Here I used the Cera Kote headlight restoration kit (about $15 from Wal-Mart) and i was really surprised at how much of a difference it made on my OEM headlights. All factory from 2002, so I didn’t expect them to turn out that great, but it’s amazing what a little smoothing and sanding can do for old headlights. I wish I had taken better before and after pictures, to be honest, but this speaks for itself!
I’ve also been very impressed with Cera Kote trim restore products before, maybe I’ll show some pictures of what it did to my engine-bay plastics. Stay tuned!
The perfect middle ground happened for me with my 2001 E46. Modern headlight shape but with easily replaceable lenses. Gluing the damn things together is BS.