Does Meguiars PlastX Work? Secret Tips Revealed!

Headlights enhance the beauty of your car and make it possible for you to illuminate the way clearer. If your car headlights starts to yellow, your car loses its beauty – it looks old and if the yellowing is too much, the lights can be dangerous for you.

Yellowing headlights impede your car’s light from shining through the lens to the road ahead.

There are many ways to counteract the yellowing of the headlines and the use of Meguiars PlastX is one of these. Does the Meguiars PlastX offer great restoration for headlight?

Does Meguiars PlastX Work?

Yes. Meguiars PlastX can reverse the old look and yellowing of the headlights. It contains abrasives, conditioners, gloss enhancers, pH adjuster, and fragrance ingredients to make it effective at cleaning your headlight.

The product already contains solvents such as water and acid purified alkanes, making it ready to use out of the bottle. Besides restoring the clear look of the headlights, the Meguiars PlastX makes the headlights appear glossy.

What can you use Meguiars PlastX for?

According to the manufacturer, you can use Meguiars PlastX to remove:

• Cloudiness
• Oxidation
• Yellowing
• Fine scratches

It works on clear uncoated plastics, which means besides the headlights, you can use it on Jeep soft top windows, Plexiglass, brake lights, plastic convertible windows, and any other clear plastic surface on your car.

By cleaning with Meguiars PlastX, you are able to restore the shine of your headlights and plastic windows.

What is in Meguiars PlastX? The Ingredients

Meguiars PlastX cleans, restores, enhances glossiness, protects, and maintains. Its formula allows it to perform all these and still be easy to use.

It contains Alumina, which is an abrasive to clean away the oxidation and small scratches from the surface of the clear plastic. This is a mild abrasive, so it doesn’t leave any damages on the surface of the clear plastic.

It also contains Dimethicone, which enhances the shine of your clear plastic surface. Dimethicone is the most common gloss enhancer on most of the Meguiars products.

Further, the product has mineral oil, which acts as a conditioner to restore the new look of your headlight or Jeep soft top windows. The headlight restoration product also contains solvents and diluents, including light aromatic hydrocarbons, acid purified light alkanes, and water.

With the solvents and water as a diluent, you can use Meguiars PlastX alone without the need for other products. You can also integrate it into your headlight restoration schedule with the Meguiars restoration kit.

The product also contains Aminomethyl Propanol, which is a pH adjuster. This ensures that the ingredients do not damage the surface of the headlight and any other clear plastic surface. Most of the other ingredients are mainly fragrance components that enhance the scent of the cleaner.

There are also resistant polymers in Meguiars PlastX that provides a durable protection on the surface of the headlight or clear plastic surface.

How Do You Use PlastX?

For most headlight restoration, you should simply wash and dry your headlight. Mask off the paint of your vehicle to protect the paint. Then use the PlastX on a soft towel rubbing in an up-down, side-to-side motion. Our eyes see circles more so using this crosshatch pattern will make your headlight look better.

If you have an electric buffer or polisher, you can use one to speed up the process.

Apply as many applications as needed to get the desired results. After your headlights look good you need to coat them to with a wax or sealant to make it last. Some people choose to clear coat their headlights for long-term protection.

In this video below, I used 303 protectant. I also apply wax after each car wash.

If your headlights do not come clean using this method, you can take your headlight restoration process to another level using a restoration kit with sandpaper and more. I highly suggest using the PlastX before the extra expense of the headlight restoration kit.

Watch this video to see what can be done only using PlastX on ten year old headlights.

Process For Severe Headlights

To restore your headlights or clear plastic window, you need a bottle of Meguiars PlastX, sandpaper, microfiber towels, flannel cloth, masking tape, and a bucket with water. The grip of the sandpaper will depend on the damage headlights.

If your headlights have severe damages, you need to start with 1000 grit sandpaper. If you start with this, you will need to buy a higher grit sandpaper to smoothen the surface. You can go for 1500 grit if the headlight is only cloudy or a little faded.

For headlights that are almost clear, you need 2000 grit sandpaper. The 2500 grit or 3000 grit sandpaper is for finishing off the cleaning.

Once you have everything ready, mask around the light to protect the paint job around the headlight. After that, place your pieces of sand paper in the bucket with water and allow them to soak. Start sanding the lens in one direction, horizontally or vertically as you apply water to the surface you are sanding.

Ensure you dip your hand and the sandpaper in the water to remove the debris from the sandpaper. Sand your lens evenly on all corners and ensure evenness of the sanded parts. Take a microfiber cloth and wipe off the lens and check how consistent your sanding was.

If your sanding is not consistent, continue sanding until you get an even surface. Pick finer grip sandpaper and continue sanding until the lens looks smooth and clean. You need to sand with the finer sandpaper in the opposite direction to the first sanding.

If the first sanding was horizontal, sand vertically with the finer and final sandpaper. Ensure you keep dipping the sandpaper in clean water to remove debris. Sand until the surface of the lens is even. After the sanding, wipe the lens with the microfiber cloth so that the lens is clear.

Take the flannel cloth and place a small amount of Meguiars PlastX on it while folded. Applying a little pressure on the cloth and the Meguiars PlastX, work in circular motion cleaning small sections at a time. Be sure to maintain firm pressure but to not press so hard to avoid cracking the lens.

Once you work a small area, allow thePlastX to dry before you move to the next part. Repeat the process until you work on all the areas and all the headlights. If you have clear plastic windows on your car, the process is the same.

Use the microfiber to wipe the PlastX from the lens. You may need to reapply PlastX and wipe it from the lens severally to get the clarity you need. If you have the clarity you need, remove the tape.

Apply a generous amount of PlastX on your hands and smear it on the lens until the surface is all covered. If you are allergic to some chemicals, use a fresh microfiber cloth to apply the plastX. After that, polish the lens using a microfiber cloth and your headlight is ready.

Does PlastX Remove Scratches?

PlastX removes small scratches on the surface of your headlight or clear plastic window. However, if the surface has deep scratches, the product cannot remove them on its own. You will have to use sandpaper to remove the scratches until the surface of the headlight is even.

You can apply the product on the sandpaper and enhance clarity as you scrub. You can avoid scratches in future by applying a coat of wax on the surface of the headlight.

What Can You Use Meguiars Plastx For?

PlastX is an ideal product when you need to remove oxidation, fine scratches, cloudiness, and yellowing. It works only on clear plastic surfaces. This includes the headlights, taillights, brake lights and clear plastic windows, especially on convertibles.

You can use it alone if your headlight is almost clear, and it will enhance the clarity. If your headlight or clear plastic window is cloudy or yellow, you (may) need to first sand the surface and then apply the product. You can use it together with Meguiars headlight restoration kit for better results.

For instance, after the restoration, you might need to apply wax to ensure that debris does not stick on the surface of the headlight.

Can you use PlastX on glass? No, it only works on clear plastic.

How Can You Maintain Your Headlights After Restoration?

You can install preventive lens treatment to keep off oxidation and yellowing. The lens treatment extends the life of your headlights by protecting the protective coating of the headlights.

You can also wax the headlights the same way you wax the exterior surface of your car. The wax adds a layer of protection that ensures debris does not stick on the surface of the headlight. Even with the protective coating, you still need to clean and dry your headlights often to ensure they do not yellow.

If any of the bulbs doesn’t work, you need to replace the two of them to ensure the headlights work perfectly.

Even after cleaning your clear plastic windows, you still need to apply wax as a protective coating to keep off debris.

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Closing Thoughts

Cleaning your headlights and your clear plastic windows gives you better clarity at night and during the day. Your headlights are especially important as they are the first things that people see when they look at your car. They also determine how the light illuminates the road ahead.

When you clean your lens right, you will have a better looking car, and you will illuminate the road ahead better. After the first thorough cleaning, you will still need to clean the headlight regularly to ensure they do not go back the state they were in.

If you can clean the headlights before they yellow or become cloudy, you do not need to use sandpapers as PlastX can clean perfectly. Once the light turns cloudy or yellow, the process of cleaning becomes more complicated.

If you follow the instructions from the manufacturer, PlastX is a safe product to use. It comes ready to use, so there is no pre-preparation involved. Meguiars recommends that you use some of their other products with the plastX for the best results.