Headlight polishing

[Pretzel]

Headlights look fine in daylight, but once switched on there are lots of tiny marks visible almost like dust which I presume are on the outside of the plastic light cover. Car has done 50,000 miles

Has anyone here had a similar problem and managed to polish the marks out?

[monkeyhanger]

Polishing headlights?

Fnar Fnar! I have just been reading Finbar Saunders in Viz.

Those marks are almost certainly light stone chipping on the surface of the headlights. Plenty of youtube videos on how to polish out long term oxidation/dulling and light chips - tome recommend toothpaste as a very mild cutting compound! Unless the beam output is terrible, I'd leave it alone or you'll be doing it frequently if you expect a perfect output.

[dubber36]

Also you'll polish off the UV protection that prevents the polycarbonate going cloudy with anything too abrasive.

[steve12345]

I have the same problem. I haven’t done anything about it, but will keep on eye on this thread for suggestions.

I’ll give toothpaste a go, when I get round to washing it

[Rob_benton]

I have what looks like dust on the inside of my headlights. From experience plastic lenses go cloudy before
tiny marks appear on the outside.

If you look at the headlight turned on in the dark you can see the condition of the lens far better and may see the dust on the inside.

If the marks are on the outside, you can polish the lens. But I’d use a cutting compound rather than toothpaste.
Google gives all the info you need. And finally use a coating to protect the lens afterwards as you will have removed the protection.

[Jim_mk7.5]

Headlights look fine in daylight, but once switched on there are lots of tiny marks visible almost like dust which I presume are on the outside of the plastic light cover. Car has done 50,000 miles

Has anyone here had a similar problem and managed to polish the marks out?

Should be fine to give them a light polish. Just make sure you then put something on to protect/seal them. It won’t get rid of stone chips but at 50k miles, it should get a nice improvement.