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You’re driving at night on your way home from a long day. It’s extremely dark and you find it difficult to see. So you switch your headlights to high beams. This does little to help. You think that it may be your aging eyes. But it isn’t. You notice that other drivers never flash their lights to tell you to turn down your high beams. Then it hits you—the problem must be your headlights.

Yellow headlights are not just an issue of cosmetics or looks, but, rather, a very serious safety concern on today’s roadways. The National Highway Safety says that a large percentage of deaths in motor-vehicle accidents occur at night due to visibility issues. These dangers are even more the case for people living in a rural community. When I lived in a larger city, I sometimes found that I could drive around at night with my headlights off and not even realize it. This was because there were so many city lights around. But, especially where there are so few lights, we need our headlights. Being able to see well while we are driving at night can mean the difference between a costly run in with a deer and our arriving home safely.

This having been said, how can you fix your yellow headlights? What really is the best way?

First off, if you do an internet search on this topic you will find all sorts of products and articles claiming to have the cure. However, many of them simply don’t last. There are basically two methods (or combination’s thereof) that are used to help yellowed headlights. Let’s examine some of them and why they are not very effective. And afterwards, I’ll share with you a way to fix them that has proven to be the most durable and effective.

Method One: Buffing and Sanding.

Go to any automotive store and you can purchase a bottle of rubbing compound that claims to clean yellow headlights. On the positive side, many times they will help and are relatively cheap; one brand selling for around just $6. Some brands may also come with a buffing pad that you can attach to any drill. These can be purchased for around $25. However, with this method you should expect to buff your headlights with rubbing compound at least every couple of weeks to a month. (Buffing them using a drill may make them last a bit longer; but in time they too will still yellow again.) Although this method will remove the yellow dirt that is trapped within the plastic lens, it does not resurface or seal the coating that the factory sprayed onto the lens to help protect it. And it is this coating that is the real culprit of yellowed headlights. Over time it begins to disintegrate and, as a result, becomes porous. It then becomes like a sponge that sucks up all the road grime that later turns headlights yellow. For this reason, some kits involve another step before buffing with rubbing compound—sanding. If yellowed headlights are thoroughly sanded with various grits of sandpaper in order to remove the defective coating, and then machine buffed with rubbing compound, the results can be good. But again, this may only last a few months depending on various factors.

Method Two: Seal with a clear chemical.

Some kits may involve cleaning the yellowed headlight lenses and then applying a clear sealer over the top. Often this sealer is applied by wiping on with a special applicator. This method often yields the best looking results. However, you should be aware of some pitfalls. Depending on the quality and type of sealer used, you could run into some problems down the road. For one, plastic by nature is not a material that things easily stick to. (For this reason, we often buy bowls, cups, and serving utensils made of plastic so that food can be easily cleaned off.) So sometimes there can be adhesion problems with these wipe on sealers. In fact, I personally have seen a set of headlights that had some sort of clear sealer which did peel. In addition, there is a possibility that the clear sealer itself can yellow just like the factory applied sealer. And again, I have seen another set of headlights that evidently were sealed in this way and they were horribly yellowed!

So what is the best way to fix yellowed headlights?

The Best Way: Refinish; not Buff.

The best way to fix yellowed headlights is to have them refinished and sealed with an automotive-grade, chemically-hardened clear coat. Professional auto body shops have been refinishing and clear coating plastics for many years now. To do so, they prepare the plastic so as to ensure better adhesion; often spraying an adhesion promoting chemical to help. Then they apply a few coats of the same clear coat that they use to paint every other part of your vehicle. The finished product is far more durable than any wipe on chemical that is available to consumers. And it should only take about an hour or two of your time. The price can vary depending on the shop you go to, but, locally, I refinish a set of headlights for only $65 (2010). Compare that cost to replacing ONE headlight! It's like getting two new headlights for less than the price to replace just one.

How does this method compare to the others mentioned?

Well, when I first began researching this topic of yellowed headlights I experimented with various methods. In one case, I took a friend’s van and used it as my guinea pig. I sanded and machine-buffed one headlight and I refinished the other with automotive-grade clear coat. The results? You guessed correctly—the clear coated headlight has by far outlasted the one that I only sanded and buffed. (In fact, my friend mentioned that I need to clear coat the other one to make them match!) In addition, I have found that some customers have already wasted much of their money and time trying to fix their headlights using the common methods that were mentioned earlier.

So, in my opinion, refinishing yellowed headlights is the best option. You can get them buffed by someone. But why buff, when you can refinish? Why pay three times trying many things, when you can pay once and be done?