As I was doing laundry this morning, I remembered that I had promised my husband that I was going to see if I could find out how to clean our dim headlights... without paying through the nose for one of those treatments from the local auto shop. So off I went to find a solution to our problem. I sorted through a plethora of ideas ranging from complex to as simple as sanding off the grime with sandpaper and soap. Since Hubby wasn't too keen on the sandpaper idea, I went with the other one that we had all of the ingredients on hand for. The ingredients for this magical mix of headlight revival consist of baking soda, dish soap, toothpaste, wash rags, and water! A little doubtful at the possibility of this working out, I grabbed my bucket of water, my ingredients and headed out to my van to give it a go... and I was amazed at the turnout!
(These are pictures of our cloudy headlights)
Check it out for yourself! Here are the steps for actually cleaning the headlights:
1. Mix 3 parts toothpaste to one part baking soda in a small container, and mix thoroughly. In another gallon container put 1 cup baking soda and fill the rest with water. (You will need another container with pure water in it... I used a spray bottle for mine.)
2. Wash the headlights with the dish soap and water to get the initial grime and nastiness off the surface. Then take a dry wash rag, dip it into the toothpaste mix, and scrub in circular motions. Take your time in doing this... this is the most important step. (You also might notice that where scrubbing the rag becomes a nasty yellow-brownish color... that's what was clouding your headlights coming off!)
( I had washed most of the front except for the left side... can you see the difference??)
3. Wipe the toothpaste off of the headlight with a clean cloth that was soaked in the baking soda water. Then repeat step 2. (You will already have noticed how amazingly different your lights already look just after the first go!) Wipe off once more with the baking soda water, then rinse with your pure water. VOILA! Beautiful headlights once more!!!!! Have fun. I know I did!
(The Finished Product!!!)
