So, I got the 3M restoration kit, for some mildly cloudy and hazy lights. I was planning on just buying whatever clear coat I could find at Walmart, but I've seen quite a lot of reviews online about the Rusteoleum 2X high gloss they have as cracking or becoming hazy on headlights within a day. Is this user error? Or is there a better option out there I should be looking at?

Car is a 2014 Malibu.

I would just buy oem or after market headlights instead.

Was going to tell you to just buy new ones, but then I looked them up on RockAuto. Looks like 300-600 for a pair depending on which setup you have

I've only tried the cheaper stuff on the whole polishing thing with very poor success.

After trying a few times myself, I let a professional do it. Fabian, our tint guy, also details cars and my headlights look fantastic.

I've used this on two cars and both turned out great:

Griot's Garage 11409 Headlight Restoration Kit

I had a guy tell me that Ditzler VC5700 clear coat works great. The shells on his truck looked brand new, and he claimed he sprayed them 4 yrs ago.

To be honest, I used to do the toothpaste method and wax afterwards. It worked well for a fraction of the cost

Buy a car that has glass shells

I haven't actually used this, but I've heard good things about it. Headlights and beater paint is about all I'd use it on.

Spraymax 3680061 2K Clear

Several of the reviews say it works well on headlights and wheels.

I looked into that one, apparently it's got some serious chemicals in it (isocyanates). I don't really know much about it, but everything I read suggested that it's not for the hobbyist that doesn't have a respiratory and other protective clothing. But yeah, agree that it would probably work well.

I ended up going with Meguiar's since it's supposed to be specifically made for headlights. Results are mixed. I was able to get rid of a lot of the contamination on the top/side of the light (where it primarily was), but ended up putting some scratches in other places that I had a hard time getting out later (and ultimately left). I think if I spent more time, and did more wet sanding instead of dry sanding, it would have come out really good. Also surprised at how quickly the 3M sanding discs started to get clogged - they did better when I started doing wet sanding.

Overall I'm satisfied, but not happy, with the end result, if that makes sense. I'll see how this Meguiar's holds up. If it needs it again in a year or two, I'll probably see if I can get a professional to do it. Or I might just try my hand at it again, with more experience this time.