Protecting polished headlights

[Tommie38]

I’ve just polished the headlights on a 2007 Golf. Autoglym kit and the results are very good.

My question is, do the lenses need some kind of protective coating to stop them yellowing in the sun again? Nothing in the kit but I am fairly certain the polish is just a basic polish.

[trevalvole]

I'm no great expert on this, but I'll bump your post by saying yes, you need something in the range from a polish through a sealant to a proper job which is applying/spraying lacquer. And the simpler stuff like polish will likely require repeated applications, whereas the lacquer probably won't.

[G-996]

I’ve used 3M Quich Headlight Clear Coat to protect the lights after polishing to remove oxide, seemed to work well. I bought it through Amazon

[Marc p]

Depends if you’ve just lightly polished the lights or cut them back enough to remove the UV coating.

If you’ve removed the UV coating, I’d recommend the Meguiars Headlight Coating, used it on a few cars and always been happy with the finish.

[Timmos1974]

G-996 said:

I’ve used 3M Quich Headlight Clear Coat to protect the lights after polishing to remove oxide, seemed to work well. I bought it through Amazon

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Y9xAb_l5_Y&ab_channel=JustVlad

[Bainbridge]

After sanding my lenses I used a UV resistant lacquer, but it went funny after 18 months and I ended up scraping it off and using meguirs rx plastic polish.

The lenses came up crystal clear again, but they do need redoing about every 4 months.

It only takes 5 mins either side.

[Belle427]

Maybe try a wipe on/off ceramic type sealant every few weeks.
Very easy to do.

[Robertb]

I use CarPro Dlux. It filters UV among other things, and lasts ages. You can also use it for coating black plastic trim, alloys, painted calipers etc.

If you've removed all of the old top layer, any cloudiness that appears can be removed easily with compound.