Headlight restoration service in Los Angeles and Orange County

Most modern headlight lenses are molded from polycarbonate, a tough clear plastic. The factory covers it with a thin hard coat that blocks ultraviolet light. Years of sun wear that coat away, and once it is gone the plastic underneath starts to oxidize. That is the yellow tint and the frosted, sandpaper look you see on so many cars in Southern California. AAA puts it plainly: "exposure to sunlight breaks down the plastic coating", which then discolors the lens.

Heat makes it worse. A dark car parked on asphalt all afternoon, a hot engine bay behind the lamp, harsh car wash chemicals and grit thrown up on the freeway all speed up the wear. AAA notes that, depending on how and where a car is used, lenses can start to show it in as little as three to five years.

How to tell if yours need it

• The lens looks yellow, amber or milky from a few steps away.
• The surface feels rough instead of smooth and glassy.
• You can no longer see the bulb and reflector clearly through the plastic.
• Your low beams look dim or blotchy on a garage door at night.

Sources: AAA Newsroom: AAA illuminates the dangers of driving with cloudy headlights (Dec. 2018).

Everything happens where the car sits, from your street to the top deck of an office garage.

1. Clean and inspect. We wash the lens and look for cracks, chips and moisture inside the housing, since those change the plan.
2. Mask the paint. Tape goes on the bumper, fender and hood edges around the lamp so the sanding never touches your paint.
3. Sand off the damage. The oxidized plastic and what is left of the old coating come off with wet sanding, working from coarse to fine grits until the surface is even.
4. Polish to clear. Machine polishing takes out the fine sanding marks and brings the lens back to a clear finish.
5. Seal it. A UV-resistant clear coating goes over the bare plastic. Skip this step and the bare plastic is open to the sun again, which is why many quick fixes turn yellow again.
6. Check the beam. We switch the lights on with you so you can see the difference for yourself.

Headlights sit right next to the front bumper, which is where most scuffs and parking bumps land. If the corner around the lamp needs work too, we can handle it on the same visit. A dent with unbroken paint may come out with paintless bumper repair, while scrapes and cracks go to bumper repair.

Paint for that corner is mixed to your car's factory color code and is covered by our one-year warranty on paint.

Few places are harder on headlight plastic than Southern California. Cars in the Antelope Valley and around Pomona bake through long summers, and commuters from Whittier, Fullerton or Mission Viejo collect a steady sandblast of freeway grit on the front of the car.

We are a family owned and operated business run by Antonio Dennis, and no city in Los Angeles County or Orange County is outside the area we drive to. The full list is on our service areas page.