Wingless Wonder

iTrader: (7)

Use of a plastic polish can remove the oxidation that occurs with polycarbonate (plastic) headlamp lenses from years or months of road use. Washing the car won't remove this oxidation. I used Meguiar's PlastX product and as advertised, it removed oxidation from road grit on my '02 WRX. I spent all of five minutes to achieve this result and did not use the recommended 100% cotton cloth, but it's a good enough improvement for me.

This product will not remove nicks and deep scratches that result from rock chips. Cost is under $8 for a 10 oz bottle at my local Kragen, although I don't know why they charged me that price when Meguiar's lists it online for $4.99. There are similar products on the market and may be found at Griot's Auto Supply online or possibly boat shops.

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0==WW==0
"…axles of evil…" - george w. bush

NW OBS

iTrader: (2)

That's pretty amazing... just had a friend get his replaced under warraty ('03) for the very same thing. Great tip!

case1

good tip

any kind of car polish will work though, if you don't feel like buying plastic specific polish

flipmode

iTrader: (3)

ive used that product before and it does work, but for some reason the oxidation comes back within a day or two. any suggestions?

gijow

Do you think this can be used on the clear plastic that covers the gauges on my dash? It just has a couple of little scratches from cleaning with a dirty rag.

Wingless Wonder

iTrader: (7)

If the plastic becomes cloudy that fast after polishing, maybe the lenses come with a hard coating from the factory. Polishing will remove any surface treatment or UV coating, if that's the case. If I find my headlight lenses becoming oxidized quickly, I might try some sort of hard paste wax after polishing. If this doesn't work out for some reason, PlastX can be used to remove the wax!

I Googled but haven't found anything conclusive to protect lenses after polishing.

I don't think I would spray on an acrylic clear coat over plastic lenses. The solvents might react with the plastic and ruin it.

There are also those custom-cut 'clear bra' type plastic film for our headlight lenses. Those might do the trick of keeping the lenses from becoming cloudy again.

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0==WW==0
"…axles of evil…" - george w. bush