Following the "little accident" which the missus had in our lovely Octavia, the o/s headlamp lens was replaced, leaving the n/s looking like an ugly sister. I searched the internet looking at all kinds of cleaners/creams/solutions, and then came across this useful video.

This would seem to be a cheap and very cheerful fix for a common problem, and will leave the front end of the vehicle looking great, and most importantly improve the headlamp efficiency.

Big Dave in the video prefers Crest Whitening toothpaste, my missus reckons that Sensodyne ProEnamel will work better - she really is a marketing person's ideal target

I've been meaning to ask for quite some time... I went overseas in the car in august and when I come home and removed the beam deflectors it left a load of sticky residue. Anyone know the best way to remove it?

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Is there not some sort of hardened anti scratch coating like on glasses? Polycarbonate is quite soft in its native state, is there a practical way to replace the coatings?

I've been meaning to ask for quite some time... I went overseas in the car in august and when I come home and removed the beam deflectors it left a load of sticky residue. Anyone know the best way to remove it?

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Some tar and glue remover, or nail varnish remover.

Is there not some sort of hardened anti scratch coating like on glasses? Polycarbonate is quite soft in its native state, is there a practical way to replace the coatings?

There is a UV coating on the lense but this breaksdown overtime, i dont know of any way to recoat them.

Done the odd bit of wet sanding of headlights, I always clay in advance to ensure surface clean. Normally works to great effect.

Not surprising really, toothpaste is a very mild cutting compound and with enough elbow grease should move a lot of surface crap.

Ian

Done the odd bit of wet sanding of headlights, I always clay in advance to ensure surface clean. Normally works to great effect.

There was another video which showed a guy (in the US) using two grades of paper (2500 & 3500), then three different grades of polishing compounds on an electric mop, before finishing off with a special coating which he let dry for 20 minutes. He then buffed it all up with a microfibre cloth.

Life is too short - I will stick to toothpaste.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Indeed. I tend to go in for just 1500 and 2000 grit, followed by polishing with just one grade. Only one is really needed.

Did a mate's Leon a few days ago. They came up OK. Took only half an hour for the pair, including clay.

A mate of mine did this on his Ford C-max with a kit he bought on eBay, it worked very well.

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Nah, life's too short. I'd buy a new one <£50 off ebay.