The Premise
Many late-model vehicles have plastic headlights that turn yellow and cloudy with age and heat. That makes them look like crap and also lessens the amount of light they put out at night. We found several kits to rejuvenate them and decided to see which one worked best.
The Stuff
We tested three kits: Mothers PowerBall 4Lights (PN 07250), Meguiar's Heavy Duty Headlight Restoration Kit (PN G3000Kit; the company also offers the One-Step Headlight Restoration Kit, PN G1900, not tested here), and light manufacturer Sylvania's Headlight Restoration Kit (PN 38771).
The Test
Freiburger's Dodge pickup and Jeep Grand Cherokee both had yellowed headlights (the Dodge lights were so bad that he regularly drove with the brights on), so we used them as our lab mice. We used the Mothers and Meguiar's kits on the Dodge (one light each), and compared the Meguiar's and Sylvania kits on the Jeep. All three kits use sandpaper to scuff the surface age off the plastic headlights, then follow with a polishing compound-similar to color-sanding paint. The Mothers and Meguiar's kits use the polishing compound with a buffer thingy chucked into a drill, with Mothers employing a special foam PowerBall and Meguiar's opting for a fabric wheel. The Sylvania kit uses polishing compound on a small rag. Meguiar's and Sylvania finish with a protectant/UV coating.
The Results
All three kits worked wonders on the hazy headlights. They didn't bring them back to 100 percent new, as compared with the marker lights directly beside the headlights, but they got 'em close. The Mothers kit includes two double-sided sanding pads with four different grit levels (400 to 2,000), the Meguiar's kit has two sanding discs (2,000 and 3,000) attached to a super-handy foam block, and the Sylvania system contains three pieces of wet-dry sandpaper (800-, 1,000-, and 2,000-grit). Perhaps the most amazing discovery was with the Sylvania kit; as Kinnan was polishing the Jeep light with it, Freiburger sat in front of the truck and said, "There's no way that [UV Block Clear Coat] sauce is going to make it look at as good as the Meguiar's light." Then, wow, it almost did. You pour the juice on a tiny microfiber towel (included in the kit), wipe the light once, and it turns it from a little milky (after sanding) to shiny and new.
Conclusions
All three kits perform about the same. If we had to pick one, the Meguiar's kit had the nicest quality sanding pads and seemed to work just a little bit better. It also smelled yummy, but was the most expensive of the three, though the company has a lower-priced ($19.02, about the same as the other two) kit that uses just the PlastX compound and buffing pad. The Mothers kit is simpler and has the UV protection built into the polish rather than being a separate product like that in Meguiar's kit. The Sylvania kit would be our last choice, but it's a good one for anyone without power tools.
Bottom Line
You can't go wrong with any of these, and they make an amazing difference in the appearance of your car as well as in the brightness of your lights.
