Headlight Restoration First Attempt: Massive Difference

Do you ever walk past your car and feel personally offended by your headlights?

My wife’s 12-year-old Honda Pilot is still trucking along like a champ, but lately the headlights looked like that glass of milk you left in your room for a week. Cloudy, yellow, depressing.

A lot of people ignore this stuff, but not you and me. We’re car nerds. It’s not that we notice these things so much as they invade our experience. We care when something’s off. Especially when fixing it can totally change how the car feels.

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Why Bother?

This wasn’t just about looks — though let’s be real, the yellow fogged-over lenses were dragging the front end down hard.

Cloudy headlights also mean reduced visibility at night and make the car feel older than it is.

This was apparent when driving. It was like driving something from the early 1900s that had oil lanterns for headlights.

Fixing them is one of those rare jobs that’s cheap, quick, and crazy satisfying. You don’t need a new set of lights. You just need a little patience and the right tools.

Why Use A Headlight Restoration Kit?

I wanted something quick that would get me 80% of the way there. The Pilot looks like a 12-year old car that’s been used for numerous dirt bike trips, family camping trips and many long (long) family road trips. I didn’t need perfect headlights. I just needed better.

After watching Project Farm’s Best Headlight Restoration Kit video I chose the Cerakote Ceramic Headlight Restoration Kit.

I wasn’t in the mood to buy additional tools (polishers, pads, compound, etc.). I just wanted a quick kit I could use, see an improvement in headlight clarity and then throw everything away.

What If I Don’t Use a Kit?

You can totally do this without a kit. Then you’re stepping into sandbox mode. You can go in deep and buy as many tools, compounds, pads and sealants as you want. You’ll be left with better headlights, but also a lighter wallet and a more full tool cabinet.

If you’ve already got detailing supplies lying around, it might make sense. But if you’re new to this, a kit saves time, guesswork, and probably a trip or two to the store.

DIY Supply List (No Kit)

Painter’s tape (for masking around the headlights)
800, 1000, 2000, and 3000 grit sandpaper (wet/dry type)
Spray bottle with water
Plastic polishing compound (like Meguiar’s PlastX or similar)
DA or rotary polisher (Rupes LHR 15ES Big Foot or Rupes LHR 12E Big Foot Duetto)
Foam polishing pad (Lake Country Whites or elbow grease + microfiber towels)
UV headlight sealant or ceramic coating (Meguiar’s Keep Clear Headlight Coating or 3M Quick Headlight Clear Coat Wipes)

It’s an effort to gather all the parts, and the cost can go up quickly. The main benefit of using a kit (like the one I used from Cerakote) is that you don’t have to overthink it. It comes with everything, and the instructions are solid. Just follow the steps and go.

If you’re the kind of person who already owns half the items on this list and likes choosing your own products, go wild. If you’re the kind of person who wants to just fix the thing and not stress, the kit is 100% worth it.

The Setup

I grabbed a Cerakote Ceramic Headlight Restoration Kit, a spray bottle filled with Optimum No Rinse Rinseless Wash (I used all of a 32oz. bottle), my favorite bulk microfiber towel the Kirkland Signature Ultra Plush Microfiber Towels, and painter’s tape. That’s it.

First step: Tape off the paint (and anything else you don’t plan on removing). Don’t skip this unless you enjoy the smell of regret and clear coat dust.

Clean the lenses with your spray bottle and towel and dry them off completely.

Restore The Headlights: Making Them Worse

Following their instructions, you start with their Step 1: Oxidation Remover wipes. Use the included gloves or grab your own Black Nitrile Gloves.

— DO NOT LET THIS STUFF TOUCH YOUR PAINT, CHROME, OR ANY SURFACE THAT’S NOT YOUR HEADLIGHT —

There’s four total Step 1 wipes. Use two for each headlight. Take your time here to get as much oxidation off as you can. Using your favorite pattern for ensuring full coverage (circles, or left-right/up-down cross-hatching) go over the headlights multiple times until the wipe is completely yellow. Throw it away and do the same with the second wipe.

Repeat with the other headlight.

Once you’ve used all of your Step 1 wipes clean the headlights again using your spray bottle and bulk towels.

Take a breath.

Open the Step 2: Prepare Surface kit that includes a circle sanding block and some sanding discs. This step will have you wet sand each headlight with 2000 grit and then 3000 grit sanding discs.

Then, using the same spray bottle to keep the headlights wet start sanding left-to-right with the 2000 grit sanding disc for two minutes. The sanding discs should glide across the headlights. If it starts to feel grabby you need to spray more water. This was a little difficult on the Honda Pilot because there’s a curved section on the outside of each like. I had to go slower and be more careful in these areas. I actually took about three minutes per light.

— MAKE SURE THE HEADLIGHT STAYS WET THE ENTIRE TIME —

Completely rinse the headlight and dry it off. The headlights will be foggy. This is good. Make sure the fogginess is the same across the headlight. If a section looks less foggy wet sand it some more.

Do the exact same thing with the 3000 grit sanding disc. Wet sand left-to-right for two minutes (I did 3).

Completely rinse and dry the headlights again. They should look something like this.

Tip From The Future:

Use sunlight at a sharp angle or a flashlight to check your work after each grit. Make sure the headlight looks the same amount of foggy across the whole thing. Also try to make sure there aren’t any large, obvious scratches. The whole thing should look scuffed, but not damaged.

Seal The Headlights: Making Them Better

Finally, we’re at Step 3: Ceramic Clear Coating.

Do a final wipe-down of the headlights to make sure they’re as clean as possible. For this, I sprayed them with the same Optimum No Rinse Rinseless Wash from the spray bottle, dried, then followed up by spraying with a panel prep solution. You can use Gtechniq Panel Wipe or half distilled water and half rubbing alcohol. This will make sure there’s no residue or dust on the headlight during the final step.

Once the headlights are super foggy (on purpose this time) and super clean we can start the ceramic coating.

Taking your time, using one wipe per headlight, start at the top of each light and move left-to-right. Try to overlap each pass half to a third of the way. The surface of the headlight should look consistent, shiny and clear.

Once completed you can carefully remove the tape.

I recommend keeping the newly restored headlights out of the sun, rain and any other situation for 24-hours to let it fully dry, harden and be ready to protect your headlights for a long time.

Final Thoughts: Small Job, Big Difference

I could’ve ignored the headlights. Most people do. But taking care of this little project made the whole car feel better. Fresher.

It’s easy to underestimate how much something like headlight clarity affects the personality of a car. When you clean and restore small things with care, it adds up. These aren’t just plastic covers. They’re one of the main focal points of the front of a car. Bring those back to life and the whole vehicle feels newer.

This is an awesome option for a daily driver. I would use this again as a quick win for a regular car.

I’ll provide updates at the 6 month and 1 year marks to see how the finish holds up.

Would I Use This Again? Depends.

At certain angles when the headlights are on you can still see the micro-scratches left over from the sanding. For a daily driver like my wife’s car this isn’t a big deal (she still hasn’t noticed).

This is not something that I would be ok with on car that you’re expecting to keep at a high level of clean.

I would not use this on my weekend car or any car I’m very particular about. For that, I would rather put the time in with multiple sanding stages plus a polishing stage. Being able to see the micro-scratches in the lens would bug me to no end.

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