Keep in mind once you polish it, the effect is temporary. You've stripped the protective layer off and exposing the plastic to UV. Some kits will come with a clear UV protector coating but you'll need to regularly reapply. The best thing is to use a polish kit to get it looking new and then get paint protection film applied on top.
I used turtle wax headlight lens restorer kit from autozone. Also available at walmart and target. It was like $12 or so. Was skeptical at first but was genuinely surprised by the results. And i did it back in end of October. Still clear and clean. It didn’t require buffing or anything. Everything was there in the kit.
Been recommending it to everyone else lol bc i was honestly impressed
You can either buy a kit for $20 and get this done on most lights in an hour or two, or if you are too cheap for that you can do what I did on my dad's car and use a lemon, some baking soda and water, a cheap $9 Amazon kit with a 3" polisher attachment for a cordless drill which came with some cheapo polishing pads (definitely wouldn't use em on paint but fine on lights, glass, and other household surfaces), and then apply any car wax (or Plexus) a few times a year from now on to prevent yellowing. I already had the drill and the wax so my way was cheaper in my case. Now I just need a new lemon, some water and baking soda, and I can do this again on any number of future cars. Then if I get a bad rock chip or scratch that I want to fix myself, I already have the drill polisher attachment, I'd just need some polish, some wet sandpaper. The cordless drill would leave a swirl mark but that could be fixed with some firm hand polishing after with a microfiber cloth.
I cut the lemon in half, scrubbed it all over the lights by hand, got a misting bottle full of water and generously misted off any excess lemon juice or rind off the bumpers and off the paint so it was only on the lights, then I let it sit for a while and had dinner. I went back out and used the drill polisher+pad and some baking soda and water and ran it over the lights for a few mins. Afterwards I used some Plexus plastic protectant to prevent it from yellowing after (any car wax is fine), however I only had to remove a very thin layer to shine em up so I did not go thru the clearcoat.
If you had a worse problem where you had to go deeper and end up busting through the clearcoat on the lights, you'd never get it perfectly clear unless you abraded all the clearcoat off and got through to the inner plastic, but then that means they WILL fog up and yellow again after, sometimes in mere days. To fix that, you'd want to lay down a new clearcoat layer on the lights, so you'd buy some clearcoat >with hardener<, garbage bag up the entire front of the car, masking tape tightly around the panels and bumper so that you have AT LEAST 24" of covering to against overspray in all directions, then clearcoat those badboys with a few coats once they're dry and clean so you "lock it in". You'd want to hold the can less than 6 inches away from the spot you are spraying to prevent overspray and ensure the proper wetness and distribution, you'd want to keep the can mostly upright, you'd want to do this in >20c weather, and you'd want to presoak the can in hot water (not too hot to soak your hands in) for 10+ mins first.
Keep in mind once you polish it, the effect is temporary. You've stripped the protective layer off and exposing the plastic to UV. Some kits will come with a clear UV protector coating but you'll need to regularly reapply. The best thing is to use a polish kit to get it looking new and then get paint protection film applied on top.
Off bug spray
I used turtle wax headlight lens restorer kit from autozone. Also available at walmart and target. It was like $12 or so. Was skeptical at first but was genuinely surprised by the results. And i did it back in end of October. Still clear and clean. It didn’t require buffing or anything. Everything was there in the kit. Been recommending it to everyone else lol bc i was honestly impressed
You can either buy a kit for $20 and get this done on most lights in an hour or two, or if you are too cheap for that you can do what I did on my dad's car and use a lemon, some baking soda and water, a cheap $9 Amazon kit with a 3" polisher attachment for a cordless drill which came with some cheapo polishing pads (definitely wouldn't use em on paint but fine on lights, glass, and other household surfaces), and then apply any car wax (or Plexus) a few times a year from now on to prevent yellowing. I already had the drill and the wax so my way was cheaper in my case. Now I just need a new lemon, some water and baking soda, and I can do this again on any number of future cars. Then if I get a bad rock chip or scratch that I want to fix myself, I already have the drill polisher attachment, I'd just need some polish, some wet sandpaper. The cordless drill would leave a swirl mark but that could be fixed with some firm hand polishing after with a microfiber cloth. I cut the lemon in half, scrubbed it all over the lights by hand, got a misting bottle full of water and generously misted off any excess lemon juice or rind off the bumpers and off the paint so it was only on the lights, then I let it sit for a while and had dinner. I went back out and used the drill polisher+pad and some baking soda and water and ran it over the lights for a few mins. Afterwards I used some Plexus plastic protectant to prevent it from yellowing after (any car wax is fine), however I only had to remove a very thin layer to shine em up so I did not go thru the clearcoat. If you had a worse problem where you had to go deeper and end up busting through the clearcoat on the lights, you'd never get it perfectly clear unless you abraded all the clearcoat off and got through to the inner plastic, but then that means they WILL fog up and yellow again after, sometimes in mere days. To fix that, you'd want to lay down a new clearcoat layer on the lights, so you'd buy some clearcoat >with hardener<, garbage bag up the entire front of the car, masking tape tightly around the panels and bumper so that you have AT LEAST 24" of covering to against overspray in all directions, then clearcoat those badboys with a few coats once they're dry and clean so you "lock it in". You'd want to hold the can less than 6 inches away from the spot you are spraying to prevent overspray and ensure the proper wetness and distribution, you'd want to keep the can mostly upright, you'd want to do this in >20c weather, and you'd want to presoak the can in hot water (not too hot to soak your hands in) for 10+ mins first.
Go to AutoZone and buy the Mothers Nulens headlight Renewal Kit.