Dont know if this is in the right section so mods please move if needed.
ALSO I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGED HEADLIGHTS THIS IS JUST A GUIDE.

Tools needed
1. microfiber cloths
2. Meguiars Plastic-x
3. Bucket with a little car wash.
4. 800 grit 1500 grit and 2000 grit sand paper. You can go up to 3000 grit if wanted.
5. Buffer (optional)
6. Blue painters tape.


Here is a before pics of the headlights before i started. The car is my gf's 2001 VW Jetta 1.8T



Before you get started go ahead and put about a table spoon of car wash into the bucket with a gallon of water. Take sheets of sand paper and put then in the bucket and allow them to soak for about 5-10min.
While the sand paper is soaking. start off by masking around the headlights to prevent any paint from being scratched.
Should look like this when finished.

After you have the lights masked off take some soapy water and clean off the headlight. Once clean take your lowest grit sand paper in my case it was 800 grit then start sanding in one direction either up and down or left to right. DO NOT SAND IN A CIRCULAR MOTION. After the 800 grit paper the light should look really hazy and scuffed up.
800 grit

After you are finished with the 800 grit do the same thing with the 1500 but go in a different direction. If you went left to right go up and down.
1500 grit

Once your finished with the 1500 do the same thing with the 2000 and again go in a different direction.
2000 grit

Once you are done sanding take a buffer and apply some Meguiars Plastic-x to the headlight. If you do not have a buffer you can do this step by hand it will take longer but you will get similar results. I only buffed each headlight for about 5min you can get better results by buffing them longer but yeah of course i got lazy. If your using a buffer do not apply to much pressure and dont stay in one area to long because to much heat will cause the headlight to warp.
Once your done buffing take some wax and put a coat on to protect the headlights from hazing up later on.
Here are pics after using the Plastic-x the buffer and wax.

Before


After





If anyone has any questions please feel free to ask.

 

Impressive, nice work.

 

nice results!

 

meguiars has a kit that u can buy to restore headlights as well FYI

 

nice job and good results.

 

They do the kit is 25 bucks but all it includes is a micofiber cloth buffing pad and some plastic-x. The kit works well on light scratches but not for yellowing. Only thing in the kit that is useful is the plastic-x but you can buy that for about 7 bucks.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zw5KSum28dc

 

you can also sand them down with 800 and just clear coat them and they wont haze up ever again last way longer then polishing them and easier imo

heres a pic of mine just after being cleared (bad quality picture)

 

Is yellowing removed the same way as haze or is there a different way?

 

Not to tread jack youre post or anything
My gsr headlights were "hazed" up pretty badly. All i did was get a pad that you can atach to a drill of some kind and putt some rubbing compound on it. Did each headlight for max 10 seconds each light. In proses picks

After buffing it for about 10 seconds with rubbing compound. I had a clean cover compared to the left fogeed up one...?

Hazzed up lights suck
After rubbing compound
About 1 minute of work and waalllaaa they look new....

Passenger headlight

Driver headlight

 

I like it. will give it a try.

 

I did this with Meguire's paint cleaner and an orbital buffer...good results!

 

basically anything with some fine abrasive material will work

 

Just because you clear coated it doesn't mean it won't happen again.

Clear film > Clear coat.

 

It will happen faster if you just buff them. If you re-clear the lights then the sun has to break down the clear to yellow them again. If you use good clear with good uv protection then the chance of the light yellowing again is very slim. Clearing them is a way better fix then just buffing but that just my opinion since i work at a body shop and we have done it both ways.

 

How hard do you wet sand? I tried this last night with some kit from Kragen and it didn't work too well. It looks the same if not a little worse. I started with 1500 grit, then used 2000, then 2500. Maybe I should have started with like a 1000 grit?

 

If you have a lot of oxidation and hazy go down to a lower grit. I went with 800 on the Jetta cause there was the factory film that was peeling i had to sand thru.

 

I have done this before on the same car it would work but would only stay clear for about a week. Since i have done the Jetta it has been about 2+ weeks with no haze or yellowing. I also did my EP the same way and again no yellowing or haze. The EP's before and after pics were not as dramatic as the Jetta's

 

Ive had it already for about a week if not more and theyre still shiney as the day i buffed them out. Maybe thats because it has been raining here in Sac town the past week and they havent gotten any direct sunlight on them.

 

I see well from the looks of your headlights it doesnt look like it was as bad as the jetta's to begin with. It should stay clear for a while when the headlights get really bad it is a good idea to sand them down.

 

Nah i am not gonna sand them because i dont feel like taking the bumper of. I will putt a plastic clear coat on them to avoid them geting hazed up and pain the high beam light yellow or if i get hids i will leave the low beams stock lights and put the hids into the hight beam lights.......LOL i just confused my self but ull get what i meant

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_t1RBw0IGXA

is what i used, worked wonders for my headlights, just attach it to a power drill that does 1400-1700rpm and you can have that done in under an hour.

 

Your third "different direction" is that then the same direction as the first or actually different like diagonally this time?

 

are u refering to my post...sorry i guess i phrased it the wrong way then

 

no, the original post, he says three directions two of which being different, so his example i think was up-down then left-right but the third is?

 

time and space