The headlights on this 2007 Corolla have seen better days. After years of parking under a tree and more than a decade of usage, the headlights were foggy and hazy. Not only does this look bad but it hurts the performance of the headlights and makes driving at night less safe. New headlights are easily available for a popular car like this but a pair of new aftermarket replacement headlights would be upwards of $400 for parts and labour so we decided to tackle the old lights with this $30 kit from Philips.
This kit comes with 3 different bottles of solution: a pretreatment, headlight cleaner, and a shine restorer which acts as a sealant. With just the pretreatment, results were immediately noticeable as it cleaned off years of grime that had built up on the headlights. The blue cloth came back dark and yellow and the lights already looked a lot better. The wetsanding with 3 different grits got the surface nice and smooth and the restorer is important for maintaining the new appearance. In between the wetsanding and sealant stage, we also hit the headlights with our random orbital polisher to give it an additional stage of restoration.
Check out the pictures below to see a 50/50 comparison of the unrestored and restored headlight. The sealant layer adds additional protection to prevent further hazing of the headlight but regular cleaning and maintenance should go a long way in keeping these headlights looking good. This particular Corolla was not washed in over 2 years so the overall condition is pretty rough.
To top off the install, we also added CLD Kong LED replacement headlight bulbs for the low beam/DRL. These are a direct replacement for the factory halogen bulbs and produce a nice 6000K white colour output. They also utilize Philips LED chips and come with a lifetime replacement warranty. The difference with this Corolla with the restored headlights and new bulbs is truly night and day!
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