My headlights on my Volvo have gone opaque, and look dreadful. I saw a tip that scrubbing it with toothpaste will renew the surface. Is this true, or an urban myth?

Never tried it, but have used the meguirs kit, which has been enough to bring headlights back from no pattern just a blob to an mot acceptable pattern, worked much better than t-cut or g3.

http://www.meguiars.co.uk/product/397/Meguiars-Headlight-Restoration-Kit/

It will work (eventually)

There are products designed to do the job, that are going to do it a lot better and a lot faster.

But essentially you are using a running compound to polish the tiny scratches out of the lens.

I use a specialist product for the job and it takes about 60 seconds per lens with a fast rotary polishing machine, or about 5 minutes by hand.

I’ve tried with toothpaste in the past and it takes forever, and can’t achieve the same results.

[edit] – the Megs kit above is great for the price. It works well.

This is what you want:

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_t1RBw0IGXA[/video]

http://www.amazon.co.uk/3M-Headlight-Restoration-Discoloured-Headlights/dp/B0078IHJ1K

Would Brasso work, isnt that abrasive ?

Vim?

Yes brasso does work, with a few minutes of elbow grease.

What legend has posted worked a treat on mine.

Would Brasso work, isnt that abrasive ?

brasso also has a solvent in it, so may well melt the palstic shield of the headlight.

Yes toothpaste works but usually need cheap runny stuff – takes a while – I found it better than Tcut