I got my X-Type free from a friend this summer. One of the issues it had was the headlights. They were EXTREMELY hazed over. After coming across a youtube video comparing headlight restoration kits: https://youtu.be/iDB5U4QUdD0 I picked up his top recommendation: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00429NKWK And went to work. It was a bigger job than normal since I also had to rebuild the headlight adjusters. The old plastic had gotten super brittle and snapped. The headlights were flopping around in the housing and couldn't be adjusted. Long story short, I am amazed at the outcome. They look good as new at a fraction of the cost. Replacement headlights would have cost about $500 for each side! I also changed the engine oil, transmission fluid and transfer case fluid. This thing is ready to go another 100k now (hopefully).

 

I used the 3M headlight restore kit. Came out like new !!!! Unbelievable difference. Highly recommended.

Before

After

Close up after

 

Look great! Did you replace the lens or polish them out?

 

I polished them. Like I said 3M kit. Works fantastic

 

Used body paint cutting compound and a polisher. 5 minutes and gleaming.

 

You' probably want to put a suitable UV sealant on to protect the acrylic, otherwise you'll be back polishing them again in a month or two.
That is one of the final treatment steps with the kits.

 

These products do work well and in my experience the x-type headlights really take kindly to them even compared to other cars with plastic headlights. You will find that you'll need to polish them up every few months if your car lives outside, but it's just a few minutes with the polishing compound and a cloth, not the whole process, so not a big deal to do when washing the car or what have you. I find the UV protectants that come with the kits don't help all that much. I have seen where folks have sanded, sprayed with a two-part clear coat, wet sanded, and polished for a more permanent fix, but that seems like more trouble than just giving them a light polish every few months. Don't try this with a one part spray can clear, those do not hold up well to UV.

I'm about a worst case scenario with the hot Hawaiian sun beating down on my car all day. Out here new plastic headlight haze in just a few years, especially when manufacturers design them horizontal surfaces. Too bad glass headlights seem out of the question these days for some some reason!

 

Yep....I hear you.
With our lower latitude our daylight colour already favours the blue end of the spectrum compared to more equatorial latitudes.
On a clear summers day the colour temperature of our midday light can be as high as 11800 Kelvin compared to equatorial daylight at around 5800 Kelvin.
I always had issues following the manufacturer's guidelines for setting up colour balance on their camcorders (back in the 1990's) as they were originally maxing out at around 8500 Kelvin for so called lower latitude regions, until we managed to convey via the manufacturer's trainers in their training courses the difficulties we had, which they then fed back to the development engineers who then altered their effective CCD white balance tolerances.

Add to that our clearer skies and the gift that keeps on giving (the ozone hole or at least a weakened ozone layer now) and you can just about watch your plastics break down in front of your eyes here.
Early PVC plastic spouting turned brittle in about 5 years and to powder in under 10 years and PVC window joinery, popular in the european markets, continues to struggle to find much of a market here.

You can get totally crisped in about 20 minutes of direct sun if you are fair skinned and not careful, and like Australia our skin cancer rates are higher than the global averages.

I'm currently trying the Rainex one step headlight restorer currently on my X-Type and XJ8 with initially good first time results.
Keen to see how long before I have to treat them again.

 

Please do let us know how it goes, a UV resistant coating that last a bit would be nice. I also have an E36 BMW that even while enjoying the pleasure of indoor parking still manages to get yellow headlights after a couple of month. The poor X-Type gets no such cover and its original paint job had all but disintegrated and even my home re-spray is starting to show deterioration after a few years.

I do remember the strong sun at your latitudes from a study abroad experience in Australia, it was a bit confounding since it wouldn't have to be a particularly hot or even sunny day to do its business to your exposed skin. Very interesting about the colo(u)r temperature though!