How to Clean Motorcycle Headlight Lens?

You might have been riding with your motorbike for a while. But these days you are facing problems with bike headlights as they become dirty over time. Light is not focusing or beaming as it should because of the dirt layer on top of the headlight lens. Moreover, you don’t want to spend extra bucks to clean your headlight lenses. Fortunately, lately, there are some cheap and homemade tricks that you can follow to clean and shine your headlight lenses as before.

Headlight lenses get foggy and dirty over time and there are many reasons behind the process. All the dirt and mud of the road, the moisture of the weather, the oxidation process which makes the lens yellowish, these things are big reasons why bike headlights become foggy or murky. In this article, I am going to discuss some easy ways that you can apply to your headlight lenses to make them new alike.

Table of Contents

7 Steps Clean Motorcycle Headlight Lens

With these 7 steps, you will be able to clean headlight lens. These are:

1. Clean Yellow Lenses With Toothpaste and Baking Soda :

If your headlight lenses have become yellow you can clean them with two very common items: toothpaste and baking soda. Toothpaste is known for its polishing and cleaning ability and so is baking soda. Here is how you can clean lenses with these two items :

First, you need to clean all the dirt and dust of both lenses with water and detergent. Rinse them properly and let the lenses dry completely.
Next, take one teaspoon of toothpaste and one spoon of baking soda. Mix them well, add some water for consistency. Now take a brush and plunge it into the mixture. Rub the brush all over the lens body.
Clean both inside and outside of the lenses properly. Take a towel to soak lenses properly and let them dry for 5-6 minutes. Your lenses will become clean like a brand new one.

2. Alcohol and Air Pumping to Clean Dirty lens :

Another good item you can use to clean headlight lenses is rubbing alcohol or 99 % alcohols as they are pretty useful to clean lens heads. You need alcohol and a thin air passer or nozzle for the cleaning process. Follow these rules to clean the lenses:

Pull out the headlights from the motorcycle and detach the bulbs too.
Turn the headlight down and from the bulb holes insert a little amount of alcohol. Close the hole with one finger and slush the headlight so that alcohol can spread over all the dirt.
Leave the headlight for a while, then insert the air nozzle and start airflow from the pump. Keep airflow until all alcohol evaporates.
Continue the whole process for a second time and that should clean your headlight lenses properly.

3. Use Vinegar and Soap to Wash Headlight Lenses :

Vinegar and soap combo works pretty well to clean your bike headlights. Vinegar’s acidic property and soap’s alkaline property clean the dirt layer over the headlight lens sharply. You can also add baking soda with both of them for better results. The process follows below :

Clean the headlight with a dry cloth or paper. Make sure no dust remains inside or outside.
Make a mixture of vinegar and soap liquid. Take a cloth and soak it inside the mixture.
Rub the cloth over and inside the headlight lens for 2-3 minutes properly. Then clean the headlight with water and rub a dry cloth again to soak all the moisture out of the lens. Your lenses are now cleaned.

4. Shampoo and Water to Clean Lense Magically :

Shampoo and water mixture magically clean your bike headlight lenses. This is one of the easiest and cheapest headlight cleaning processes that you can follow at home. All you need is the shampoo of any brand and clean water. Let’s follow these steps:

Put Shampoo inside the headlight from the bulb hole. Now push some water inside from the same hole. Shake the headlight thoroughly by keeping a finger over the bulb hole. Keep shaking so that the mixture completes its cleaning work.
Rinse the lenses with clean water properly and let them dry for a while. Clean them with dry paper and you are done.

5. Use Aftermarket Metal Polish As A Cleaning Agent:

Metal polishers work pretty well as a cleaning substance. Bike headlights, lens, tires all can be cleaned with polishers. They work as an abrasive and clean all the foggy and dirty layers. First, collect a polisher from the market, use hand gloves for further safety. Now go to the next steps:

Metal polisher generally comes with waxing papers. Take a small amount of polisher in the wax paper and rub over the headlight. You can maintain any kind of motion while cleaning. Continue the rubbing till all dirt comes out of the lens and is stuck in the wax paper.
When rubbing is finished, take a towel to remove the remaining polishers from the body of the headlight lens. Don’t use any kind of water as water may form a hazy layer over the lens if mixed with polishers.

6. Glass Cleaners and Rubbing Pads to Clean Headlight Lenses:

Another effective and cheap homemade way to clean headlight lenses is using glass cleansers. Buy a good company glass cleaner like Windex and some cleaning pads to start. Then follow these steps:

Take the spray bottle of glass cleaner and spray it on the body and through the hole of the headlight lens. Then take the rubbing scotch pad and start waxing the cleaning substance well.
When you have cleaned both lenses, use water to rinse them properly. Then take some newspapers and place them over the body and inside the headlight. Papers will interrupt to form any kind of hazy layer over the lens body after cleaning.

7. Use Sandpaper to Wash Dirt From Lens :

The final step you can follow in the headlight cleaning process is using sandpapers and any kind of soap liquid. Light sandpapers remove all the filthy layer of dirt from the lens head and make the headline clean as before. To start the cleaning:

Take soap liquid in a spray bottle and spray it all over the body of the headlight lens.
Take sandpaper and start rubbing gently over the body of the headlight. Make sure you have rubbed thoroughly all over the lens. Clean the lens with water and let it dry completely. Your headlight lens is shining now.

Can I Use Acetone to Clean My Bike Headlight Lenses?

Yes. You can use acetone to clean your headlight lenses although it is not recommended because it does not clean lens haziness that well. Keep in mind when you use acetone try to rub it in a single direction. Rubbing it upward and backward can damage your headlights.

Why do Headlight Lenses Get Cloudy Over Time?

Headlight lenses get cloudy and hazy over time for various reasons. One of the main reasons is oxidation. Next comes all the dirt and mud that goes inside the lens and water or moisture that make lenses hazy over time.

How Do You Get Rid of Heavy Oxidation From Headlight Lens?

Heavy oxidation makes your headlight lens yellow and damages it. To get rid of oxidation, first clean the lens with toothpaste, soap liquid, and water. Let the lenses dry completely and use UV sealants to permanently stop further oxidation.

Final Verdict :

Cleaning your motorcycle headlight lens is very easy and affordable. Follow any of these tricks mentioned in the article to keep your headlight lenses shiny and clean for a long period.