Headlight cleaning

[Myclk55amg]

Just wondering if anyone knows if cleaning your headlights with the toothpaste trick works? If not does anybody know what is effective?

 

[stwat]

You can buy kits to do the job properly.

 

[thedruid]

Yes. Toothpaste is fine. You can always spend a lot of money on a "proper" kit to do exactly the same job without the advantage of a minty aroma.
Before I get trolled by the experts, I have used toothpaste on many cars and bikes since the early 80's without any problems.

 

[moonloops]

I cleaned my old saab headlights with toothpaste a while back. Came back home one day to see the neighbour's dog licking away at them. Canine headlamp washers I would guess

 

[PobodY]

Toothpaste is just a mild abrasive (in this case), so it's as good as any cheap polishing compound.

If you don't want to keep doing it, reseal the headlight once you've polished it. - It's the UV degradation of the polymer that makes it go all misty, so polishing the top layer off and not resealing it with fresh UV protection will mean you have to keep polishing it.

 

[Major774]

Screw the polishing.

Sand down and spray with UV clear coat, permanent solution. I have done this on my Honda Accord, 6 months so far and clear as day 1.

 

[Myclk55amg]

Cheers guys for your advice I've try this and they've come up mint!! , going to do it with more abrasive toothpaste next time though.

 

[Scott_F]

Cheers guys for your advice I've try this and they've come up mint!! , going to do it with more abrasive toothpaste next time though.

Don't forget to floss between the edge of the headlight and the wing.

 

[Fidge]

I've used Meguiars PlastX before now. It's good but not a permanent fix, but a 2 minute job every time you polish/Wax the car.

 

[Alex225]

You can try polishing headlights with toothpaste or any other mildly abrasive polish. I tried it on my W211 and it improved them a bit.

What worked better though was the wet sanding, polishing and applying new clear coat. Not 100% but so much better than before.

 

[PobodY]

It's the same logic as polishing you paintwork; you seal it afterwards to keep it nice. - Do the same with headlights; once you've cleaned them, protect them to stop it happening again.

 

[350cls]

It's the same logic as polishing you paintwork; you seal it afterwards to keep it nice. - Do the same with headlights; once you've cleaned them, protect them to stop it happening again.

I am looking to do this with my w211 headlights could you give me some info on what to use once the lamps have been polished clear coated. I not sure what to apply after this.

Thanks