2003 Tiburon Headlights are glazed / dull

Takes some polishing compound or swirl mark remover and buff the shields with it. You can do it by hand just fine. Should not take more than 5 minutes per light. Use a good amount of elbow grease.

If they're really bad, you may have to wet sand them with really fine grit paper before polishing them. There are instructions for doing this on the Elantra Club website.

These lens covers must be really, really soft then, if you have to wet sand them. I've never had to use anything more aggressive than compounds to polish up lens covers, but I've never tried an Elantra lens cover.

I don't know the specifics of his situation, but I've seen some examples online that were so badly scratched and yellowed that compounding them wasn't enough. Unless one drives in really harsh conditions, it would probably take many years for that to happen, but I tossed it out there as an option, just in case. The point is that even really bad lenses can be restored back to near-new clarity.

Mothers makes a polishing compound that works really well with thier powerball ( fits in a drill ) I have used this 3 times now on my wifes car and 2 friends cars and it works quite well. you can should be able to find the stuff at an auto parts store.

My 96 Grand Caravan had yellowed lenses that were such a PlTA to polish (wet or dry) that I opted to buy new AM headlamps on eBay.

The headlamp covers on the modern Hyundais are Lexan (I have keen told) and that is supposed to be pretty tough but not necessarily hard. So if they somehow got clouded bringing them back will not be easy. Wet sanding as you described is probably the best bet to get clarity and sheen.

Wet sanding will require buffing afterwards though Wayne. It will leave scratches that will not give you the clarity and sheen. I'd stick with just the rubbing compound, but if the going is slow, use a good buffer. The kind a body shop uses, not the kind most folks might have for buffing their hardwood floors, etc. Those can actually work ok for polishing the finish on a car, but for taking down scratches, etc. you really want a higher speed, more robust buffer. The caution with those is that they can burn through paint in a heartbeat, so the user has to be careful when using them. Don't let the bonnet touch the surrounding clearcoat. You'd be surprised at how quickly those things will take an edge right down to bare metal. That's why I originally suggest lots of elbow grease to the OP.

I wondered about those power balls - especially for use on wheels. It stands up well to being pinched in the tight spots in the wheels?

Mike, It works GREAT on wheels I have custom wheels on my 2005 XG350L and thats what I originally bought it for.... I was watching " Car Crazy " on the Speed channel one night and they used the same polish along with the same power ball on the lexan headlight covers, so I tried it on my wifes car and WOW was I surprised....my wifes wasnt really from glazing it was more like sandblasting ( we live in Las Vegas ) mosting from blowing sand. I know wetsanding and buffing is proabley cheaper but for the Powerball ( $19.95 ) and the Polish ( $6.95 ) it sure does save alot of mess and elbow grease and you can use it more than once.

You have to keep in mind that heat will soften the plastic and make it harder to polish, or even cause it to melt and smear. I would avoid high-speed polishing for that reason. Doing it by hand as you originally suggested is a fair amount of work, but it's the safer way to go.

You might think so, but I use my buffer on headlight covers all the time. I know how to use a buffer as I paint a lot, so I generally don't build up a lot of heat in any area. I'm lazy enough that the buffer makes an attractive option for me. I can do two headlights in a minute or two - less time than it takes to get the compound out of the cupboard.