getting worked hard cutting wood for the log burner, the former is doing a great job on some concrete walls. Headlights - should be a doddle for that

[scotty]

having done hers in the summer using a kit make sure you really give it a going over with the wet and dry so it really really looks bad.1st one i did i was a bit of a girl(it dont feel right having that much sanding dust come off expensive lights) and didnt do enough sanding and tried to polish it up..didnt work well 2nd one i went to town with the grits and it looks brand new with very little polish.

[David T]

actually steve, my 2 new fav tools are the SDS drill and the chop saw......the latter is getting worked hard cutting wood for the log burner, the former is doing a great job on some concrete walls. Headlights - should be a doddle for that

Mark, but have you seen these angle grinder chop saw attachments?!?!? Probably not good for logs though, more for metal.