Headlight glass frosted

[Simonkitch]

Hi
The headlight glass on my Gti has a slight frosted look almost like its deteriorated over time.  Anyone know if i can replace just the glass or whether its the whole headlight unit job?

[Watts]

They are a fixed unit. Almost certainly they can be cleaned and brought up like new, are you 100% sure they haven't been coated with something? The headlights on my OH's car were showing their age and a kit I bought for under a tenner, made a massive difference. Given her car is likely 15 years older than yours I can't see why you wouldn't be able to sort them out easily enough.

[SRGTD]

Yes, a good headlamp restoration kit should make a noticeable difference, or a machine polisher and an appropriate combination of pad and polish - that’s assuming the frosted appearance on the OP’s headlamps is on the outside and not the inside of the headlamp.

I cleaned up the headlamps on a friend’s car with my DA polishing machine and polish on a foam applicator pad. The headlamp ‘glass’ (I think it was plastic rather than glass) had become very cloudy with age and improper washing probably also contributed to the cloudiness.

I was surprised how well they polished up. I’m pretty certain that cloudy headlamps are an MOT fail, so a bit of time and effort improved them to the point that the car sailed through it’s MOT.