When it comes to keeping your car safe and looking its best, a good detailer is well worth the investment. While most people automatically think of cleaning the interior when they think of auto detailing, what you may not realize is that there is some exterior work that's important, too. For example, many car owners overlook the importance of proper headlight care. Here are a few common problems you might encounter and tips for how a detailer can help you deal with them.

Scratching

If your headlight lens assembly is showing signs of scratches on the surface, working with a detailer will help you restore it without having to buy new ones. This type of restoration is done in stages. Your detailer will use several different grit levels of sandpaper as well as a rubbing compound that removes the scratches.

The compound will fill in the scratch, and the sandpaper will smooth the surface and clear the lens completely. The detailer will work their way from the rougher grit sandpaper to the finer grit options. Not only will this eliminate the scratches, but the finer grit paper will help to polish the surface. Then, the whole lens will be buffed so that it regains its like-new appearance.

Yellowing

As your headlights age, they will suffer damage from things like salt, dirt, debris, air pollution, and the sun. These things can slowly dissolve and deteriorate the plastic on the lights. This leads to yellowing, which can interfere with your visibility at night. It dims the light that's cast from your headlights, limiting your field of vision.

This can be repaired, though. Your detailer will eliminate the damaged plastic layer, getting rid of the yellowing effect at the same time. This is usually done through sanding that damage away. Once it's sanded completely so that the surface is restored, your detailer will polish it, too. This helps create a slippery surface that salt and debris can't stick to as easily. Sometimes the lights are treated with a clear sealant or barrier product, too. This helps to make the headlights less vulnerable to future damage as well.

Clouding

If you've noticed that your headlights seem to be a little bit dimmer than they used to be, they aren't casting light as far, or you can see visible clouding on the surface of the light assembly, your detailer can address this as well.

Clouding is usually caused by a buildup of grime on the lens. This is treated by cleaning the lens thoroughly and then removing the damaged surface layer with the use of a wet sanding process.