My left headlight didn't look as nice as the right one so I bought the Mother's 4Lights Headlight "restoring" kit

Well... now it looks even worse.

Any ideas?

The outside surface is smooth as can be when you touch it... but it looks so fogged up... when you pour water over it, it looks fine. Also when you scratch small areas with your fingernail the whiteness KINDA goes away... which leads me to believe inside of the lens isn't the problem

I'm not sure why 1 headlight was more worn than the other when I bought it... but that's how it was and I tried to fix it and it just messed up more. Any ideas?

 

It appears the only step you did was sand it down with the kit...you need to add polish and use a buffing ball or something to make it clear and bring back the shine.

You didnt ruin it, just needs polished.

 

it came with its own polish and buffer ball... I've used it multiple times. Am I doing it wrong or something?

 

Yeah you def skipped a step

 

Apply clear coat

 

clear it or buff it out

 

those kits that they sell dont work , it will just come back . your best bet is to sand it down and clear it . did mine a month ago and i swear the lights look brand new. up to date i still get asked if i bought new headlights

 

i used the mothers kit and mine came out nice. when youre sanding it make sure the lens is always wet and as youre doing each step to sand do it a little longer and dont press to hard on the lens. when buffing use as quarter size of the polish on half the lens. i used a good amount on mine. but make sure not to heat up the lens when buffing because it will destroy it.

 

found out the problem... there was too much polish on it... used some paint thinner+degreasers and buffed it and it looked a little better. The clearer pic is after the paint thinner, and the 2nd pic is like 30 mins after... not as good as new but its a lot better than it was after the mothers kit

^ and the lens was always wet I sprayed it with a bottle of water all the time and I had the sanding pads in a cup of water...

I think I just used too much polish

quicksilver 8 how exactly did you do it?

 

Ive used the turtle waxes version no buffing ball or anything it just has a series of sanding pads and after its sanded down there's a polish you just rub in and a silicone sealing wipe and its crystal clear and hasn't come back yet...

 

Wow, great improvement. Nice job.

 

Its still noticeably worse than the drivers side headlight... I need to find out if there's any way I can buy JUST a lens and nothing else

 

I ended up fubaring my Civic lights up with that Meguiar's kit also... I opted to take it to a paint shop and have them restore my lights. They sanded it and sprayed it with some clear. Good as new.

 

Looks great, this works well also:

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

 

I've used at least 3 headlight restoration kits, but the 3M seems seems to be right on the money They use P500, P800, P3000, and finally a rubbing compound with a foam pad to finish the job.