It should come as no surprise that there are more car accidents at night than during the day. While there are 60% fewer cars on the roads, at least 40% of all car accidents that include a fatality are at night. More pedestrians are killed at night, too. According to the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute, nearly 2,300 pedestrians die each year in the United States because drivers cannot see them. One way to avoid being in such a car accident is to keep your headlights in good condition. The good news is that headlight renewal is possible without breaking the bank.
DIY Headlight Restoration Tips:
Try vinegar and baking soda.
This combination is a widely used one for a large variety of household cleaning projects and this is just another use for it. It is a great substance to use on headlights that have gotten cloudy. This combination polishes away and gets rid of the dullness on your headlights. This is what helps to improve visibility when you are on the road.
Start with clean and dry headlights. Dip your rag or cloth into your mixture and use circular movements to rub the headlights. Be firm with this. Continue until you get the results that you are looking for. Clean the headlights of the solution and voila! Headlights that look great.
Try some toothpaste.
If your headlights are looking like that are not what they used to be you can try some of the same thing you use to keep you teeth clean. Because toothpaste is mildly abrasive, it is good for headlight renewal. This is best used if your headlights do not need real buffing but are a little bit cloudy. It works as a great polish. Toothpaste works in a very similar fashion to a vinegar and baking soda combination.
Try a headlight renewal kit.
First you need to start with a basic toothpaste. You can also use toothpaste that contain baking soda. If yours has extra cleaning additives or cooling crystals, do not use it on your headlights. It is ok if yours is a whitening toothpaste, though. Take a clean rag and add a touch of the toothpaste to it. Firmly rub your headlights with the rag using circular like movements and work on it until you see a change. Just keep doing it until you are satisfied and then wash off the toothpaste.
If neither the vinegar and baking soda combination nor the toothpaste work on your headlight restoration, you can buy a headlight renewal kit. This is often the case if, in addition to be cloudy or dull, your headlights also look scratched. In fact, you may want to skip the vinegar and baking soda and toothpaste all together if you think your headlights look scratched and go right to the headlight restoration kit. Luckily, these restoration kits are not at all expensive and they are incredibly easy to use.
You have a number of options when dealing with the headlight renewal kits. For the majority of the kits that are out there, you have to repeat the process of wet sanding your headlights at least a few times to get rid of the oxidation that is causing them to be cloudy and dull. You start with a course sanding agent and gradually reduce that until it becomes fine. There are a few that also come with some kind of sealant to protect the headlights from UV rays that caused the damage to begin with. If you do not want to use the sealant but want UV protection, you can get snap on protective covers that do the same thing.
If, at this point, even the headlight lens restoration kit has not gotten you the results that you want, you need to seek out a profession headlight restoration kit or go to someone to do it for you. This will be more expensive than doing it yourself but is still going to be a whole lot less expensive than having the headlight lenses replaced.
It seems like a given that because you are less likely to get in an accident if you can see well, many people do not pay attention to the condition of their car’s headlight lenses.
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