Headlight Lens Restoration: Bug Spray Trick Vs. DP’s AIO Vs. Meg’s Plastx

[Angus]

Since my original AGO post regarding a very popular FB video of guy cleaning his hazed over headlights with nothing more then insect repellent sprayed on a sock has gained over 33,000 views I decided to do a little test of my own and challenge the idea of using insect repellent to restore hazed headlight lenses to perfect crystal clear clarity. I’ll also be using two products designed specifically for headlight restoration in an attempt to prove why you should always use products for their intended purpose.

For the test, I’ll be using my folks’ 98 Subaru Outback. They’ve had this car since new and the headlights are badly hazed thus making it the perfect test vehicle for this challenge. Of the headlights, the passenger’s side lens is the worst, so I’ll focus my efforts on that one:



After thoroughly cleaning the headlight with soap and water, I divided it up into 3 equal sections, grabbed 3 clean terry cloth towels, using one towel per product/ per section, and went to work rubbing each product by hand for ~20 seconds. Products I'll be using:



First up, OFF Deep Woods Insect Repellent. Towel sprayed with product:





Working into headlight:


After 20 seconds, of rubbing the towel certainly looks dirty:



Next up, DP’s All In One Headlight Restoring Polish:

Following the same steps:









And finally, Meguiars PlastX Clear Plastic Polish following the same procedure:







And now for the results:



Tape removed exposing the control surfaces:



Compared to the control surfaces, all 3 sections look pretty good eh? Well lets see what happens when I remove any remaining residue with a few sprays of CarPro’s Eraser followed by a light buff:



Updated results:



Looks pretty different I’d say. With the oils and other chemical residue removed the area “cleaned” with insect repellent no longer appears clear and is tacky to the touch:



However DP’s section still looks great:



As does Meg’s PlasX:



From the side:



From the top down:

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Conclusion
As I’ve shown, OFF Deep Woods Insect Repellent will not correct hazed headlight lens. DP’s All In One Headlight Restoring Polish and Meguiars PlastX Clear Plastic Polish however work extremely well. Of the two, I'd have to give DP’s All In One Headlight Restoring Polish the advantage of working faster and correcting better then Meg's PlasX did.

I also purposely choose to do this test by hand instead of with the assistance of a machine to show how little effort it takes to get decent results. Save your insect repellent for what it does best - keeping bugs away not fixing your headlights.

Recommendation
This was my first time using DP’s All In One Headlight Restoring Polish and I was very impressed by how well it works. I’ve used Meguiars PlastX Clear Plastic Polish for a few years after buying the Meguiars Headlight & Clear Plastic Restoration Kit from my local Pep Boys to fix my Honda Civic’s headlights. What’s missing however from Meg’s kit is a headlight sealant. If you want long lasting results you must re-seal your headlights with a product designed to prevent your headlights from hazing over again in a few months. My recommendation is to buy The Detailer's Total Headlight Restoration Kit as it comes with everything you need to get the job done right the first time.

Final Results
Here’s a shot of both headlights after being fully corrected and sealed with Detailer’s All In One Headlight Restoring Polish and Detailer’s Headlight Protectant Spray:





For the sake of time I did use a machine (my GG 6', w/a 5' backing plate and thin wool pad) to achieve the above results. Full review on using Detailer’s All In One Headlight Restoring Polish and Detailer’s Headlight Protectant Spray on the Subaru’s headlights coming soon.

Products used:
Detailer’s All In One Headlight Restoring Polish
Detailer’s Headlight Protectant Spray
Meguiars Plastx Clear Plastic Cleaner & Polish
CarPro Eraser Intense Oil & Polish Cleanser, IPA, paint cleaner, polish remover, wax remover
OFF Deep Woods Insect Repellent

As always, questions are welcome! I hope this was helpful. Please save your insect repellent for the bugs...

[Chris@AutoCleanse]

Great review and way to put the bug spray myth to sleep. Thanks for taking the time to post and share.

[allenk4]

Very well crafted Review with picture that tell the story

Thank You

[refreshauto]

very nice review, this one should go viral to stop people from messing up their headlights

[FrankS]

Excellent review!

[The Guz]

Nice review.

[SameGuy]

very nice review, this one should go viral to stop people from messing up their headlights

There was one poster here who said we are all ripping off our customers at $30-$50 (per lens? Per job?) with real restorations, while his customers are pleased with his more honest OFF! treatment at just $10...

[281]

Excellent review, thanks for sharing!

[Angus]

Thanks, fellas! I know I'm preaching to the choir with you guys about why using bug spray is a dumb idea. Hopefully visitors to AGO will see how easy correcting the average set of hazed headlights can be using the right products.

[Nick McKees37]

Excellent write up Ian!