So here I sit with my brand new headlights..

[toocrazy2yoo]

On my 2008 Accent sedan. The plastic is crystal clear, perfect and lovely. Now. How do I keep them that way? I've never had a rock situation with the plastic headlights, but the fogging, fading, and clouding is another issue.

I saw the remarks about rock-blockers. But what do I do about the inevitable fading and clouding, an issue I took up with the factory during the lemon-law arbitration that brought me my new Accent?

 

[wcbcruzer]

Just drive it and when they're faded get a new pair of projector headlights. Then when those are faded, get another new pair but by then you'll probably want a new car.

I'm not sure what exactly causes the headlight fading, but I have found Honda headlights to be pretty resistant to all of it.

 

[rpn453]

Park in a garage, or at least in the shade.

 

[Dominic]

you can buy rockblocker shields if you are concerned with interstate rocks and such. http://www.rockblocker.com - I believe they also sell stuff for the whole vehicle too.

 

[Westerly]

The major problem with "yellowing" is a result of UV rays from sunlight or the bulb itself. The best thing is for the mfr to make sure the plastic is impregnated with sufficient UV blockers on the inside and out of the lens. However eventually all plastic lenses seem to fall prey to this damage. Concerning rocks you can get a 3m product that simply is cut to fit on the lenses not too expensive.

Make sure your bulbs have a UV blocking film on the bulb capsule. Most ppl do not realize that the light from the halogen bulb can do as much damage as the sun when it comes to UV.

 

[G-MAN]

Originally Posted By: Westerly
The major problem with "yellowing" is a result of UV rays from sunlight or the bulb itself. The best thing is for the mfr to make sure the plastic is impregnated with sufficient UV blockers on the inside and out of the lens. However eventually all plastic lenses seem to fall prey to this damage. Concerning rocks you can get a 3m product that simply is cut to fit on the lenses not too expensive.

Make sure your bulbs have a UV blocking film on the bulb capsule. Most ppl do not realize that the light from the halogen bulb can do as much damage as the sun when it comes to UV.


I think that's overstating it. The UV output of the bulbs is minuscule compared to what the lamp gets from the sun.

You can typically restore oxidized headlights to like-new condition by wet sanding and polishing the lens and the applying some sort of protective coating to help prevent new oxidation from occuring. If the oxidation came from the UV rays produced by the bulb, it would be from the inside out and no amount of polishing on the outside of the lens could remove it.

 

[Jimmy9190]

You can wax the healight lenses with a yellow carnuba wax like Meguiar's Step 3. A guy here who has a business restoring headlights for dealership service customers told me about it. I use it on my new headlights that I had to buy last year (my old ones also were cloudy yellowed and one leaked water) and it works very well so far. If you do get any light clouding/oxidation you can use Meguiar's Plast-X or there is a kit you can get at parts stores that is a chemical process to restore the lights. I don't know how well it works though.

 

[psudaytona]

I have used Plast-X and its OK imo. I prefer the Scratch-X product however. Its great at quickly remove oxidation and polishing the lenses and reflectors inside the assembly. The critical thing is the protect the lenses once you polish them. When polished with even a mild abrasive like Scratch/Plast - X, you will completely remove the UV inhibitor coating placed their when they were assembled.

Not sealing or coating them again will make them cloud or yellow again MUCH more quickly. 1-4 weeks depending on weather conditions! Any wax with UV inhibitors should work ok. I used Duponts Teflon Car Wax and its results were quite nice. They give the lenses alot of reflection during daylight. It also keeps road gunk, slush, and mud from sticking to the lenses.

Recently, I found the best product to recoat the lenses. Liquid Glass. Its a high end auto sealant/wax(its all synthetic so it contains no 'waxes'). I wasnt impressed with what it was able to do with the paint but it does an incredible job on the headlight lenses. I applied 5 coats(its stackable and gets thicker and more protective) and my lenses look like glass! Nothing will stick to them and they are more scratch resistant.

 

[PW01]

Just keep them waxed

 

[Thermo1223]

The UV blockers should be in the plastic not just a coating, at least that is what I have been lead to believe.

So polishing and sanding shouldn't make a difference to it's ability to protect from UV Rays. What I do know is that overtime those inhibitors wear out. The way I read it as being sacrificial molecules that UV rays destroy instead of the actual plastic structure. I may be wrong though so take it with some NaCl.

 

[psudaytona]

I did it on 2 different cars and when I polish them clean, they haze over again very very quickly.

 

[toocrazy2yoo]

Tx all, and Daytona too, I think I'll try the liquid glass. Appreciate all opinions!

 

[heathenbrewing]

Originally Posted By: Jimmy9190
If you do get any light clouding/oxidation you can use Meguiar's Plast-X....


I use the product and must say it is excellent! I have been using it since I got my car (brand new) to help "condition" and protect the plastic headlights (and tails) and they sparkle like diamonds. I use it only to maintain, so I cant comment on how well it removes oxidation.

 

[idok]

I believe they use polycarbonate for these and it and when used in eye glasses it has a UV blocker blended INTO the material, not just a coating. I use Formula 2001 about once or 2x per year and rain x whenever I put it on the windows. This seems to work well for me. My oldest car is a 02 camry w/ 100k on it and except for rock pock marks they are pretty clear. I notice that Chrysler products seem to yellow really bad and quickly to.

 

[boxcartommie22]

just use a product called"plexus" you can get this at a high performance shop. use this about twice a month..go to their site you will be amazed at the uses and how superior this stuff performs

 

[meep]

Originally Posted By: Thermo1223
The UV blockers should be in the plastic not just a coating, at least that is what I have been lead to believe.


Most my plastic-headlight cars have just been a coating over plastic. I learned it the hard way on the old subaru, then observed the same type of assembly on our later cars (honda, chrysler, jeep.)

Don't know if our Escape is coated or impregnated??

M