If you notice your lights seem dimmer at night, they may need a good cleaning to brighten up!
UV rays actually weaken the outer layer of the plastic over time, debris from the road can also cause your headlights to cloud. Your headlights are composed of polycarbonate plastic, making them scratch resistant, however they also cloud with wear and time. While you, or a qualified professional, should routinely perform headlight restoration, you can also maintain your headlights by cleaning them regularly. Probably only when you need to turn them on, right? How often do you inspect the headlights on your car? Not as much and people don’t even think about it. But do you ever hear about maintaining your headlights? And if you don’t replace it, you can cause damage to multiple components of your vehicle. Most people remember they need to change their oil and rotate their tires because that’s something which is repeated to car owners over and over again. You don’t always think about the condition of your vehicle’s headlights, that is, until they’re so dim you can barely see one night! Popular Mechanics even did a comparison test of a bunch of kits and ranked them for you here.Out of sight, out of mind. It is basically a clear paint that seals the plastic from reacting with the oxygen in the air or UV rays from the sun.Įven with the cost of the needed supplies and the labour involved, restoring headlights is much less expensive than buying new headlight housings on most cars. Some of these wipe on, and some spray on, but all of them work about the same. The last step, and most important for long lasting crystal clear headlights, is to apply a clear UV and oxygen resistant coating. When you are done with this step you should have an almost new looking headlight, but it would stay that way long without the last step. Rub it on, polish the scratches left from the sandpaper, and wipe it clean with a damp rag.
Some people have suggested toothpaste can be used, but it doesn't work as well as a dedicated polishing compound or plastic polish. The polish that you need to use on headlights is specially formulated for plastic and contains abrasives, so don’t get it on your paint.
#Car headligh unclouder how to#
Some restoration kits make this easier by including an attachment that fits in your drill and does the work for you.ĭiscover how to replace the headlights on your specific vehicle Sand smooth, then move up to 1500 grit, 2000 grit, 2500 grit, and 3000 grit. Typically you start with 1000 grit wet/dry paper, and a small bucket of water to dip it in. You actually may get away with skipping this step and moving right onto the polishing compound if they aren’t too bad. How coarse a grade of sandpaper you start with depends on how bad your lenses are. The abrasives used to fix headlights can ruin paint, so you want to mask around the headlight as well before you move to the next step. Wax the car as well, including the headlights this may actually vastly improve the fogginess. This way you get a much more accurate idea of exactly what you are dealing with. Like a lot of car appearance and maintenance tasks, it helps to start by washing the car. Obviously to fix a foggy lens from the inside you will have to remove the housing and access it from the rear. Fixing them, despite promises to the contrary from many products, involves labour and abrasives. Inside there is less that can affect them, but the UV from the bulb itself is enough, as well as moisture from bad gaskets around the bulb socket. The outside is prone to damage from road debris, sandblasting from bugs and dirt, and general degradation from UV light and oxidation.
#Car headligh unclouder manual#
0 kommentar(er)
