Headlight

Wed Jun 11, 2014 1:38 am

Are the covers sold separately? Some of our cars are missing covers and they only come with the rest of the headlight

Wed Jun 11, 2014 4:55 am

bootymac wrote:Are the covers sold separately? Some of our cars are missing covers and they only come with the rest of the headlight

Yeah, these are the kind of parts you're hoping to get just themselves for a few bucks but are always part of the entire headlight assembly. When you contact the seller, their attitude is like:

"You can buy them for $300 and they come with the rest of the headlight."

SamirD · Thu Jun 12, 2014 3:10 am

KuroNekko wrote:
bootymac wrote:Are the covers sold separately? Some of our cars are missing covers and they only come with the rest of the headlight
Yeah, these are the kind of parts you're hoping to get just themselves for a few bucks but are always part of the entire headlight assembly. When you contact the seller, their attitude is like:

"You can buy them for $300 and they come with the rest of the headlight."

Those are the douchey parts guys. The good ones will go to bat and help you out. Too bad there's more of the other type...

ipaqxman · Thu Sep 11, 2014 5:35 am

So my "fogginess" of the driver side headlight is still there. Not sure if its condensation anymore cuz it doesnt really change after sitting in the garage for weeks? Ive recently noticed that while washing the car when it contacts water the headlight becomes crystal clear, free of fogginess, but after a few second the water dissipates and it becomes foggy again. Anyone has any idea?

murcod · Thu Sep 11, 2014 6:14 am

It almost sounds like the outside of the lens is scratched?

ipaqxman · Thu Sep 11, 2014 6:53 am

Dont see any scratch, and its a large area, mainly towards the SIDE of the headlight. Like a haziness. Just intriguing thta it totally clears up when i rinse it with water under hotsun but then again quickly clouds up again

Thu Sep 11, 2014 8:32 am

Pics?

LPSISRL · Thu Sep 11, 2014 1:00 pm

If it "clears" just by getting wet, there's a haze over the outside it and it just needs to be polished. You can probably feel a difference between that headlamp and the other one. There's a lot of refinishing kits out there. Some come with a clear coat spray to help the renewed surface it last longer.

murcod · Thu Sep 11, 2014 1:26 pm

There's a protective UV resistant coating on plastic head lights, it seems strange that should be deteriorating already? That's the sort of thing you see on older vehicles.

You can polish them, but it usually doesn't last long unless you redo the coating (which reminds me, my 2004 XL-7 needs it done....) The proper kits seem to come with different grades of "wet and dry" sand paper, polish and the UV coating. (Normal car polish gets them looking good, but only for a month or so.)

Thu Sep 11, 2014 4:40 pm

Given your description, I'm sure it's UV hazing. It happens when clear plastics are exposed to the sun too long. It's common on headlights of cars that are always parked outside as most headlights are made from plastic now instead of glass.

Depending on how bad it is, there are different types of products you can try. I'd recommend going from the mildest first and then seeing how that works.

Try Meguiar's PlastX first. It's a plastic polish. Meguiar's also sells a headlight protectant that is supposed to help prevent the issue. I have and use both at every car wash as a preventative measure against this very issue.

If it's really hazed, you will need to lightly sand the headlight first and then polish it. They sell kits for this that have buffing pads that attach to drills. I've used a 3M kit before with good results on my Mazda3's headlights. While they may not get your headlight back to perfectly new condition, they greatly help by removing the haze and getting the headlight much clearer.
If you do this method, you will want to use masking tape around the headlight so you don't damage the painted areas around the headlight.

Upload a picture so we have a better sense of how bad it is.