One headlight on my recently acquired car is 11 years old, the other is 1 year old. The older one appears to have a cataract, so I bought a 3M Headlight Restoration kit and got into the renewal. When I finished the project yesterday I was very satisfied with the result and stopped for the day.
Today I looked at the lens in a different light and noticed faint but obvious swirl marks on the entire lens surface. I re-did the last several steps of the process, (a) 3000 grit buffing pad and (b) the final polishing compound. I compounded the lens twice. All the swirls were still visible when viewed at specific angles.
I guessed the polishing compound to be the culprit, that it might be a bit aggressive. I drove to Autozone and purchased a Meguiars product,
http://www.meguiars.com/en/professio...-remover-16oz/ . That bottle of very fine polish compound did the trick. All swirls gone and the overall finish was much glossier.
David