I've noticed when browsing the galleries, there seems to be a strange little group of automotive lighting fetishists. So I figured I'd have some fun titilating them while also doing something informative that everyone else may find interesting. Here is the "surgical process" of automotive "cataract" removal. First shot shows before. Polycarbonate is great at typical impact resistance, but when exposed to most dirt and chemical contaminants and UV, it's actually a lot worse than true glass. So it shows age badly, usually sometime after the 5 year point. (Unless you're fastidious with waxing the things, and avoid using certain solvents that would seem obvious but are not best for plastics - like ammonia based cleaners.) Second shot shows all the materials needed for restoring. Basically it's a wet-sanding process followed by a fine polishing. This involves the use of some really fine grit sanding cloth, 800 to 3000 range. First going, it seems worse. But keeping at it, the finer grit brings back the clarity. Remember to keep wetting the cloth, so it goes smoothly. A hint of car wash soap may help too. And once finished with a plastic polish and buffing should bring back some degree of lustre. Powertools should make this easier, but 2 hours of elbow grease on each lens is what got the results seen in pic 3. Third pic is after two hours of work. I had more inbetween shots after each grit, but I doubt it's that interesting for a non-car specific website. Fourth shot shows what happens if you forget to have disposable vinyl or latex gloves on the list of "surgical tools". It doesn't seem so obvious when working with micro-grit papers (they seem almost smooth), but after 2 hours of wet sanding, they can and will take your fingerprints off. So remember to use gloves if you're the type that doesn't have hardened and callused hands. You'll probably not really notice, until the point where you get to the final plastic polish step. Then the chemicals will remind you that a layer of skin is missing. And it will hurt like a #$@$#@#!