My lenses don't endure harsh weather, but there is some salt in the air. They look like they need major cataract surgery. OEM replacement cost is $800+ and I haven't seen anything lower. McGuire's Restoration didn't make a lot of improvement and only lasted about two months.

 

Hey, check ebay for replacement headlamp assemblies. I know you can do better than $800 on there. They are not hard to put in yourself at all. Two screws , pop them out, and that is it..........

 

With just over 100K on my '04 Pac., the headlights were both crazed and yellowed. I tried a cheap restoration kit and it did nothing. Just this past weekend, I tried the Mother's restoration product and it worked like a charm! This kit (about $25) utilized three decreasing grit sanding discs and then a foam pad that's used with polishing compound. I spent about five hours on the job, but they look like new. The ultimate question is: how long will they stay that way? Good luck.

 

Try to seal it with clear coat, or a transparent top coat like this:

http://www.rustoleum.com/CBGProduct.asp?pid=164

After sealing it consider a physical barrier like a clear headlight cover to protect it from the effects of elements like listed in ebay item # 350320921410 .

 

Hey, thanks for the Mother's Restoration Tip. I will try that as $25 is worth the gamble. I agree, though , that it's not going to last. Some sort of protectant is needed. I agree some sort of cover over the lens, but I'm a little leery of the Rustoleum idea. If that yellows, it's going to be impossible to get that stuff off the lens.

Someone out there just needs to start making the lens itself, sell them, and I can just put a new lens on and be done with it. It looks like the lens is just attached by a few clips..................In this day of recycling, throwing away the whole assembly because of a bad-looking lens is just wrong.......

 

Hey, I'm just being silly here, but I think I will just start applying sunscreen to my lenses after I try the Mother's kit......

 

Try Dupli-Color clearcoat spray shown in following link:

http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/web...i_sku=99984738

If you have good polishing machine and a heavy duty polish, you can pretty much polish anything off the the paint/plastic. The reason mother's kit worked because it included drill machine mounted ball polisher which gives it much more polishing power than can be achieved with just hand polishing.

And also note that it took him five hours of polishing to remove the damaged plastic surface with that drill mounted polisher. That is pretty good bit of polishing right there. Folks on this forum seems to be not too much into polishing, buffing and paint detailing IMO.

 

Good exchange of ideas here, guys, on a very common problem.

Just to set the record straight, I spent five hours working on my car because I'm a bit of a perfectionist. Most of the world could probably have been satisfied with the results after a couple of hours.

Also, the Mother's kit includes several grits of sanding discs, which really do the hard work. In the early stages, you are actually sanding the yellowed/crazed surface off the lens. You don't apply polishing compound until the very last step of their process. I chose to sand them rather gingerly to minimize buildup on the discs that could gouge the lenses and create a bigger problem. As regular maintenance, I intend to continue using the foam disc with regular polishing compound, followed with paste wax. Anything to avoid paying up to $1,600 for a pair of replacement headlights!