I had some pretty bad spiderweb cracks in this headlight so I had to remove a decent amount of material to get rid of them. I started out wet-sanding with 400 grit, then 800, and finished with 1500 grit. After everything was sanded smooth, I used a Novus 3-step plastic polishing kit ($11.95 shipped from Spa Depot).

It took me about 3-4 hours by hand, but I’m a perfectionist and stuff like this usually takes me a long time. If you decide to use any type of machine to do this, be careful… plastic is very sensitive to being over-heated. I only did the passenger side headlight, the driver’s side was replaced not long before I bought the car due to the previous owner having an accident. I will probably pull the driver’s side light next weekend and hit it with the Novus polish.

After: