Car question

The year of my car is 1999. The headlights have not been damaged in any way. No screws loose, nothing like that. Though it has accumlated what looks like a lot of sun damage. I don't know what else would cause the lights to go bad.

Now i don't think the bulbs are bad and as far as i know they are the originals and i bought the car in early 2005, and i have not replaced them.

I can't remember the name of the product i tried ( i got it at ACE hardware) but it was what they recommened. The product said that i might have to wipe it on a few times for best results. I did it only once and it didnt do ANYTHING i felt like it almost made it a tiny bit worse.....

Anyways is their something that will work w/o have to replace the plastice cover of the light? Some good product? I will order it online if someone can vouch on results.

Driving at night really sucks because i cant see much of anythign anymore...in the city its fine because their are lights everywhere and i dont need to dodge animals crossing the road every 2 miles....

 

I had something similar happen to mine a few years ago.

I switched my bulbs to the Silverlights and it helped tremendously.

However, one of them was so bad, I had to get a whole new casing. I got one at a junk yard for $10, I think.

 

Maybe it is my bulbs...i don't know, after all they might be 13 years old.....Regardless the headlight cover (whatever you call it) is clearly blurred with sun damage and any other road chemical i might hit. They spray chemicals all over the highway here in the winter to 'melt' the snow quicker so we plow less. Its nasty fucking shit.

 

yeah, that's what I assumed happened to mine. I could see the sand blasting all over the casing.

The Silverlights are pricey, but they are worth the money, trust me. I suffer from severe night blindness and they make driving at night much easier.

I wouldn't trust any of the chemicals to wipe them off, though. I really think most of the time, the casings are bad when they start to look like that.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=nigDJxsglpk



Hotwater :2thumbsup:

 

Hotwater have you used that?

That guy's voice is not very convincing.

 

if i am not mistaken is your car not a civic? if so it is normal and you just need to replace the housings.Honda used some weird type of plastic that made them milk over in time.

 

Yes its a 1999 civic ex coupe

 

there is a kit from flitz for restoring headlights.. its a micro-crystalline buffing compound and a buffer run in a hand drill. dont know if it works though lol.. but if its IN the plastic it aint gonna help

 

It would cost me several hundred to replace each housing. This work to the car im doing myself. Im hoping i can do something to fix the problem w/o out having to take a huge section of my car apart.

 

No, but most of the cars I've purchased over the years have been either new or late model vehicles :2thumbsup:

Hotwater

 

Junkyards...they are beautiful places and I suggest utilizing them to your fullest advantage always!

 

i just looked and it is around $100 for both headlight housings on ebay.
you can try and buff them it does work on some headlights but they will get milky again over time the only way to stop it is to replace the whole housing.

 

The covers get milky, all the stuff for cleaning and restoring them is just Snake Oil. See if you have a You Wrench It type salvage yard. All you need is tools and you get to learn on there stuff how to remove it. If you break somthing move on to the next car.

 

Been doing some research and i know if i want to do this right i need to replace the headlight bulbs and housings....

Bulbs are looking like $30 + tax and shpping and housings at $70 to $100 each + shipping...

Then its just removing the bumper and installing.

Everything looks pretty easy....and im sure it would be worth it.

Thanks all for help and giving advice. It got me thinking.

 

I had the same problem-mine wouldn't pass inspection.

My mechanic cleaned my with Bon Ami (any polishing agent will do). They weren't beautiful-but they were much better.

 

Why?

If i replaced old parts with only new, without some illegal upgrade i can't see why their would be any problems. Especially since i will make sure i do a good job as any 'professional' mechanic would do.

 

I wonder if using some kind of a certain grade sandpaper would work?

 

There's no need to replace the entire housing, the lenses absolutely can be polished clean. If you replace the housings with cheap aftermarket ones off ebay you won't be happy with them for long anyway, the quality is severely lacking; the seals tend to not be good so the headlights will fill with condensation, the plastic lenses aren't as thick are they're poorer quality so they'll yellow like this quickly. There a million and one ways to fix hazed headlight lenses, from polishing them with tooth paste (srs) to waxing them to using very fine sandpaper. I would go with the tooth paste method (youtube it) and if that doesn't work I would use Meguiar's plastx which you can polish the headlights by hand with.

On Silverstars, they're bright but not great and expensive as hell. They don't hold a candle to Philips Xtreme power or Osram Nightbreakers.

 

Watching a video now of someone before and after using toothpaste....very interesting.

Im going to try this first. If the results end up good i will post after pictures.