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If you seal cleaned headlights, new dirt will not stick as quickly and you can remove it more easily. Follow a few simple tips to ensure you get good results.
Sealing headlights: Preparation
Before you can carry out the actual sealing of the headlights, you need to do some preparatory work:
- Cleaning: First, you need to clean your car headlights. You should never apply a sealant to dirty headlights, as this would lead to significantly poorer results. You can clean them with professional products, but home remedies are also suitable.
- Polishing: Once you have cleaned the headlights, you should also polish them. By polishing the headlights, you remove small scratches in the material and ensure that blind spots disappear.
- Tip: If your headlights are very cloudy, you must restore them to a proper condition before sealing. In addition to polishing, you can also repair cloudy headlights in other ways to ensure that you don’t have any problems at the MOT. If your headlights are cloudy during the inspection, you may be denied a new sticker.
Headlight sealing: choose the right product
After you have prepared the headlights accordingly, you can seal them. Only use suitable agents for this.
- UV protection: The UV radiation not only damages the car’s paintwork, it also attacks the headlights. Therefore, only use sealants that have UV protection. Otherwise, the sealant will not last very long and you will have to carry out the work again in a few weeks. Good products are also available for less than 20 euros.
- Glass sealant: Alternatively, you can buy a combination product for glass sealing that you can also use for the headlights. This seals your headlights and can also be used on the windows and mirrors. As a result, significantly less dirt sticks there too and rainwater runs off better.
- Note: Pay attention to the use-by date. Sealants do not last indefinitely and lose their effectiveness significantly after some time. Therefore, always check the age of products from your stock or from friends. Incorrectly sealed containers also cause the sealant to lose its effectiveness.
Sealing headlights: Tips for processing
With the right products, you have already created a good basis for a suitable result. To ensure that you don’t have any problems during application, follow these tips:
- Only apply the sealant when the headlights are dry. If the surfaces are damp, it cannot work and the effect will not be achieved. In addition, do not apply the sealant in direct sunlight; it is better to apply it in the shade. As soon as the sealant has dried, you can leave your car in the sun again.
- Pay attention to the instructions for use on the packaging, which will provide you with good help and also point out important points during application. Not every product can be applied at every temperature – you should also pay attention to this.
- Note: In addition to the instructions for use, also observe the safety instructions. If you need to wear gloves when using the product, we recommend rubber gloves. These are sufficient to protect you from the sealant’s ingredients.
- The best way to achieve the best results is to use polishing cloths to apply the sealant. If you do not have a polishing cloth, you can also use other cloths, but they should be as lint-free as possible. If they are not, the lint will stick to the sealant and settle on the headlights.
