Our 2013 Fit Sport's headlight lenses are suffering from increasing haze and I'll eventually have to deal with it. What have y'all done? I want to keep the car safe.

I read that the lens polishing kits work well, but the improvement lasts for six months only. True? Has anyone replaced the headlights? I see a bunch of choices out there.

 

About 15 years ago, I used a name brand 3M headlight restoration kit on the lights on a Ford Escort. It worked great and still looked good when I sold the car several years later.

 

I replaced mine a few weeks back. $175 shipped for a new pair is worth not ruining my back.

South Main Auto has a good video detailing the process of restoration:.

 

I recommend a thing called a "stool" to avoid ruining your back
Yes ... sadly, I have tipped over into being an old man. At least, according to 20 year old me. Anyway, it helps a ton. Underrated car maintenance accessory.

I am excited to try this on my Fit personally. The haze is coming, as it does for all cars, and since we just bought a new car I have more time to work on the Fit without needing to use it at any given moment. Probably this summer.

Alco: If you have read the improvement only lasts 6 months. That's because many people only polish the headlight down. They do not reapply UV protectant. Without that, yes, the UV light will cause the haze to return very quickly. The UV protectant that came from the factory prevented your headlight hazing for many years. If you apply after polishing, it should do the same.

 

What I do:
Protect around headlights with garbage bags and masking tape. Wet sand with 1000, 1500, 2000, 2500 (and, if you are able to find, 3000). Then polish with PlastX. Then coat with a protective UV coating.

Usually lasts for 2-3 years. Takes about 30 minutes per headlight (I use an orbital buffer to polish with PlastX, can be longer if polished by hand).

Kits also work great, but are far more expensive then buying all needed stuff separately.

 

My partners mechanic polished her lenses up but they ended up hazing again after a year. I ended up getting a lens polish kit (from Meguiars I believe) and using the kit, but instead of sealing it with the provided UV protectant, I used SprayMax 2k Clearcoat. The results looked great and they crystal clear a year and a half later.

 

Personally I never had good results with those restoration kits. They just hazed again after 6 months or less. Decided to just replace mine with aftermarket assemblies from Amazon. Current cost is about $208 and assemblies come with bulbs installed. No problems after a year and fitment was no issues either.

 

2010 Fit Sport Tidewater Blue.

I used Meguiar's Headlight Restoration Kit G2970. I used it in August 2019, so it's coming up on two years. It took about an hour to do; I was being careful because I had never used it before. It worked really well; when you spray the coating on, it looks pretty cool. Not hard to do at all.

The headlights still look pretty good, maybe a 7 out of 10. I still have some of the kit left over, so I will try it again when the weather warms up a bit.

 

Use Mother's Mag And Aluminum Polish. Bunch of videos on them on youtube.

 

If you want something a bit more permanent, try 2k clear coat after polish and washing the lenses. You say they’re a 7/10 after two years, the 2k clear looks the same as the day I sprayed em.