So there’s this guy on YouTube that shows how you sand down the lense with 3 different sand papers and at the end you spray a clear coat on 3 times. In his video it looked like it would work but I did mine today and it looks like I’ll have to do quite a bit of water sanding

 

On my 2004, there was some sort of factory installed protective film.
Using a random orbit sander, I sanded with 400# dry(400 grit) sandpaper, then 600# dry and finally 1000# dry sandpaper.
Then, rather than spraying anything on the lens, I buffed it with medium grit rubbing compound.

When buffing, you need to buff slowly, otherwise the plastic will overheat and pull little specs away from the lens. Then you'll have to sand the little specks off and re-buff.

I plan on redoing both my lenses and then taking them to a detail shop to have the detailers put a layer of clear bra on them.
I think the clear bra will go a long way to protecting the freshly buffed finish.

Good luck, L.M.

 

I have that same film on both. So dry sanding it would be better right?

 

Wet or dry sanding will both work. I prefer dry because it isn't as messy and it's easier to see where the film has been sanded off and where it remains.

Good Luck, L.M.

 

I wouldn't dry sand. I wet sanded in 3 stages ending with 1000 grit, then used a rubbing compound followed by a polishing compound and then wax, all by hand.

 

Wet sanding keeps the paper from loading up. It takes time to get it down to a scratch free surface. I gave up and got aftermarket units that really improve the looks.

 

I considered aftermarket headlights, but at $180.00 + tax for the pair, I decided to spend a bit more time on polishing them.
My plastic lenses are starting to have tiny crows feet in the clear plastic so if the cracking gets any worse, I guess I'm going to have to spend the dough even if I can get all the cloudiness polished off.

The rest of the truck is in great shape and with nearly 200K miles I won't get what it's worth to me on trade or private sale if I want to buy a newer truck. So, I plan on keeping it until some major component craps out.

Good Luck, L.M.

 

I got my set for $70 on Amazon.

 

Mine were Fromm amazon but the reflector bowl on the passenger side was defective so I sent them back. I loved the look just not the big hotspot the light was projecting. The reflective bowl was flat on the inside part of it causing the light to accumulate more and when driving at night it looked like a spot light. The vertical lines that run down the bowl were missing or “flat” on one of the lights and I couldn’t fix it. Maybe I’ll try another pair.

 

After trying the Harbor Freight headlight system (multiple sanding discs) with limited results, I used something similar to this on my wife's Van , it wasn't the Turtle Wax, but same thing with little buffing pads. It worked excellent and took less than 5 minutes. I was pretty shocked, especially after spending as much time as i did sanding my truck lenses.