Foggy Car Head(ache) Lights

Old cars have all the charm, memories, and leaky fluids to bring us resounding joys traveling A to B. Unsurprisingly, older cars have some common issues that aren’t exclusively under the hood. One of the usual suspects are foggy headlights. Looking at them may cause you to cringe and looking through them may cause you to crash. Luckily, today’s newsletter will teach you how to de-fog these glazed over beacons of visibility.

What Causes Foggy Headlights?

The cause of foggy headlights isn’t as simple as “they are old”. It’s true time breaks them down, but the real culprit is sun exposure. When UV light hits plastic coverings, a slow chemical reaction occurs causing oxidation on the surface. Because this reaction is on the surface of the plastic covering, a simple sanding and polishing will clear up the fog.

Note: Hazy headlights happen to plastic headlights only. Older glass headlights cannot be de-fogged using this method.

What You’ll Need

• 800 grit sandpaper

• 1500 grit sandpaper

• 2000 grit sandpaper

• Water source/spray bottle of water

• Painter’s tape

• Buffer/polisher machine:

• Wool buffing Pad: Amazon.com: 8" 100% Wool Hook & Loop Grip Buffing Pad for Compound Cutting & Polishing : Automotive

• Mirror Glaze/Compound: Amazon.com: Meguiar's Mirror Glaze M10508 Ultra-Cut Compound - Professional Grade Formula with Fast Cutting Action that Removes Scratches, Heavy Swirls and More - 8 Oz : Automotive

Step by Step Headlight De-Fogging

Follow these steps to turn your hazy headlights into something that looks nearly brand new.

Step 1: Taping the Headlight

Using painter’s tape, tape around the headlight creating a barrier from the edge of the plastic to the paint of the car. You’ll want this barrier so the compound you use doesn’t affect the car’s paint.

Step 2: Sanding (with water)

Depending on how severe your headlight fogging has become, you’re going to hand-sand 2-3 times with different grit sandpaper. The first sanding should be done with 800 grit sandpaper. Before you start, wet the surface of the headlight with water. As you continue to sand, use a hose or a spray bottle to keep the surface wet during the sanding process. Make sure you are sanding in the same direction the entire time. You don’t need much pressure when sanding, use just enough to scratch up the surface of the headlight.

After the 800-grit sanding, your headlight should become uniformly cloudy looking. Now grab the 1500 grit sandpaper, make sure the surface is still wet, and continue to sand the headlight in the same direction you sanded with the 800-grit sandpaper. Sand for a couple minutes with minor pressure continuing to keep the headlight wet while doing so.

For the third round of sanding, you’re going to follow the same method but with 2000 grit sandpaper. The higher the grit of sandpaper, the less course it becomes. This 2000 grit sandpaper is going to make very fine abrasions in the plastic of the headlight.

Step 3: Polishing/Buffing

The third step is when you make that cloudy plastic look brand new again. Grab your polisher/buffer, place on a wool buffing pad, and squeeze on a bit of polishing compound onto the pad. I would recommend Maguires 105 Compound. You’ll want to put the polisher around 1000RPMs to do the job right. Start polishing directly on the headlight until the fog begins to fade away. After a minute or two your headlight should look brand new again.

You’re done!

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