These I suppose will be the before pictures

But,, At what point is a headlight too far gone to even try.......

These are pretty rough(and in texture as well)

Let me know what you think AND what is a good product to use would be.......

I would probably use a variable speed drilll to do the spinning and need the necessary equipment(IE: Headlight restoration kit)

AND Any Idea how long something like this would take to accomplish

Thanks, Just

 

This is what I used on my 4Runner and it turned out great. It was foggy, but didn't have those deep scratches you have:


Results are here headlight restoration

 

The ones I saved on my WRX were worse off than the lights on your car, I used kit to restore mine and it held up great for the 5 years I had the car with no fading. if you don't get a kit with sealer ect... it will look bad again before too long.

 

I restored headlights in similar lousy condition in 2017 (car was a 2008 Opel).

I used the Mothers NuLens Headlight Renewal Kit. It has a drill adaper, a few sanding discs, liquid polish and a big blue ball sponge for the polish. The kit was fine. Not enough sandpaper. The 3000 dry pad is awesome. The ball is good. Too much liquid polish. With a consumer refinishing kit you probably need to do a quick refinish every 6 months; that is irritating but I don't see any other systems working longer.

Realistically took me about 8 hours total. I didn't think they would be recoverable but they looked 95% new when completed. One issue is that the OEM polycarbonate has factory coatings baked on that last 5+ years; your polish will last a few months.

Using a drill on polycarbonate can be a bit hit-or-miss without experience. So you need to do some research, watch some videos. It is not rocket science but you can wreck the headlights rather easily. For background, I have used drills for a few thousand hours in a prior life; and have some experience polishing aluminum & sanding wood. Didn't have any prior experience polishing car paints or headlights with electric tools.

Some steps of process that worked for me as I remember:

First put 2 layers of painter's tape on paint around headlights; keep an eye on that as you might sand through it and ruin paint. Wear goggles, ear protection, gloves.

I started with 600 grit wet paper by hand (did not come with the kit and I probably used 2 sheets); that took a long time and was painful. You need a sanding block of some sort so you are not concentrating pressure on a few fingers. Probably needed to start with a grade coarser but was worried about that. Basically you sand the headlight until it is a consistent opaque white.

You need to rinse the paper and headlight "non-stop" or the paper will get clogged and you can scratch plastic. But you also can't an electric drill in one hand with a hose grounding you; that is a electrocution sentence--VERY DANGEROUS. Maybe use a big water spray bottle and a big bucket for the sandpaper rinsing; still you are grounding yourself there unfortunately so I don't have a safe solution.

Then you can start with drill. I don't know how to explain proper drill procedure. Unless you have a warehouse of batteries, battery powered drill is probably not the right route. You need to be gentle and consistent. Keep drill moving so you don't burn through the plastic. Watch some videos. Keep moving to next grade sandpaper until consistent opaque white.

Eventually you get to the awesome "dry" fibre disc. Now lenses get very transparent. The blue ball & polish finish the project.

 

Thanks for the expertise and "woes of trial and error"...... but, yeah! your end results "stories with happy endings" AND "good to know:" Have to use the sealer


I am going to purchase one of the kits.. and the drill setup.... I will run my cordless drill with a couple of batteries....... just waiting hear if it is a go

As long as they say that I will be doing it for them............ I will post either way........

 

I had headlights that were just as bad. My recommendation is to go to a detail shop and have them do it. It usually costs around $50. The reason being, is that they will seal the plastic to help prevent it from happening again. Also, they can point out if the discoloration is on the interior or exterior. The interior won't come out unless you take apart the unit. Mine had some interior discoloration, but it was still improved with the detail. Just my two cents. The professional shop took about an hour.