How to Clean Foggy Headlights Without Leaving Home

Do you sometimes have trouble seeing the road in front of you when you drive at night? If your headlights don’t seem as effective as they used to be, it could simply be because they are foggy.

Most of us forget about our headlights when we perform maintenance on our vehicle. But the good news is that cleaning them is fairly easy, and can be done with different items you probably have at home. With only a little effort, you can restore your vehicle headlights and make them look brand new again.

If your car’s headlights look yellow instead of being clear, let’s learn how to clean foggy headlights:

Start by removing the plastic headlight covers

You should remove the plastic covers of your headlights first. If you are not too sure how to do this, you should find the instructions in your owner’s manual.

If you don’t want to remove the covers, consider taping the area around your headlights with painter’s tape, to make sure you won’t damage the paint of your car if you are using an abrasive cleaner.

Clean the foggy headlights

Before you start scrubbing your foggy headlight covers, use a wet cloth, and perhaps a mild detergent to wash off any dirt, debris, or dead bugs from them.

Then, choose one of these methods to clean the foggy headlights:

Clean your headlights with dish soap

If your headlights are only slightly foggy, you can clean them with dish soap and hot water.

Dip a cloth in hot water, add some dish soap, and wipe it on your headlight covers. After a few minutes, wipe your covers again, with circular motions. Rinse with hot water until there is no more soap, and dry your headlight covers with a towel.

Clean your headlights with toothpaste

Toothpaste can do much more than keep our teeth healthy. It can be used as a gentle abrasive, especially if it contains some baking soda. If your headlights are only mildly foggy, this method could work just fine.

Apply some toothpaste to an old toothbrush, or to a soft cloth. Rub the paste on your headlight covers, and wash it off with a wet towel. If your headlights still look foggy, you can repeat the operation.

When you are satisfied, dry your headlights with another towel.

Clean your headlights with baking soda

It’s also possible to clean mildly foggy headlights with baking soda and water. Simply mix a few tablespoons of baking soda with enough warm water to form a paste. Apply this paste to your headlight covers, and wait.

After a few minutes, rub off the paste with a soft cloth, rinse it off, and dry the cover with a towel.

Instead of mixing baking soda with water, you can also decide to mix it with white vinegar. A bubbly chemical reaction will occur, but you will then be able to use this mixture to scrub your foggy headlights.

Use wet sandpaper

If your headlights are really foggy, you should be able to restore their appearance with wet sandpaper. You need to have three different grits of sandpaper: a 400 grit, a 600 grit, and a 2,000 grit.

Spray warm water on your heatlight covers, and soak the 400 grit sandpaper as well. Gently rub the wet sandpaper on the covers in a circular motion. Repeat the process with the 600 grit, and finish with the 2,000 grit.

When you are satisfied with the result, wipe the cover with a paper towel dipped in rubbing alcohol. The surface of your headlight covers should now be clear and smooth.

Use a headlight restoration kit

If you don’t want to use dish soap, toothpaste, or baking soda to clean your foggy headlights, you could purchase a headlight restoration kit.

These kits usually contain foam pads, sanding discs, a rubbing and cleaning compound, and all the instructions necessary to clean your headlight covers and get rid of their foggy yellow layer.

Depending on the headlight restoration kit you choose, you could pay between $20 and $50, which is more affordable than replacing your headlight covers.

Consider applying a UV coating to your headlight covers

No matter which method you choose to clean your headlights, they will eventually get foggy again. If you don’t want to have to worry about them too often, you could apply a UV coating to them.

When your headlights are perfectly clean, wipe them with a paper towel and some rubbing alcohol to remove any natural oil that might have been left there by your hands. Once the headlight covers are dry, apply a thin layer of your clear UV coating. Make sure you cover the entire surface.

Let it dry for at least 5 minutes before applying another coat. You should ideally apply a maximum of 4 layers.

Your headlights will then look clear, and will stay clear for a long time since the UV coating will protect them from the harmful UV rays of the sun, which are responsible for the foggy yellow look.