My son has a Stratus coupe that he recently wrecked. Because of that he had to have the passenger side headlight replaced. Now it is brand new and the driver side looks like crap. I purchased the Mothers kit for restoring headlights and while it looks a lot better than before it still lacks clarity. I am just wondering if any one has any tips or products that you have used with success? Bottom line is that to have them match a brand new unit will need to be purchased but, with a little more clarity it would not look to bad.

In the past I have used rubbing compound on headlights with good results. If the damage is too bad you could pull the headlight out, sand it down with fine grit sand paper, and then clear coat the lens. If it is cracking at all it may be hard to get them looking like new.

Some kits that you can buy come with different grits of sandpaper. They get into the thousands - 1000, 2000, 3000. You start with the lower numbers and wet sand, then work your way up, then use compound last, possibly 2 different ones. I've seen what they can do on TV shows (MuscleCar, XTreme 4x4, Trucks!, etc.) and so long as you follow the instructions you'll get good results.

My son has a Stratus coupe that he recently wrecked. Because of that he had to have the passenger side headlight replaced. Now it is brand new and the driver side looks like crap. I purchased the Mothers kit for restoring headlights and while it looks a lot better than before it still lacks clarity. I am just wondering if any one has any tips or products that you have used with success? Bottom line is that to have them match a brand new unit will need to be purchased but, with a little more clarity it would not look to bad.

How? Or in what way, is it oxidation on the lens that is causing a problem?

The Mothers kit that I bought came with two doubled sided sanding pads. These pads actually got rid of the worst yellowing along the top of the lens. What is left is more of slight haze that the polishing liquid that came with the kit can not seem to get it any clearer. I have some polishing compound that is a little gritter than what came with the kit, should I try that or is it to harsh for the plastic?

What they said on the TV show (yeah, guys, I know it's TV, but it's a car show) was that the sun's UV rays attack the plastic and cause it to form micro-cracks that yellow when they're severe or haze when less severe. Sanding removes a little bit of plastic to get down to uncracked material. Polishing buffs the very tiniest scratches from sanding.

So, if you still have haze I'd guess that you need to sand it some more and work up to the higher grits. If you have coarser compound than what's in the kit and you want to use it, just follow it with the kit's finer compound(s) and you should be fine. Just keep in mind that the whole idea of the various grits in the kit is to start coarse to get the hardest stuff, then finer to smooth out that work, and then finer yet. Use the same pattern.