Foggy headlights

[ELB]

Thank. this is good to know. elb

[puma guy]

Thanks. My son in law bought a cheaper product and it was some improvement. He told me there was a pricier product but he said it was about 30 dollars. I can get replacements from Certi-fit for about 27 a pop, but for twenty bucks I'm gonna try the kit.

[Keith B]

These kits do a great job. If your headlights are not too badly hazed, or you already have a small buffing wheel, Meguiar's makes a product called Plastx that does a great job and it is available at Wal-Mart and all the auto supply houses.

[budroux2w]

These kits do a great job. If your headlights are not too badly hazed, or you already have a small buffing wheel, Meguiar's makes a product called Plastx that does a great job and it is available at Wal-Mart and all the auto supply houses.

I'm going to have to try that. I like Meguiar's stuff, that's all we use on the 'stang.

[MoJo]

Flitz - - - will clean 'em up nicely.

[puma guy]

This a little off topic but deals with headlights and tail lights. I wrote my State Reps about vehicles with aftermarket HID headlights and the smoked tail light covers and clear tail lights with no red reflectors. No response from either which I expected. I know HID's are factory installed on some vehicles,but they have projector type lense assemblies. I'm talking about the kits with bulbs and transformers installed in non HID lens assemblies that "broadcast the glaring whiteish blue beams that blind you. Also the running lights that are brighter than most spot lights. I am sure they nall exceed wattage limits. I thought it was illegal to alter head and tail lights on vehicles, period! The DOT approval they give with the aftermarket kits means nothing other than they meet some limited standard for safety. My suggestion to my Reps was to reinstate headlight inspection for alignment and brightness as we used to have. As it stands LEO's are supposed to watch out for inspection infractions, but they have enough to do and can't carry around photometric equipment. It doesn't take any equipment to see clear and smoked/blacked out tail lights.

[SwimFan85]

My suggestion to my Reps was to reinstate headlight inspection for alignment and brightness as we used to have. As it stands LEO's are supposed to watch out for inspection infractions, but they have enough to do and can't carry around photometric equipment. It doesn't take any equipment to see clear and smoked/blacked out tail lights.

They eliminated headlight aiming because of incompetence or fraud by the inspectors.

http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/vi/Misc/fa ... em.htm#aim" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Each year almost 50% of the citizens were being charged for headlight aim testing as they received their vehicle inspection.
Through review of a substantial number of vehicles, only 3% actually required headlight aim adjustment.

[flb_78]

I used the 30 Headlight Restoration kit on my Grand Marquis. It worked great. I wish we still used the ole H4656 headlights with glass housings.

[puma guy]

My suggestion to my Reps was to reinstate headlight inspection for alignment and brightness as we used to have. As it stands LEO's are supposed to watch out for inspection infractions, but they have enough to do and can't carry around photometric equipment. It doesn't take any equipment to see clear and smoked/blacked out tail lights.

They eliminated headlight aiming because of incompetence or fraud by the inspectors.

http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/vi/Misc/fa ... em.htm#aim" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Each year almost 50% of the citizens were being charged for headlight aim testing as they received their vehicle inspection.
Through review of a substantial number of vehicles, only 3% actually required headlight aim adjustment.

I recall that was the reason. I know I would be annoyed when I got charged for an adjustment.

[ninemm]

I'm pretty sure all of my vehicle manuals ('98 GMC 3500 Cutaway, 2006 Chevy G2500 cargo, 2006 Nissan Sentra, 2006 Honda Accord and 2008 Chevy Silverado 2500HD) have a couple of pages on how to aim the headlights. Really, they just have to be close. One can usually tell they are off much if they know what projection to expect on the wall of the garage.

[jimlongley]

My suggestion to my Reps was to reinstate headlight inspection for alignment and brightness as we used to have. As it stands LEO's are supposed to watch out for inspection infractions, but they have enough to do and can't carry around photometric equipment. It doesn't take any equipment to see clear and smoked/blacked out tail lights.

They eliminated headlight aiming because of incompetence or fraud by the inspectors.

http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/vi/Misc/fa ... em.htm#aim" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Each year almost 50% of the citizens were being charged for headlight aim testing as they received their vehicle inspection.
Through review of a substantial number of vehicles, only 3% actually required headlight aim adjustment.

I recall that was the reason. I know I would be annoyed when I got charged for an adjustment.

I had one of those Goodyear "introducing our newest store" "All Included" service specials a bunch of years ago. Aiming the headlights consisted of pointing the car at the wall in the back of the garage and cursorily measuring, with a dirty greasy yardstick, where the center of the beams hit. No adjustments were made. As a gear head I knew they had the proper alignment equipment.

During the same service I had my tires rotated and a lube job and oil change. The "mechanic" never touched half the zerks, and the ones he did hit did not have the necessary fresh grease extruding, he just hit each with a pop and moved on. And then there was his version of repacking the front wheel bearings (and if that doesn't tell you how long ago it was, it was a 1969 Plymouth Fury III) where he just filled the hub caps with grease and when confronted told the manager that when the hubs got hot the grease would just run down in.

He also never checked the air pressure in the tires, he said he could tell if it was right by the way they bounced when he dismounted them.

I never mentioned any of these things observed until it came time to check out and I started rattling off the things that were not done, or were not done right, to the manager (which is when the mechanic came up with all his excuses).

I have always wondered if the reason the garages started making people wait in different rooms was so they could get away with stuff like that. Although Goodyear was exceedingly "nice" in their attempts to retain me as a customer, including issuing me a bunch of coupons for free service, I have not willingly gone back. I even sent their coupons back with a note indicating that they were not worth what I was likely to pay for them.

And this was 40 years ago, so it seems things have not changed much except that our legislators got rid of the problem by eliminating the requirement.

[gigag04]

I second the Plastx recommendation. I use Meguiars and Mothers products exclusively on my car and they are the bees knees.

[Rex B]

I never mentioned any of these things observed until it came time to check out and I started rattling off the things that were not done, or were not done right, to the manager

Jim, I hate to have my cars worked on for just those reasons.
I just buy all the tools and do what i can myself. I have a very well-equipped shop now - brake lathe, tire mounting machine, electronic balancer etc.

As for the headlight restoration kits, uur company stocks and sells probably 8 different products in different lines.
All are pretty much the same: Abrasives - coarse, fine, and ultra-fine.
All of them will fog up again within a year.
The 3M is as good as any out there.
The one recommended in the first post also adds some sort of sealer.
There is a new one that I think is a step better, which just came out. It's by Cumberland Products and it's called Illuminator. The only real difference is it has a spray-on clearcoat which requires UV to set up. What this does is make the restoration permanent by blocking UV. So far it looks pretty good, but it's a bit more pricey: $60 per kit, not including something to spray the clear-coat. One kit will do at least 6 cars though, so if you have a driveway full it makes economic sense. http://www.66autocolor.com/Illuminator_ ... -6900k.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
This is what the shops are starting to use for customer cars.

[particle]

Thanks for the link! I've tried these types of kits before (not this one), and the thing that is always missing is the final sealer. No matter what kit/method I've tried, the haze always comes back. Last time I polished my headlights on my is300, I put a heavy coat of automotive wax as the final sealer - seemed to last a while longer than the normal kits (including the PlastX stuff). PlastX supposedly has "Special highly water resistant polymers provide long lasting durable protection to keep your clear plastics clear and beautiful longer", but it didn't do jack squat on my 97 Jeep Grand Cherokee's headlights. The haze was back after just a few months.

I'll have to try this Crystal Vision stuff and see if their "lifetime" sealer works any better...

Anyone notice how he failed to tape off the surrounding paint/chrome when he was restoring the headlight in the video? Without a doubt, tape off the surrounding area, especially if you're using power tools for sanding/polishing!

Hmm, maybe the Illuminator is worth a look too!