If your cars head lights are yellow.

[shortleg]

  Well  if that is the case,  I  just used Mothers mag and wheel Polish.
I was told this by a buddy shop friend and cursed if it didn't  work.
   It only takes a few minutes per side and they look new.
 Just one of those hints from Heloise things.

[old2soon]

On the plastic lenses/lens covers I've gotten good results with the California Purple Metal Polish. After you remove the oxidized plastic and reveal the "new" surface a coat of high quality auto wax or a silicone will extend the life of that clear look. RIDE SAFE.

[Gryphon]

It's also possible that it is time to replace your bulbs. H3/H4 bulbs yellow over time instead of just going out.

[shortleg]

No it is the lenses,  they are cloudy and needed to be cleaned up.

[Leathel]

if they are real bad and the outer skin is lifting 800 grit sand, then fine (I use 2-3000 grit but most wont have that) then polish

can make a huge difference

[Mr Whiskey]

Any bug spray with Deet will clear 'em in seconds

[Gavin_Sons]

Any bug spray with Deet will clear 'em in seconds

but does not last long. i tried it with my old truck and it seemed after it washed off or dried out it came back even worse than before.

[Jess from VA]

Just for equal time:

My Dodge Intrepid is 14yo, but just passed 30K last week.  My headlight covers are faded medium bad, the car sits under a cover (outside) when not in use.

After reading here, I tried deet bug spray (Deep Woods Off), rubbed really hard for a long time.  It did nothing by way of improvement.  It might have made the fading more uniform across both lights, but it removed no fading.  

I went down to the auto parts, looked at all the choices, and bought the one with the best brand name (can't remember, Blue Coral?).  I followed the directions, worked hard on one side for 35 minutes (by hand, not with a buffer).  When I was done, and polished off the work, that side was clearly worse than the other side.  Threw the bottle away.  

A buddy of mine sent me a Utube (where I should have started) showing the way to do it by wet sanding with three different grits, then masking the lenses and clear coating them with rattle can so they stay unoxidized.

I happened to see a neighbor kid doing this down the street and went down and watched and talked with him.  He had been at it for several hours, using a small orbital sander.  It worked, and looked pretty clear.

On a lark, I began pricing replacement lens covers for my car, and was surprised to find so many available.... aftermarket (Chinese?).  The wide availability of aftermarket replacement lenses tells me 1) this is a very common problem, and that 2) the OE lenses suck ass in the quality of plastic department.  By comparison, both my 18yo Interstate headlight cover plastics are clear as a bell, though with a few rock chips.  I decided that a pair of new aftermarket replacements at $104 (for both) with free shipping was worth more to me than the time and effort required to do it by hand (esp the masking and painting).

I had my car into my local mechanic for some brake issues and talked to him about the cloudy lenses.  He looked at my car and laughed saying my lenses were well within the specs for the annual inspections in VA, and showed me a half dozen other cars with fully clouded lenses that would probably not pass inspection.  He confirmed that the sanding with multi grit sandpapers and clear coating was the way to go.

I drive little to never at night.  The box with new lights is out in the shed, and I decided to get another year or two of use out of my current lenses before I do the easy swap to the new lenses.

YMMV

 

 

[Rams]

Haven't tried this yet but will eventually.   Another Valkyrie rider told me he used toothpaste and a buffer to do his headlight lenses.     Another told me he used toothpaste on his Valkyrie windscreen.   I looked at both folk's post work and it looked good.   So, I'll give it a shot.

I've been told the yellowing is caused by ultra violet light from the sun.   Obviously, any other damage is most likely caused by road debris striking our windscreens and lenses. 

[..]

Haven't tried this yet but will eventually.   Another Valkyrie rider told me he used toothpaste and a buffer to do his headlight lenses.     Another told me he used toothpaste on his Valkyrie windscreen.   I looked at both folk's post work and it looked good.   So, I'll give it a shot.

I've been told the yellowing is caused by ultra violet light from the sun.   Obviously, any other damage is most likely caused by road debris striking our windscreens and lenses. 

OEM windshield has a coating on. You don't want to mess that up.

[Rams]

Haven't tried this yet but will eventually.   Another Valkyrie rider told me he used toothpaste and a buffer to do his headlight lenses.     Another told me he used toothpaste on his Valkyrie windscreen.   I looked at both folk's post work and it looked good.   So, I'll give it a shot.

I've been told the yellowing is caused by ultra violet light from the sun.   Obviously, any other damage is most likely caused by road debris striking our windscreens and lenses. 

OEM windshield has a coating on. You don't want to mess that up.

I'm thinking that decision would depend on the condition of the OEM windscreen.   Haven't attempted it so, I don't know for sure but, will no doubt try it sometime.   

[old2soon]

Some of the truck mechanics I've dealt with over the years are of the opinion that in addition to the road debris it may very well be the air itself-or what passes for air in larger urban areas-that is attacking the plastic. Generally on a Freightliner truck the chromed plastic underneath is white. When the chrome is damaged other "stuff" attacks and discolors the white plastic rapidly. All I know is even here in rural Missouri we are Not immune to those plastic head light covers looking like crap in less time than one would think "normal". Or it could very well be Planned obsolescence on the car manufactures part!  RIDE SAFE.