If you’re like me and your finances force you to keep a vehicle for long enough that you have to do more than the normal amounts of maintenance and repairs, then this life hack is for you. Sometimes, cosmetically, your aging car needs some TLC. This was literally shown to me before my very eyes the other night when I was driving my 2006 Honda Ridgeline. I was driving back home the other night when my wife asked if I had my headlights on, to which I honestly had to check and make sure. My lights were on but my headlights were so dim that it appeared that they were not.
I walked outside the next morning and found the reason that my headlights were so dim. 
The headlight was old and dull. It looked like someone had taken sandpaper and scratched up the whole thing. Over the years of being a car guy, I knew that they made headlight restoration kits and while I was in O’Reilly Auto Parts buying parts, I decided to check out the ‘kit’. The kit that they were selling, need I say ‘minimal’ and definitely not worth the $9.99 price tag. (Besides the negative reviews that I read about the product online.) So I decided to do a little DIY investigation. Turns out the more expensive kits have an abrasive compound and something to apply it with. My wife and I pretty much simultaneously thought, ‘abrasive material = toothpaste’ and what better applicator than an abrasive dish towel and elbow grease.
So I went to the dollar store and purchased a $1 tube of Crest toothpaste and a $1 pack of dish cloths. I brought a galloon of water to help rinse everything off. to make a long story short, after a minute and a half of scrubbing the headlights with the toothpaste, the headlights look good as new. So save your money and use a little bit of elbow grease and $2’s worth of items and you’ll improve the appearance of your ride by 1000%.
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