Restoration walkthrough

What to expect when we restore your headlights.

Five stages, one visit to your driveway, and 2–3 years of restored clarity backed by a 12-month warranty. Here is exactly what happens between the cup of coffee and the keys back in your hand.

Why this happens

Polycarbonate is tough — until the sun gets to it.

Modern headlight lenses are made from polycarbonate, a plastic originally chosen for being nearly unbreakable. But polycarbonate breaks down under UV: the factory coat applied at the molding line slowly oxidizes, fades, and flakes away. Once that top layer is gone, the raw plastic underneath hazes under heat, road grime, and repeated wet/dry cycles — that yellow, cloudy lens you see on parked cars is oxidation in motion. Restoration reverses that damage and lays down a fresh UV-blocking coat so it doesn’t start over.

See the difference

From foggy to factory-clear

UV damage, road salt, and time leave headlight lenses cloudy — and a cloudy lens can cut your night-time visibility in half. A single on-site restoration brings back both the look and the light.

A yellowed, cloudy headlight before restorationBefore

Cloudy, yellowed, dim

Overnight glare, run-down look, and a real safety hit on dark roads.

A crystal-clear, polished headlight after restorationAfter

Sharp, sealed, safe

UV-protected lens, factory-clarity beam, like-new curb appeal.

  1. 01
    Inspect the oxidation level
    We grade each lens in your driveway to pick the right sand grade and seal for the haze in front of us — no one-size-fits-all pass.
  2. 02
    Mask and protect the paint
    Trim, badges and surrounding paint get taped off so only the lens ever touches a pad — your paint leaves the visit exactly how we found it.
  3. 03
    Progressive sanding
    Coarser-to-finer grits cut the haze out of the polycarbonate and level the surface, working the cloudiness off in stages so the lens ends smooth.
  4. 04
    Compounding and polish
    A fine compound and a soft pad bring the lens back to factory-grade clarity, removing the micro-marring the sanding left behind.
  5. 05
    UV-resistant sealant
    A UV-blocking clear-coat is laid down and cured so the sun stops being the problem — the lens stays clear through the next summer of driving.

Premium upgrade

Optional: a ceramic top-coat for longer-lasting clarity.

Step five already lays down a UV-resistant clear-coat. Add a premium ceramic top-coat on top of it and the seal works harder — slower re-yellowing, hydrophobic finish, softer cleanup for years instead of months.

Recommended

Step 5+

Premium UV-Protective Ceramic Sealant

+$25 adds onto any tier

A higher-margin ceramic top-coat that bonds over our standard UV-resistant sealant to slow re-yellowing and shrug off road grime for longer. Layers onto any of the three tiers.
  • Ceramic top-coat on top of the standard UV sealant
  • Designed to slow re-yellowing, oxidation, and haze
  • Hydrophobic finish — water beads and rolls off
  • Stacks onto any tier (Single / Full Set / Fleet)
  • Recommended for year-round sun exposure and salt-air areas
Add at booking →

Stacks onto any tier. Selectable on the booking form.

What to expect

Around an hour, on your driveway.

The job is quick, the aftercare is light, and the warranty has your back.

  • Appointment length

    Plan on about 45 to 60 minutes per vehicle. We come to your driveway — no shop drop-off.

  • How long it lasts

    A properly restored and sealed lens typically holds its clarity for 2–3 years of everyday driving. Daily sun-baked parking, frequent UV exposure, and harsh detergents shorten it; a covered garage stretches it.

  • 12-month clarity warranty

    Every job is backed by our 12-month clarity warranty — if the lens hazes back under normal use, we re-seal it on the house.

Aftercare tips

Four small habits to keep the seal sharp.

The sealant cures fast, but it benefits from a few days of restraint. These four habits cover the window where most restorations lose clarity.

Skip the car wash for the first 48 hours — the sealant needs that window to cure.

Avoid waxing the restored lens for the first week so the seal can fully bond.

After the cure window, wash it like any other lens — gentle soap and a soft microfiber towel.

Park in the shade when you can; covered parking stretches the seal’s lifespan.

Why DIY kits fall short

Four shortcuts a $40 box can't fix.

Store-bought kits sell you the idea of restoration in a box. They almost always miss one of the three stages — and that's why the results fade before the next summer.

  1. Single-grit sandpaper scratches the lens in.
    Store kits ship one or two grits and tell you to "sand until clear." That leaves haze-and-scratch patterns locked into the polycarbonate — fixed later only by resanding with a progressive grit sequence most kits don’t include.
  2. No machine compounding means no optical clarity.
    Hand-rubbing a polish leaves swirl marks and uneven clarity. A professional dual-action polisher with a finishing pad melts the micro-marring out of the sanding pass; a rag and elbow grease can’t.
  3. Wax and PTFE sprays aren’t UV blockers.
    The gloss toppers in off-the-shelf kits bead water for a few weeks, then the sun strips them. Real UV protection is a dedicated automotive clear-coat — the same chemistry the factory used — or it doesn’t hold.
  4. Without all three stages together, results don’t last.
    Sanding, compounding, and sealing are three halves of the same fix. Skip any one and the lens either stays hazy, stays marred, or fades back within months. That’s why most DIY restorations look great for a weekend and cloudy again by spring.

Ready to book your restoration?

Pick a tier, pick a time, and we'll come to your driveway anywhere across Battle Ground and Vancouver, WA.

Book a restoration