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So the only thing really letting the appearance of the A6 down is the fogged headlights.
What’s the best way to get them nice and clear again?
Polishing with a extrafine polishing compound. Some people use toothpaste of all things. Easiest is to just bung some new lights in or good 2nd hand ones.
Plenty of kits out there. They should do a reasonable job.
Doesn’t toothpaste do it?
Meguiars plast-rx (I think that's what it's called) you can get it as a kit for about £20 with a drill attachment but I just did it by hand.
Took about 3 goes to get them from borderline MOT failing plastic milk bottle opaque that pretty much blocked all the light and scattered the rest. To a nice crisp cut off on the dipped beam (and actually shows where you're going).
Either mask off the bumper/wing/bonnet or take it out and do it on the workbench. With hindsight I'd take them off and do it with a proper polishing head on the angle grinder.
Tried toothpaste, t-cut and a fenwicks version. Results varied from a bit rubbish to making it worse (the fenwicks stuff, guess caravan windows must be something else).
I tried toothpaste, but it didn't seem to do much. Brasso did the trick, though...
Took my van to local valet place - they polished them back to crystal clear.
Find a local detailer who restores opaque headlights and let them deal with them and fit uprated bulbs.
Polishing it is simple enough tbh but some of the products and kits are supposed to prevent/reduce the return of fogging. No idea if they work though but, that's the ideal I reckon.
Halfords do an aerosol can of rubbing compound that sprays almost like shaving foam. It's terrible for normal use as rubbing compound, but very nice for a finishing compound, and on headlights really helps to bring them up to a shine. It'd take forever to do a really fogged headlight this way but good for a finishing touch
They will go opaque again as the polish removes the UV protection. We did ours last year and they're starting to go misty again.
Did ours last year with the 3m kit and it worked well, better than expected. No sign they're fogging up again either
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Toothpaste is a waste of time.
the hardest most expensive way is to replace the headlights..
Autoglym kit or similar that has a mop/pad you put on an electric drill works perfectly,
you need to grind off the opaque layer and then wet grind with succesive grits and finally polish.
Then protect with a wax type polish 45 mins to do both headlights.
They will go opaque again as the polish removes the UV protection.
Polycarbonate naturally blocks UV, there is a coating, but it’s there mostly to protect the main lens, which is porous, but the coating gets damaged and weathered and turns yellow and opaque.
I think it depends entirely on the actual material, my Octavia has clear plastic lenses to the headlamps, the car is around 16 years old, yet the lenses are still quite clear.
It's definitely a material issue, I've got a 06 C-max and the headlights had reached the point of being completely useless. My OH has a 54 Fiesta and it's headlights still look brand new! Presumably some are polycarbonate and some are something else
I did wonder if it was something environmental (I worked on a refinery for a coupke of years) or cleaning products but looking arround car parks a lot of c-max have the same problem.
I don't think you need to go as extreme as finishthat recomended with wet and dry, mine were so far gone the surface had visible crazing in addition to the porosity and sandblasting. 3 attempts with the meguiars stuff by hand got them almost back to perfect. Only almost as I was half assing it and didn't mask the paint so wasn't doing the edges very well. Hence my comment about doing it by machine on the bench next time. I probably will at some point if I have a free morning.
Another vote for Meguairs plast rx here, really good stuff.
I used the Holts kit - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Holts-11750-Headlight-Restoration-Kit/dp/B075KFP3H5
Which worked very well. Though there was a bit where I thought I'd really cocked it up, but then finer and finer sandpaper (down to 3000 grit, which is about what a paper towel is...) works to clear it up. The polishing compound they supply seems good and the protective coating you spray on and polish off is going fine after a year.
+1 for the autoglym kit in halfords. Took a while and to recharge the drill between lights but it worked really well. Had read about the potential uv issue but didn't get it with the A3 lenses and it's not any worse than the horrific fogging. Made a huge difference driving at night.
Tooth paste did bugger all. Lenses felt very rough.
I can recommend the Meguiars Plast-X kit mentioned above. It has a woollen fibre pad drill attachment: https://www.halfords.com/motoring/car-cleaning/clay-bars-detailing-products/meguiars-one-step-headlight-restoration-kit
The kit also provides some abrasive pads to get you started by hand if you have particularly badly affected lenses. The drill attachment was all I needed. It made it easy to apply the Plast-X cutting compound to polish away the milky haze, and brought the lenses to a really decent level of transparency. I masked off surrounding bodywork to protect the paint, which also helped me work the rotating pad right to the edges of the lens.
Based on this success I tried the Meguiars headlight lens UV protector coating which is supposed to help stop the lenses from going milky again over time but it was rubbish. I had to go over the lenses again with the PlastX and drill attachment (much easier and quicker second time round) and found much longer term success in protecting the finish with this sealant/protector: https://www.amazon.co.uk/GLASS-POLISH-Surface-Sealant-Repellent/dp/B00A3S1RGU/ref=sr_1_42?keywords=headlight+glass+coating&qid=1559686293&s=gateway&sr=8-42
I used the autoglym kit on the wifes car. First lense was 'ok' but the second lense was much better as i was more confident and used a bit more elbow grease, so i went back over the first lense and it came up better. Lights are not like new but loads better than they were.
Also used the Autoglym kit on my 200k+ lights and they came up very well - you really notice the difference in clarity when you first use them at night afterwards. Make sure you rinse off the pads every so often otherwise they clog up.
I used this after our 12 year old Golf failed its MOT due to its headlight covers:
Really easy to use (no drill required) and they look brand new. Sailed through the retest.
After this thread, I bought the Meguilars One Step cleaning kit with the Plast-X compound in it.
Was £17 in Halfords.
Bought an old Saab that has one new headlight, and a 14 year old one that was so foggy it was basically useless.
It comes with a drill attachment, but I didn't have mine to hand. I just held the drill pad in my hand and rubbed the compound on. It took literally 20 seconds before the headlight looked brand new again - just the same as the other one.
Amazing stuff. If you can get the Plast-X compound on its own that is all you'll need. Just rub it on with a cloth.
Haven't been so impressed with a product for a long time.
Used to use this on an old car that had hazy plastic headlights. Works very well but may need to reuse annually. I put a clear car wax on after that seemed to help keep them clear for longer. Only £8!
Fenwicks Cleaner