seeing as how i have to keep my 2000 sts a little longer, ive decided to start fixing a few things. for one, my headlights are completely nasty. they are beyond dull. a couple years ago i tried the refinishing kit from CV i believe (silver package) and that worked for like 2 months. now its worse than it was before.

im wondering if, lets say, a body shop would be able to wet sand them back down, buff them and clear coat them? am i way off my rocker to consider this?

Either go to www.autogeek.net and look at their various lens refinishing kits or check www.customchemicalpkg.com for theirs.

I have used the CustomChemical product on 3 vehicles including my STS and am suitably impressed. Their various polishing kits are stocked by quite a few large parts houses - use their dealer search feature. My daughter's Civic lenses were a yellow mess: the kit, which comes with the drill adapter plate, a half hour, 2 beers and patience made the lenses like new.

Don't clearcoat polycarbonate - polish it.

my concern is that ive tried something before and it didnt work. there is/was some sort of protective film/layer over the lense that is now all gone and it seems like it needs to be put back on.

why wouldnt clear coat work?

If there is/was a "coating" on the lens assembly, it's not OEM. Someone else clearcoated the lenses or used some sort of "lens protector". New assemblies are polished polycarbonate and that's it - no coatings. Any of the better polishing kits will restore the lenses to diamond bright (IF there's no internal clouding, in which case you're screwed), but it takes careful, dedicated work. It is NOT a half-hour job by any means.

alright, well....assuming that i have to do this 'restoration' process again, should i need a buffer this time? or can i do it with my hands? and, i need to know the absolute best product for this or im not gonna waste my time.

I tried a kit from Autozone with less than great results. I then had a guy from my dealership come by and do the headlight with a clearcoat like material. The clearcoat would chip off after 1 month of driving around and after a couple of good washes. Finally had a guy come by and do it with the method Sub is talking about and now the headlight looks great.

Regardless of whether or not the kit has you wet sand the lenses with progressively finer grits, you will need a good orbital or small pad polisher to do the final 2 or 3 grits of polish. Nothing on earth is going to magically polish a polycarbonate lens in one or two steps: It takes dedicated work to do a first class job. This process is every bit as labor intensive as a paintwork detail. Polycarbonate plastics are hard stuff and it takes time to polish it.

You might be able to find a pair of half-decent headlight assemblies on www.car-part.com or maybe eBay. Do some searching.

No way in hell can you do the job without electrical power.

Wet sand them (not in a circular motion) with 800 grit, 1200 grit, and 3000 grit wet sandpaper. Put the sandpaper in water with a tad of soap. Soak the sandpaper for 10 minutes prior to starting. Keep water fresh between grits to prevent scratching. Keep sandpaper and lenses wet at all times.

Start w. 800 grit and end with 3000 grit. Wipe your lenses clean and let dry. Now use a polishing compound and an orbital machine to spread the polishing compound on. You may need to do this a couple of times. Before this step, your lenses should be dull looking. Follow up with a good polish and wax.

There are tutorials if you Google "how to restore headlight lenses".