How To Clean Headlights With Vinegar
Driving on a dark road without street lights can make you realize that your headlights need to be clean or change the headlight bulbs. You might be wondering how I can my headlights. They are many methods out there when it comes to cleaning or defogging your headlights.
Dull headlights can be a major cause in an accident with a next car or hitting a person walking. You can buy headlight restoration kits on amazon and do the job, or you can make your own natural headlight restoration kit at home that costs only pennies.
You might be saying this by now, “ my headlights are not foggy ” they have a yellow haze to them. Well, I have you covered in that manner as well. Headlights oxidate and cause you to have yellow headlights and water goes through the seems in the headlight joints or cracks toad cause it to be foggy.
This article will give you every practical way to clean yellow headlights, foggy headlights, and tips to not have a dull headlight. These are the best ways to clean car headlights that are effective.
Cleaning Foggy Headlights With Vinegar
White vinegar is in every one of our kitchens somewhere in the cabinets or on the countertops. It is great to remove odors and so much more things like cleaning your headlights. This cleaning method will remove the yellow in your headlights if it is not too severe and remove any fog in your headlights. If the headlights are too yellow you will need to try the cleaning method below on how to clean headlights with baking soda and toothpaste with vinegar
Steps:
Use dawn dish soap, rubbing alcohol, or even off bug spray to clean your headlights off to remove the bugs and dirt properly.
Add one cup of vinegar to a spray bottle and spray down the headlights. Only use the white distilled vinegar with no water added. The vinegar is stronger in this form.
Use a Mr clean magic eraser to rub the headlights in a circular motion until you can see some of the yellow going away. This will remove some of the fog as well and restore your headlights.
Repeat the process 5x times. Wash the headlights off with water and clean with a microfiber cloth, paper towel, or a wash rag for cars. If you still see yellow, that means the yellow is on a deeper level and requires you to try the next cleaning method including baking soda and vinegar to clean your headlights.
Homemade headlight cleaner and restoration formula Plus Equipment Needed
- Water
- White distilled vinegar
- Spray Bottle
- Microfiber Cloth
- Clean Rag or Dusting Cloth
- Gloves
How To Clean Headlights With Baking Soda And Toothpaste
If you are on this method, I figure your headlights are really yellow and need something stronger to clean them but you still want to try a homemade cleaning solution to restore your hazy headlights or foggy headlights.
The baking soda and toothpaste together will have a stronger chemical mix to remove the fog from your headlights along with the yellow haze. In this cleaning method, you can also use some vinegar as well to start cleaning off the headlight’s covers.
Cleaning Headlight with baking soda
Steps:
- Spray the headlights with some vinegar in a bottle. This will start the cleaning process to remove dirt or anything on the headlight cover.
- After you have removed any dirt or debris from the headlights. Spray it again with some vinegar.
- Mix 3 tablespoons of toothpaste and half a cup of baking soda. You can add a little vinegar to the mix to form a paste. Another great replacement for the vinegar is lemon juice, it is as strong as the vinegar or even stronger.
- Rub the headlight covers with the baking soda and toothpaste, paste you just made. Cover the lights entirely, both of them.
- Use a sponge and rub the paste into the headlights for 3 minutes, then let it sit for 5 minutes.
- Now use a microfiber cloth to rub the paste off the headlights and wash them off with some freshwater. Repeat this process until you see the results you like.
Headlight Cleaner
- Microfiber Cloth
- Spray Bottle
- Toothpaste
- Lemon / Vinegar
Cleaning oxidized Headlights
You might be wondering what is oxidized headlights? Or how to remove yellow oxidation from headlights? Headlights oxide when exposed to UV lights. The headlight cover protective coat will wear off over time, and the sunlight turns the plastic yellow day by day.
Any of the cleaning methods above will show you how to clean oxidized headlights. Cleaning your headlights with baking soda and vinegar would be the best homemade DIY headlight cleaning kit.
Cleaning Foggy headlights With Toothpaste
Cleaning your headlights with toothpaste alone is another method if your headlights are just foggy and you need to get the fog out. Before you can your headlights with the toothpaste, check to see if water is in the bottom of the headlights that will cause it to get foggy again so you don’t waste your time.
Steps:
- Apply the toothpaste to the headlights. You can use whitening toothpaste to help with getting rid of the fog.
- Wash the headlights with water and clean with a microfibre cloth.
- Repeat the process until you get the results you want. Always remember to wear gloves.
Buying A Headlight Restoration Kits
This and the options below are when none of the homemade headlight cleaning solutions work. These kits were made by professionals and will show you results in much faster and much better results. Some of them are easy to do while others like wet sanding your headlights can be a little tricky. A lot of people try to use mosquito repellent to clean headlights, but it’s not effective. People even use bug off to clean headlights.
Best Headlight Cleaning Tools And Restoration Kits To Buy
- Chemical Guys
- 3M Headlight Lens Restoration System
- Sylvania Headlight Restoration Kit
- Mothers NuLens Headlight Renewal Kit
Wet Sanding Your Lights To Clean Them
Wet sanding your car headlights can become a very nasty and time-consuming job. You will need gloves, a mask, sandpaper, and even an electric hand drill to help with the process. If you do not know what you are doing or miss a step in the instructions, you can ruin your headlights. This will cause you to go buy a brand new set. To wet sand your headlights, you will need to follow the directions on the restoration system or kit to get the best result.
You can use this wet sand kit to restore your headlights that I recommend. ( 3M Headlight Lens Restoration System )
How To Protect Your Headlights
To stop you from doing all this work and have you wondering what to clean headlights with and how to clean my headlights. Use or try these methods to protect your headlights.
- PPF Your Headlights – This is a clear protective film that covers your car headlights from chips and the rays from the sun. It can also be used on the entire car body to protect the paint.
- Check For Cracks – These cracks in your headlights will cause water to get in them and make your headlights foggy.
- Dull Headlight – Sometimes you might think your headlight is foggy causing it to look dim, but you simply need to change the bulb or upgrade it to HID.
- Wash Your Headlights With Vinegar Now And Then – Washing your headlights with vinegar every 6 months will stop them from getting foggy or yellow in the long run.
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