For decades, all passenger cars in North America have used polycarbonate plastic headlights, and they all have one thing in common: They are constantly exposed to the elements and eventually become dull, yellow, or cloudy. Not only does this look terrible, but it also significantly reduces the amount of light. Fortunately, headlight restoration kits can repair almost any old headlight, or at least make it bright enough to be safe again.
In fact, a AAA study shows that headlight efficiency can decrease by 80% due to aging. Even replacing LEDs with brighter ones won’t fix the situation:
Research has shown that when using low beam, an old headlight produces only 22% of the light that a new headlight produces when operating at full power. AAA has also studied the impact of headlight replacement or repair on improving light output. Replacing headlights with genuine parts is the most effective way to restore light output to 100%.
New headlight kits are expensive, costing at least several hundred dollars, and on some vehicles, they can be a challenging job even for an experienced home mechanic. That’s why we spent several days testing, comparing, and reviewing the best types and brands of headlight restoration kits and used that information to highlight the best options (and point out some of the downsides) among the best-selling brands.
We drive the latest cars, trucks, and SUVs, but did you know the AutoGuide.com team tests tires, waxes, windshield wipers, and pressure washers? Our editors test products before recommending them as favorites on our popular product lists. We review all the specs, check the brands’ claims about each product, and then give our honest opinions on what we like and don’t like based on our personal experience. As experts in the automotive space—from minivans to sports cars, jump starters to ceramic coatings—we want to make sure you’re buying the right product for you.
There are several different types of kits available: hand sanding, drill attachments, cloth only, wet sanding, and dry sanding. We looked at the best-selling brands to find out not only which ones work best, but also which methods we like best and which ones are best suited for different needs.
We think any kit that includes a drill attachment, sandpaper in several grits (up to 3000), and a UV coating will give good results. You may have to hand sand occasionally, but it takes more effort to achieve the same results as using a drill, so we recommend avoiding that method if possible. We couldn’t find any cloth-only kits that were worth using, so we’ve excluded them from our recommendations.
The Mothers NuLens Headlight Restoration Kit was the best in our tests, taking home top honors. It’s not the best option—3M is better—but it’s easier to use, reusable, well-designed, and high-quality.
Like all the best headlight restoration kits, the Mothers kit uses multiple sanding steps and comes with a Velcro hex bit for use with a drill or screwdriver. Start by wet sanding with 800-1500 grit, then dry sand with 3000 grit. The final step is polishing with a foam polishing ball and a few drops of polish from an 8.0-ounce bottle of PowerPlastic 4Lights.
We prefer wet sanding because it keeps dust under control and the sandpaper doesn’t clog up as quickly. If it does clog, you can simply rinse it out and move on. However, wet sanding can easily ruin a finish, and if you’re not careful, the polishing ball can splatter the compound everywhere (ask us how we know). Wet sanding also makes it harder to see what you’re doing. Mothers kits don’t use a UV-resistant clear coat like most kits, but the polish leaves a protective polymer film. It won’t last as long as clear coat and will require occasional touch-ups, but it doesn’t require curing time. If you want the best of both worlds, pick up the bottle of Dupli-Color HLR300 Clear Coat from this kit and buy yourself two years of protection.
Easiest to use kit, second best results, wet sanding for dust control, hex shank, no cure time required
Sometimes you need more than just a regular cleaning. If you’re looking for something a little more professional, try Meguiar’s Heavy Duty Headlight Restoration Kit. This kit is designed to handle the toughest situations: All you need is a standard corded drill, and Meguiar’s kit will do the rest. From heavy yellowing to severe oxidation and heavy fogging, this kit will get you through it all, leaving your headlights clean, clear, and looking like new.
Start with a quick sanding with the included sanding disc. Then use the included PlastX clear plastic polish and Easy-Buff wool pad, which easily attaches to any corded drill. Finally, use the included headlight protector to protect your headlights from yellowing and reoxidation for up to 12 months. Like the other kits on our list, this one requires a little physical effort, but reviewers say they’re very pleased with the long-term results and the excellent value of Meguiar’s professional kit.
We were on the fence about choosing 3M or Mothers, and the 3M Ultra Headlight Restoration Kit is similar to our favorite in many ways. We compared the two products and ran three head-to-head tests to pick a winner. In the end, 3M makes the best headlight restoration kits we’ve ever used. However, from 10 feet away, you won’t be able to tell the difference between the two (or the Sylvania).
This tool kit has a lot of benefits. We used 3M dry sanding paper in 500 and 800 grit to give the lens a nicer finish, then wet sanded with 3000 grit and UV wipes, and the result was a brand new headlight. According to 3M, their coating can last up to two years and only takes an hour to cure. The drill bit has a thick, soft pad that fits perfectly to the curves of the headlight.
However, it does create a lot of dust, and while polycarbonate is non-toxic, we don’t know what old headlight coating you’re removing and turning into a fine powder (which we don’t think will do you any good, let alone microplastics). Also, dry sanding clogs the discs faster, which is why the kit includes multiple discs. The round handle of the attachment meant we had to use a cordless drill, which is much heavier and larger than the impact wrench we could have used thanks to the Mothers’ hex handle. It’s also a one-time use kit: each headlight comes with one UV varnish wipe, and that’s it.
Fast cure time, 2 year protection, thick lining for fasteners, masking tape included, excellent results
For most people, we recommend using a drill bit set, but if your headlights have complex curves and shapes, you may want to hand sand them. You can hand sand with the small disc that comes with 3M or Mothers, but we’ve been hand sanding headlights long enough to know that it’s not much fun.
Sylvania says the job takes 30 minutes per headlight. We recommend that the first time you do it, at least 45 minutes, depending on whether you get cramp or not. First, you’ll apply a “surface activator,” a proprietary formula that softens the plastic so it’s easier to sand. Then you’ll do the actual sanding and polishing, then coat the headlight lenses with a clear coat using a UV Block Clear Coat applicator.
We have had good results with the Sylvania Headlight Restoration Kit, but it only sands to 2000 grit and then uses a buff. It does work, but not as well as sanding to 3000 grit with other kits, and the kit should have included an applicator for the abrasive, as the included cloth doesn’t do a very good job. Applying UV varnish is a messy process that takes a long time to dry, but Sylvania backs their product with a lifetime warranty.
Wet sanding process, large enough sheets of sandpaper, lots of clear coat included, lifetime warranty
If you are into car detailing, you have probably heard of ceramic coatings and detailing products. Cerakote offers a ceramic headlight restoration kit that is specifically designed to chemically bond with your headlights, providing UV protection for the life of your vehicle. The company offers a limited lifetime warranty, and the coating will last as long as you own your vehicle. Otherwise, they will provide another kit for free.
We haven’t tested the Cerakote yet, but it’s an interesting wet sanding kit that borrows some of its design from auto body shops and includes a foam sanding block for use with the included sandpaper. It seems like a great idea and addresses our biggest complaint about hand sanding kits. It should make sanding easier, but it’s still more labor-intensive than machine sanding. The kit only includes two grades of sandpaper, and based on our experience with other kits, it’s hard to get perfect results.
Cerakote also uses a pre-spray, like Sylvania, which we found to be very effective. Cerakote claims the pre-spray contains initial UV protection, and its magic wand is a ceramic coating that is easy to apply and, according to the company, more durable than traditional UV-protective clear coats. The company also claims the coating will help fill in scratches and chips that cannot be removed by sanding.
The Meguiar’s Headlight Restoration Kit is a little different than most. After applying the cleaning solution, scrub the headlights evenly with a soft abrasive cleaning pad, then apply two coats of aerosol protectant. Without the dust of dry sanding and the messy runoff of wet sanding, this is probably the neatest option.
If it sounds too good to be true, it is. Maguire says you need to apply, rub, and wipe the solution off several times to get an even matte finish. If you don’t want the rest of the car to be stained by the clear coat, you should completely cover it with masking tape and newspaper. Because it’s a relatively gentle process, it won’t work as well on very cloudy or damaged headlights, and the results we saw didn’t look as crisp as when using the two products we chose with different grits of sandpaper.
The finish lasts about a year, which isn’t as long as most other finishes, but the clear coat of the atmospheric fog can means you can do a few maintenance touch-ups a year and it will last longer.
We left this kit on the list because it is a best seller, but we do not recommend it. It was the hardest kit to use in our tests, gave the worst results, took the longest to cure, and used horrible chemicals.
The Wipe New Headlight Restoration Kit (whose name Rust-Oleum rightfully dropped since we bought it a few months ago) comes with a small, stiff, dual-sided sanding block, a microfiber towel, gloves, and a UV lacquer sponge. It uses our favorite wet-sanding technique, but the pad is too small to hold it well. In testing, we were only able to sand 40 square inches before our hands and index fingers started to hurt, and we couldn’t imagine sanding the remaining 280 square inches of our Dodge Magnum RT’s headlights. Plus, the pad is too stiff and doesn’t follow curves, making it difficult to sand evenly. One benefit of this method is that it provides a great tactile feel, so it’s easy to tell when the texture of the paint changes.
The final area to be coated was covered in hazardous material warnings, and we immediately opened the shop door to the smell. Using one pad on both sides means it will need to be soaked in liquid, which can drip onto the headlights. Of all the headlight restoration kits, it requires the longest cure time, at 24 hours.
Over time, your car’s headlights are exposed to the elements and become yellow or cloudy. This is usually caused by UV exposure, but also by weather conditions, dust, and debris. These conditions can cause the protective coating on your headlights to break down, causing the lenses to become discolored, foggy, and aged.
Headlight restoration kits are designed to eliminate this unsightly appearance with solutions that remove all the dirt and dust that has accumulated. Some of these kits use sandpaper to wet sand the outside of the headlight to remove the deposits. A protectant or polish can then be used to remove any remaining dirt and film, as well as provide a new layer of protection for the headlight lenses.
More importantly, restoring the brightness of your headlights will make driving safer. Cloudy headlight lenses can reduce visibility by up to 80%.
To repair headlights, you only need two things: sandpaper and UV varnish. These kits (especially those with drill bits) contain everything you need in one box, but if you want to choose the best of all the parts and create a kit that you can use again and again, you will need the following items:
First, we need to prepare a pack of easy-to-carry wet and dry sandpaper, as well as some soft sanding blocks. This allows it to hold up when sanding large areas (our main gripe with most tool kits), and also gives it versatility when sanding corners and curves.
Dupli-Color sells what the company calls headlight restoration kits. But they’re not really that, they’re just a coating kit. However, it’s exactly what we need for touching up headlights after sanding, and the kit comes with enough cans for multiple uses, so you can touch them up once or twice a year.
When restoring headlights, we always recommend following the manufacturer’s instructions, especially since some kits require a different process than others. Here are some general steps to help you understand what is involved in a headlight restoration.
July 21, 2022: Removed Meguiar’s 1-step, Rain-X, Turtle Wax, Phillips, and CLT kits from sale due to bad reviews. Added Meguiar’s G2970 2-Step Headlight Restoration Kit. Added How To section.
July 20, 2022: Added photos and real test results. Mothers Headlight Restoration Kit won Editor’s Choice, with 3M coming in second, Sylvania third, and Rust-Oleum last. Removed unnecessary parts from 3M kit.
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After graduating with a degree in Automotive Design, Dave spent nearly a decade writing and photographing for print car magazines (remember those?) before moving to digital. Now he photographs a collection of vintage muscle cars, testing them on the roads and in Vermont weather, and wondering why they always end up damaged and expensive. If you see him crawling under a car on the side of the road, pull over.
My headlight broke. Worse than before. careful. The instructions on the package are incomplete. It turns out the problem is serious.
Stop recommending this garbage to people! Sanding will ruin the original UV coating! Use Fleisher’s Headlight Restoration Spray! Just spray it on to wipe away the yellow haze!