- 1). Wash and dry the car using common dishwashing detergent. The detergent will strip any wax from your car's headlight covers and ensure tape adhesion. Dry the car thoroughly. Mask off any body panels or chrome trim around the headlights with masking tape; the sandpaper you'll be using can easily damage nearby panels. Use your razor to trim the tape to fit.
- 2). Sand the headlights with 400-grit sandpaper, then wash the headlights. Now, lower your 1000- and 2000-grit sandpapers into a bucket of clean, soapy water and allow them to fully saturate for about five minutes. Wet the headlights and sand them in a horizontal plane (side-to-side) with the 1000-grit sandpaper. Wash the headlights, then sand them again with the 2000-grit paper in an up-and-down motion.
- 3). Wash and dry the headlights. Apply a bit of plastic polish to your polishing rag and polish one of the headlight covers in a side-to-side motion. Allow the polish to dry while you polish the other lens. Buff the dry polish off the first lens with a clean, dry, soft towel. Check for clarity. If the lens isn't as clear as you would like, re-polish it in an up-and-down motion. Repeat until you're happy with the results.
- 4). Wash the car down with wax-stripping detergent and re-wax it. Your car's acryllic headlights will need a coat of wax to seal and protect them; synthetic wax works best for acrylic lenses, so buy some synthetic wax for the light covers even if you're using natural wax for the rest of the car.
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