Keep those headlight lenses clean!

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I noticed my headlights weren't as bright as usual. When I took a look at them, they were covered with road salt/grime. So make sure to wipe off your headlight lenses periodically, especially when in-between car washes. Visibility at night is extra important now with all the added hazards Old Man Winter brings.
 
Some excellent, ammonia free glass cleaner like Sprayaway from Home Depot, etc. works excellent. Only about $3 or so and my favorite.
 
Originally Posted By: SatinSilver
Some excellent, ammonia free glass cleaner like Sprayaway from Home Depot, etc. works excellent. Only about $3 or so and my favorite.


Sprayaway is legit
 
Originally Posted By: SatinSilver
Some excellent, ammonia free glass cleaner like Sprayaway from Home Depot, etc. works excellent. Only about $3 or so and my favorite.


Tap water "works excellent" and is virtually free.
 
It's so salty/muddy around here that I have to clean my lights every day.

Not worth shelling out hundreds of $ to replace notoriously flaky headlight wiper units, but even a washer fluid rinse would go a long way to keeping them cleaner. I'll see if I can rig up a sprayer or something.
 
Originally Posted By: VeryNoisyPoet
It's so salty/muddy around here that I have to clean my lights every day.

Not worth shelling out hundreds of $ to replace notoriously flaky headlight wiper units, but even a washer fluid rinse would go a long way to keeping them cleaner. I'll see if I can rig up a sprayer or something.


You have headlight wipers but no headlamp washers?

Mine only has headlamp washers and has a weird system where it only sprays the headlamps when the headlights are on and after 5-10 squirts of windshield wiper fluid. I try to get the ice off the doors to the headlamp washers, I wonder if it'd break if they were frozen over, but don't want to find out.
 
I miss the days when I could simply polish the glass lens with a rag. Now it's a plastic cover that's yellowed and opaque. I'm too lazy to deal with it.
 
Originally Posted By: Kestas
I miss the days when I could simply polish the glass lens with a rag. Now it's a plastic cover that's yellowed and opaque. I'm too lazy to deal with it.

Same one of the bigger disappointments of mine with automobiles in the past 20 years. I would honestly pay a premium for glass lenses if it was a option I mean if I can go to the store and buy a glass bottle of soda for $1 I don't get the cost argument to it. Some minor weight added but I think glass lenses would increase a vehicles resale value. Nothing like those nice shiny $60k-$80k Benz 5 years old and headlights that look to have come from a scrap yard.
 
Originally Posted By: Kestas
I miss the days when I could simply polish the glass lens with a rag.

I miss the days when you could simply replace the headlight (cracked, sandblasted, or failed) by going to the local parts store and grabbing another sealed beam, and have brand new, OEM performance in a few minutes.
 
Originally Posted By: Garak
Originally Posted By: Kestas
I miss the days when I could simply polish the glass lens with a rag.

I miss the days when you could simply replace the headlight (cracked, sandblasted, or failed) by going to the local parts store and grabbing another sealed beam, and have brand new, OEM performance in a few minutes.

+1!
 
I keep a spray bottle in the garage filled with ordinary windshield washer fluid beside a supply of clean shop rags. Ten seconds on each light and you’re good to go.

SF
 
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A little off subject but I've found the best (and cheapest) way to recondition faded plastic lights is to wet sand them with 600 grit paper and clearcoat them with aerosol spray paint from the autoparts store.
 
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Not only keeping them clean, but also keeping the lenses CLEAR is just as important. My lenses were cloudy looking, so I restored them using a 3M restoration kit. Now about once every couple of months or so I go over them by hand using Mequiar's 105 polish to keep them clear. Keeping them clean and clear really makes a big difference with night time vision...
 
Careful what you apply to the headlamp in cleaning them. I'd even be careful the media/material (cloths, windshield scrubber/car wash brush) that you use when cleaning. Some of the cleaning chemicals might adversely affect the UV coating and overall finish over time. Remember these lamps see chemicals from the road environment + harsh UV rays + road debris and other factors. Furthermore cloths, windshield scrubber/car wash brush that isn't perfectly clean can introduce scratches to the coating and lens itself.

The last thing you want to do is compromise the lens' integrity resulting in FASTER clouding. A clouded lens is a useless one. I use only water spray from a car wash for my headlamps (or a water spray bottle in between time) and have never had a clouded lens in any of my cars that I have ever owned. I also park them away from the sun where possible.
 
Originally Posted By: Smokescreen
Careful what you apply to the headlamp in cleaning them. I'd even be careful the media/material (cloths, windshield scrubber/car wash brush) that you use when cleaning.


+1, I like use a mf towel on them. If $3 for Sprayway is too expensive then one can buy some waterless wash concentrate for $21. It's a 16 ounce container that can make 32 bottles of Ultima waterless wash. It also contains a sealant in it to protect them from the elements. Plus it's good for bird bombs, bugs, tar, sap esp when tacked immediately. So .65/bottle.
 
Originally Posted By: grampi
Not only keeping them clean, but also keeping the lenses CLEAR is just as important. My lenses were cloudy looking, so I restored them using a 3M restoration kit. Now about once every couple of months or so I go over them by hand using Mequiar's 105 polish to keep them clear. Keeping them clean and clear really makes a big difference with night time vision...


I hope you put some protection on them. Blue Magic headlight sealant is good.
 
I've been going over my headlamps with Meguiar's PlastX to get rid of haze on one that wasn't replaced during a crash.

Polycarbonate is also sensitive to solvents, GE(now SABIC) has a warning on Lexan sheet against the use of ammoniated glass cleaner(Sprayway is fine, just not Windex/Glance/Glass Plus), alcohol, acetone and oddly enough Lysol even though it's a brand and it's different between all their products.

I think any car marketed to be an "active" car should have heated headlamp washer nozzles. Subarus are bought by skiers and snowboarders and they can use it more than a Lexus/Mercedes/Audi/BMW/Range Rover that only sees the mall/Costco parking lot or the country club. I can count the times on my hands how much I had to clean off the headlamps on a friend's Forester during a snowstorm.
 
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Originally Posted By: 3800Series
Same one of the bigger disappointments of mine with automobiles in the past 20 years. I would honestly pay a premium for glass lenses if it was a option I mean if I can go to the store and buy a glass bottle of soda for $1 I don't get the cost argument to it. Some minor weight added but I think glass lenses would increase a vehicles resale value. Nothing like those nice shiny $60k-$80k Benz 5 years old and headlights that look to have come from a scrap yard.


Mine is about 10 years old now and they're still fine. But probably not for long. I see people with models 1 year older replacing their lenses, but I haven't seen too many with my model year yet. Maybe they did something with that year or it's not time yet.

But I remember older cars that had glass headlights. Those were heavy compared to the plastic. It's every trick in the book to save a few drops of gas that probably adds up once you drive 200k.

Originally Posted By: nthach
I think any car marketed to be an "active" car should have heated headlamp washer nozzles. Subarus are bought by skiers and snowboarders and they can use it more than a Lexus/Mercedes/Audi/BMW/Range Rover that only sees the mall/Costco parking lot or the country club. I can count the times on my hands how much I had to clean off the headlamps on a friend's Forester during a snowstorm.


Mine has the bixenons and I think they're supposed to have headlamp washers in Europe as dust/dirt is supposed to make the light scatter. But it was an option, most E class Benzs didn't have the bixenons as it was an extra cost option. The sport model did come with headlamp washers in 07-09 but it had regular halogen lights. I'm pretty sure they all had heated windshield washer fluid as standard.
 
Originally Posted By: 3800Series
Originally Posted By: Kestas
I miss the days when I could simply polish the glass lens with a rag. Now it's a plastic cover that's yellowed and opaque. I'm too lazy to deal with it.

Same one of the bigger disappointments of mine with automobiles in the past 20 years. I would honestly pay a premium for glass lenses if it was a option I mean if I can go to the store and buy a glass bottle of soda for $1 I don't get the cost argument to it. Some minor weight added but I think glass lenses would increase a vehicles resale value. Nothing like those nice shiny $60k-$80k Benz 5 years old and headlights that look to have come from a scrap yard.


Sounds good, but how long do you think such huge glass lenses would last in service?
Our '86 Civic Wagons had glass lensed composite headlight units. Halogen bulb replacement was super easy, but the lenses suffered rock damage in normal road use and I had to replace two of them, which cost around $70.00 for the unit at the time and required bumper removal.
Properly made and coated plastic lenses given proper maintenance seem to hold up very well in my experience.
Sealed beams are pretty much gone since they offer really poor lighting, but guess what we have on a '17 fleet GMC at work?
Could not believe that any road vehicle still used sealed beam headlights.
 
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