Mine are fried, the lenses have started to craze on the exterior and it appears inside too. Polishing them out works for a couple weeks, then I have to do it again. And there isn't anything I can do about the crazing, once that starts it keeps going.

Okay, I'll buy some. Yeah, good luck. New ones are in the $450-600 range each for OEM style (zero interest in ricer headlights with sketchy projectors and LED strips) and used ones...most weren't that great. Some had really good lenses but broken or repaired mounting tabs. Others looked more faded than mine and also had crazing in the plastic lenses. Finally found a pair from someone in Michigan for $225 each, free shipping and insurance. All tabs were intact, included the bulbs and ballasts-don't really need them (going to use my upgraded OSRAM D2R bulbs if I don't have these retrofit) but extra ballasts are nice. Showed up today, look to be in excellent shape. Whether or not I have them retrofit, I am having a friend who does PPF put some XPel UV film on the lenses so I don't have problems again.

This is how my current lights look 3 weeks after polishing. Just 3 weeks and they fade back this much.







After polishing AGAIN...I've used UV lens coatings, they put off the inevitable for a few more weeks.



The haziness is from the crazing (surface cracking) that isn't fixable.

 

Instead of just polishing your headlights, sand them down. Use 3 stages of sandpaper, changing your motion each time. Then polish them, and then put on a coat of UV protectant.

 

Go one better and after you get them crystal clear but before you install, take them to your favorite paint shop and have them shoot them with clear coat, several coats. They're always shooting clear, shouldn't cost too much. You'll never need to fuss with them again.

 

Yeah, I know how to do that, I've had a detailing business for 25 years. Once the plastic starts getting all the surface cracks in them, it doesn't matter. You can't sand deeply enough to remove it and it will come back. The Texas summer sun beats the snot out of plastics.

 

UV PPF usually works better, got a buddy who is an XPel authorized installer. He'll do them for $50 for the pair. I know the Optimum UV film (similar to XPel) works amazingly well. I do have a friend who owns a high end body shop, I'll run it by him. I've sent him a ton of business, he may do it free.

 

My 04' headlights were really bad too. I wet sanded them down with 6 stages of wet sand paper and 2k clear coated them. They aren't perfect if you look at them really close but better than paying $400 bux for a used set. I pulled the headlights out to do this which also requires pulling the front bumper cover and wheel well splash guards.

 

XPel PPF is awesome, had them on my headlights for about 4 years in this Texas heat and they've kept the headlights looking new. Sadly the film itself is starting to crack/peel a bit but will be replaced soon.

 

But thankfully you can replace that instead of the whole headlight lens lol.

 

I do a lot of night driving and long road trips, so I want the best lighting possible. The crazing is affecting the beam pattern, I can see shaded spots in it now. I don't have a garage (hopefully changing that soon) so all three years I've owned it my car has sat outside and the afternoon sun aims squarely at the headlights. Should have done the PPF when I first bought my car. Lesson learned.

What I couldn't believe was the price of the new headlights.

 

I'm glad you found some suitable replacements but be grateful you weren't looking for 06-07 coupe projectors. Talk about expensive, wow. Sadly as the G platform ages some OEM parts are getting harder and harder to find and it really drives prices up. If it were me I'd retrofit the replacement lights with projectors. Now on my second vehicle with projectors, the GTO was my first experience, the quality of the lighting efficiency is night and day better than reflectors even with awsome bulbs.

 

What's crazy is 4 years ago, I found some guy on a facebook group who built me up a set of projectors for my Accord using aftermarket halogen housings. Morimoto projectors, E55 shrouds, bulbs and ballasts, it was plug and play for $460 shipped.

There are a lot of halogen G35 replacements that are less expensive new but wasn't sure of the quality and if I don't retrofit these, didn't want to swap out for halogens.

 

Proper HID projectors are worth the dollars for sure.

Morimoto HID FTW.

 

I second 2k clear coat after multi-stage wet sanding. Did a couple vehicles last year and typically I get about 3 years out of them with 2k.

 

Here's a post with a pic of my clear coated sedan headlights after three years. They looked the same after four years when (alas) it went to the insurance graveyard (RIP).

https://g35driver.com/forums/lightin...ml#post7092189

 

And I third it. I'm also on summer #3 and my headlights are still nice and clear, after multi-stage sand/wet-sand and two-stage UV clear coat. My only real issue is the clearance strip also yellowed a little, and I can't get to that without baking the housings.