I call this a semi-restore because my headlights are in fairly decent condition. The problem is the previous owner put "eyelids" on the headlights, which I recently removed. The car is an '04 and I'm not sure when he put them on (I've had the car 3 years). Now when the eyelids were on, the headlights looked to be in very good condition, no hazing, just minor pitting from rocks and whatnot. Now with the eyelids off, you can definitely see a difference in the two sections of the headlight.

What should be my process to get the headlights back to an even look? Iv'e attached a pic for reference. You'll see the part that's been exposed doesn't look as clear; however, its still in good condition.

 

As always, start with the least aggressive method first. If you don't know how to buff a car, you could start with the headlight restoration kit from Meguiar's, would come with a compound and a polish and a pad you can attach to any drill. Pretty simple and straightforward. Will probably be a little more expensive than buying sandpaper to wet sand, but you'd want to use the compound and polish in that Meguiar's kit after you wet sand anyway...

I'm not telling you that these methods will make the headlight look exactly like the part that was covered, but it will certainly help. I'm not so sure you could get the entire headlight to look like the part that was covered because it's been pitted and chipped over time.

I would start with the Meguiar's kit first, and if you're not happy with results, then you could try wet sanding. Wet sanding can be done with the headlights still attached to the car, but some people prefer to remove them. There is at least one DIY I'm aware of on here for wet sanding headlights.

 

I already have a 3m restoration kit that I used on the girl's car. I just didn't think I needed to be using the entire line of sandpaper grits that it came with.

Im realistic, I know that they won't come out looking perfect or anything, I was just hoping to clean up the faded sections a bit.

 

bring em into a painter and have em sanded and recleared for like $70. no major effort or useless money spent on your part.