Refinishing the Headlights on an Infiniti I30/Nissan Maxima

How to refinish your headlight to make them look brand new. This DIY article will show you how to remove the haze from your I30/Maxima headlights.

Tools/Materials Needed:

Wet/dry sandpaper in 1000, 1200, 1500, and 2000 grit
Car polish (not wax, but a fine cut polish)
Soft cloth or those blue autozone paper towels
Spray bottle

Difficulty:

2 out of 5

Start by soaking all your sand paper in water for at least 15 minutes. With the 1000 grit paper, spray water all over the headlight assembly. It’s best if you leave the hood open so you don’t accidentally scratch up the hood. Start sanding left to right for about a minute, making sure the surface is always really wet. Then go up and down for another minute or two.

Then go up to the next grade of sand paper and repeat the above steps til you go all the way through with the 2000 grit.

Then repeat the whole process, but the second time, do it a little longer with less pressure. After all the wet sanding, the headlight is going to look clearer, but still cloudy. Dry off the headlight assembly thoroughly and put a dime size amount of the car polish onto the soft cloth. Then wax on and wax off in circles. The more you polish with the car polish, the better and clearer the headlamp looks. Enjoy your brand new headlamps!

This is the before headlight assy’.

After the wet sanding, notice the cloudiness.

Polished with the Turtle Wax car polish

Finished headlight assy.

Note: Using a polish like 3M Fine Cut or 3M Scratch remover will produce a very brilliant sheen with less effort. Also, omitting the 1200 grit step should yield the same results.