Hi all first proper post. Looking for some advice on headlight restoration
With all the snow it’s making me realise how yellow my headlights are looking.
Do the restoration kits work? How difficult?
There are adverts on Facebook for people doing restoration work anyone used them
Hi
I had a 55 plate mk3 and purchased the light restoration solution through Wish for only a few pounds. I was very impressed with the outcome and I only did it once. Strong stuff but does make a good difference!
I hope you get bright lights soon!!!
The only issue is the 4 to 6 week wait time for the product!
Mine were misty and yellow. I worked hard with some Autoglym polish. It worked. If you have some T-cut it would be quicker. Alternatively wait for a restoration kit, or if you have a DA polisher use that with a small pad and mask off the painted areas around it first.
Once you’ve restored your headlights , might be worth putting in some new brighter whiter bulbs like Philips White vision or somthing similar , makes quite a bit of difference 
Are all the kits pretty much alike? They seem to vary a lot in price in some cases are just paying extra for known brand
I have tried a few headlamp polishing things on my old Volvo as they are very bad for discolouring with age this is what I found.
If they are really bad, rough and pitted then 2000 grade wet and dry with plenty of water flats them off well, moving to 2500 grade then on to a polish.
Brasso - wadding or liquid cuts them back well, better than T-cut although that does work.
I have tried a restoration kit. I found it really hard as the pads kept jumping around and matching the lamp curve was difficult. I would not attempt it with the lights in the car as I would undoubtedly have contacted the paintwork. Having tried it I reverted to hand polishing.
If they are not too bad I have found a tube of K2 Lamp Doctor is really good for a hand polish and keeping on top of them.
What ever you do when finished seal them, there are some excellent coatings out there (which I do not have), but I just used three coats of autoglym polish and topped it up each time I washed he car.
Hope my experience helps, I am not claiming to be an expert just sharing what I have done.
Good luck.
Basically as above, plenty of elbow grease with either Brasso (liquid or the pads) and or Autoglym. It’ll take some time but worth it. I’ve done a PVC hood window too with the Autoglym polish, that came up good, you could actually see through it again. Although my NC headlights have never been a problem, the NB import I once owned the headlights were terrible when I first got the car. Once I’d brought them back to looking decent about once every 6 months I gave them an easier once over with the polish, wax over each time afterwards.
I’ve never used a kit myself, I just fitted new dip beam bulbs which is a real lark on a MK3, but worth doing.
If you look on youtube there’s loads of tips and ideas regarding cleaning up and renovating headlamps, well worth a look.
Boz
Hi Bosley I keep thinking of changing my bulbs as well,headlight lenses are nice and clear at the moment , but halogen bulbs are not very good at all , wish that I had done them last summer when I had the front bumper cover off putting the lip spoiler on like you say they really are a life of pain to change them luckily I hardly ever drive it in the dark.
Hi Cpt,
Yes I fitted Philips White vision bulbs which are an improvement over the originals, so glad I did it, but not looking forward to changing them again, 
hopefully they’ll last a long time
What is the issue with changing the bulbs? Mine are just yellow light bulbs and they dont give off much light really. One of the many upgrades I want to do, but you have put me off doing it now hahaha.
Scrap replying, I looked it up on youtube - good lord, wheel off and arch liner off!!!
There’s your answer. Not to bad if you don’t mind losing some skin off the back of your hands and knuckles.
Some people say you can get to the bulbs ( MK3 )with the front wheel turned fully in , so as to give maximum access to the arch liner, but in the end I just took the wheel off, I also picked up some spare arch liner clips, you can get them from MX5 parts, or on ebay , they’re quite cheap but worth having as sometimes the old clips can break or get mullered as you try to get them off, they are like plastic rivet thingy’s .
Don’t be put off, its worth doing honestly, but just be prepared for obscene amounts of effing and blinding and cursing the designer, …oh and some TCP 
Is there a link Bosley for the bulbs I need please? Also would I be best changing other bulbs at the same time? And if so are there links for those as well please?
Sure , I’m not much good with computers but I’ll try and attach a link, there are various alternatives so its worth having a look at whats available
Philips White Vision H7 12v
I am now back up to 13 wanted upgrades in my list. Damn this is getting expensive lol.
I followed this guys method of restoring them - worked brilliantly - remeber the UV protective coat though or the new shine wontlast that long!
Personally you can’t beat a drill attachment for the polish.
After you can spray the headlights with 2K clear coat. 2K cans have a hardner in the bottom which you must release in to the can before using.
I used the 3M kit and the headlights looked like new after. It comes a little drill attachment.