Doctor Headlight

Has anybody here ever used Doctor Headlight for headlight restoration? Here's a link to their site: http://drheadlight.com/default.htm They send a tech out who will perform the job at your house. It takes about an hour. I was quoted $90 for BOTH headlights. According to the tech, they use a 5 stage sanding process to remove imperfections, and they follow it with an epoxy coating to protect the newly polished lens. It's guaranteed for life. I think I may try this... my headlights are getting a little hazy and showing some yellowing... Any thoughts? Here are some before and after photos from their website:

I actually just scheduled this service for this weekend. So, unless somebody here tells me that they had a horrible experience with Doctor Headlight, then I'll go forward with it. I also ordered a new set of Osram Sylvannia D1S HID bulbs. Mine are going on 10 years old now, and they have definitely lost some intensity.

dont have any experience with it but IIRC heard good things of the process. But, those pics are deceiving, the white balance of both pics are different from one another... dont expect such dramatic results like they illustrate.

I was in Florida in March my friend down there bought a 1998 Camry.It had severly frosted headlights. He brought it to a deatailer inPort Charlotte that did both headlights for $15.00 They looked great after and I asked the guy how he did it? He said 2000 grit sand paper and then compound polish to polish out the sandpaper scratches.

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I agree with you on the pics being deceiving. I'm not expecting anything that dramatic. I have more of a pitting/road rash issue than a yellowing issue. I've resisted the DIY kits because I was worried about taking off the protective coating that is applied at the factory. The epoxy sealer used in this process is what sold me. For $90 out of pocket with a lifetime guarantee, I figured what the heck...

That does sound good especially considering replacement costs,if you can,keep us posted on how it goes as I have a franchise near me and would be interested in having mine done

I used a comparable Meguiar's product on my wife's lexus. It cleared the yellow and haze. In addition, she commented that the lights are significantly brighter since I worked over the lenses. She commented that she had thought the bulbs were going bad. Total Cost was about $30 and less than an hour's time. Meguiar's kit included the sanding pads, polisher for drill bit, and all the cloths / solutions. Real easy to do. I have a scratch/blemish on one of my 911 lens, so I may do this on them as well.

I used Dr. Headlight recently and have to say pretty happy with the results. Down here here in S.FLA there are a TON of guys offering to do headlight refinnishing most with mixed results and most are gone 60 seconds after they screw something up. So I was VERY hessitant to let anyone touch my headlights given my experiences with service in S.FLA. All that said I was impressed with Dr. headlights warranty and the fact that the guys I spoke to seemed profesional and had long term experience doing this. So I went ahead and had them done. They are not the cheapest and ran me almost $200.00 but the difference is night and day and I like the fact that they coat them with UV protector so in 2 years I will not have to have them redone. Am I happy "YES" are they perfect no. The only issue is the UV coating wich has some impercfections and contamination from dust etc. Since it it is sprayed on and they came out to my home short of doing this step in paint booth or a clean room not much can be done to avoid that. Overall I say go for it like I said the difference is night and day.

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Thanks for the information. I'm glad you're happy with them. I'm not expecting mine to be perfect... if I wanted that, I'd buy new headlights. I do expect a big improvement though. I'll post some before and after photos.

I didn't take before pictures but I'll try and post some after. What I can tell you is the difference is profound. My lights were yellowing and fadded especially passengers side and now look crystal clear. Even the imperfections unless you stand there with your nose to the lights you will not notice. So, overall good job and I recommend Dr. Headlight over just Joe blow's headlightlight polishing. Also, at least down here the local P-Dealer uses them although of course the price doubles or tripples :/

I did the headlights on my Daughter's Jetta with a 3M kit that cost about $30. They were very yellow, you could hardly see the bulb. Result was pretty darn good. However, there was no coating after the polishing and I have been told that the lenses loose their UV resistance when they are polished and my fade more quickly in the future. Maybe Dr. Headlights process with the "epoxy coating" addresses this.

I hope it does... that's certainly the claim on their website.

You can buy the UV protector at places like Autozone or PepBoys. I did my Dodge truck lights over a year ago and they still look great. I used a kit I got at Harbor Freight for about $10 on sale. I also used 2000 grit wet sand on the hard to get to places. I am going to do the TT soon as they look like crap.

Any links to the UV protector? I polished my lights and they looked great initially have slowly yellowed over the past year. They're still smooth, but the yellowing is really annoying. -Shawn

303 Aerospace Protectant is some good stuff to use on plastic and trim. Great UV protection.

I, too, have used the 3M kit Dharn55's reply mentions. And it works fine...just follow the directions. Once polished, I apply stick-on protective overlays...available from various suppliers (Performance Products, Automotion, etc.) and that seals the newly polished surfaces forever. So advance planning is a good idea, as always. relinuca

I tried the wet sand followed by the polish on my 996 C4S. No good. Inspecting the lenses very very closely - it seems the crazing is not topical, but rather down deep in the lexan. Bummer. DC4

I have been looking at doing this myself for mine which are not so bad and my wife's which are frosted pretty bad. I think there is a DIY on RennTech and the results are really stunning. He uses a few sand papers ending at 2000 grit then a polish. His looked like new after. Go take a look. www.renntech.org You may need to be a member on the site to view I am not sure. $90 does not sound like a bad price if you don't want to do it yourself.

I used toothpaste with baking soda on my trailbazer.. Was a lot of elboe grease. But came out fantastic

For $90, I'd rather have someone do it who has some experience. I did replace the HID bulbs this morning, they were actually D2S, not D1S as I posted previously. Once the lenses are polished, I'm looking forward to driving at night to see how much of a difference there is with clean headlights and new bulbs.

I think for $90 you can't go wrong, especially when you consider that these lights cost up to $1000 each. I would rather let someone else do it as well. If you can post some pics. They have a franchise near me as well and if the results are comparable to the web site, I'd probally give them a call.

The headlight refinishing process is complete. It was 30 degrees F and snowing today, so I had the work done in my garage. The tech started by wet sanding the headlights with an emulsifier. He hand sanded progressively, going from 320 to 600 to 1,000 to 1,500 to 2,500 grit. He then treated the lenses with a conditioner, and finally 3 coats of epoxy applied from a small air gun. Because of the cold weather, he then used a heat gun (a.k.a. fancy hair drier) to help dry the epoxy. I'm very pleased with the results. The lenses look much clearer, and most of the imperfections have been removed. Are they as good as brand new headlights? No. However, they are a dramatic improvement and it was money well spent. Here are a few before and after photos. You'll notice some soap residue on the car still in the after photos. I'll wash that off tomorrow.

wow, that does make a big diff.

They look great Dennis, well worth $90. How much snow did you get today?

Thanks. Nothing stuck to the ground. Everything is just wet. We still have some snow left in piles here and there from last week, but the roads are clear.

Wow! That awesome gonna give em a call.

I think you should. Again, they aren't perfect, but they are dramatically improved.

Mine were even worse than the before pictures and came out looking bright and shiney. Like I said not perfect but a fantastic improvement and I like the UV coating and lifetime warranty especially living is S.FLA.

Bumping this for update. Is the epoxy coating still clear, or has it turned slightly yellow? Is the UV spray applied on top of the epoxy? or is there no uv spray used at all? Clear epoxies generally yellow over time.

I did this a few months ago with some kit from local auto parts store. Turned out really well, but I am worried about the Epoxy coating that I sanded off. Unfortunately, my lenses have tiny, tiny crack/ pits that seem to be deep in the plastic. Not noticeable unless you look very closely, but you can see it a little when the HID's are shining through. So for me a complete polish on the outside isn't going to make my lights perfect. I was wondering if 3M Headlight covers would work well to protect from UV damage on polished without epoxy coated headlights?

Mine have held up nicely! Had Dr Headlight do them about 2yrs ago and 22k mi and they still look like the day he did them. No complaints here

Recommendation: after having headlights refinished, cover them with a headlight film overlay...available from Eckler's [phone removed]). If you do so, you'll never have to worry about yellowing again, plus the overlays seem to eliminate pitting due to rocks and insect "stuff". relinuca

The DIY kits can produce decent results, but unless you have them cleared or otherwise sealed, you will be doing this over and over again. I did the process on a non-Porsche car, and the results were fantastic...for about six months, at which time I did it again. It looked great...for about six months.

2 years after I had Dr. Headlights d mine they are still looking good. The sealing definitely works especially important for my car that spends its time in S. Florida sun.

Bumping this back from the dead. it looks like Dr. Headlight is dead now? old outdated website and an non-functional phone number. anyone have a good resource for headlight restoration in the denver area?

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I think most headlight polishing businesses have died now that people realize how easy it is to DYI. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGQEHhxXYoc

i used 400, then 800, 1000 1500 2000 whatever mix you want to use. then added clearcoat at the end. works great. did by hand. Have used different methods and for some reason manual works best for me

I worked mine with the 3M kit, they were SEVERY scratched and they came up perfect. I had to start with pretty heavy sanpaper, I believe 400 as well, which mean a lot of work but great results. I applied afterward an Xpel plastic film to protect them and I am glad I did because 6 month later the part that is not protected by the film is already yellowing. 99% is protected by the film and look as good as new.

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Can confirm, I did this using a Mother's kit, which I'm sure is identical to 3M / Turtle Wax / whatever other local auto parts store is selling. It drastically improved the look of the lights temporarily, but they yellowed again in a few months or a year. This was on a Toyota.

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By the time you buy all the compounds in that video, you could have almost bought new headlights.

Did mine with the 3M kit. 500/800/3000 paper discs on a drill followed by a soft polishing pad and wax. Took about an hour to do. Pretty straight forward and they look a 100 times better now.

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Oops, didn't see the tape. Nice job. Did you use a sealer after?

Applied the wax that was part of the 3M kit.

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No really. I'm not advocating buying all the polishes in the video but merely outlining the basic steps and tools involved (sandpaper and elbow grease) But for arguments sake, a clean set of headlights for a 996 would probably run you a grand, and all the polishes mentioned in the video is probably 50 bucks.