Best headlight repair kit

[Cameramonkey]

Wife's 07 T&C van's headlight lenses are frosted and are limiting the throw of the beams. I tried one kit several years ago and it didnt help much.

Anyone know of a kit that actually works to clear those plastic lenses up? Or just replace them with new? Aftermarket kits are upwards of $325 a set, so I REALLY dont want to buy new ones if at all possible.

 

[chezuki]

Bug spray with deet.

 

[bwframe]

I haven't tried this specifically, but I like this guy's helpful informative videos.

[video=youtube;UEJbKLZ7RmM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEJbKLZ7RmM[/video]

 

[boogieman]

Bug spray with deet.

^^^This. It takes a little elbow grease but works well.

 

[KittySlayer]

My son used this and my drill to clean up the frosted lenses on a 2006 Acura RSX (=Civic).

 

[d.kaufman]

^^^This. It takes a little elbow grease but works well.

Second the bug spray but ive found off backwoods specifically works really well

 

[yeti rider]

Mr, Cameramonkey, that fogging is a coating on the lens breaking down. There are a few ways to skin that cat. You can wet sand them with a 2000 grit paper and then buff them, or you can sand them with 2000 grit paper and clear coat them. If you go the clear coat route, i'd probably take them out of the van, sand them, and take them to your favorite local body shop and have them clear them when they are painting a car. You can buy aerosol cans of clear coat, but they are not (usually) going to have the UV protection that a high quality clear coat the body shop sprays has.

 

[Brandon]

I may be mistaken butI think AllenM was offering this as a service a couple years ago... Not sure if he still is orwas... Maybe worth a shot.

 

[Hoosierdood]

I had a windshield on my motorcycle start to get hazy and tried a headlight repair kit on it. Completely ruined the whole thing. And windshields on a Goldwing aren't cheap. In my desperation, I bought a bottle of Turtlewax Polishing Compound for less than $10. I used a buffing pad on my drill and worked that windshield for several hours. I was completely shocked when it came out as good as new!

I have tried the same thing on headlights with similar results, and it doesn't take more than a few minutes of buffing. Might be a good option for an easy/cheap fix.

 

[bacon#1]

Grey scotch brite, sand them good. Aersol clear coat. Or take them to a body shop and have them use good clear. I wouldn't think they would charge too much.

 

[d.kaufman]

Quick search looks like you could replace both with new assemblies from dorman for under $100. I'd guess if you sand then take to body shop for them to clear coat it will cost more that way

 

[Bennettjh]

Mr, Cameramonkey, that fogging is a coating on the lens breaking down. There are a few ways to skin that cat. You can wet sand them with a 2000 grit paper and then buff them, or you can sand them with 2000 grit paper and clear coat them. If you go the clear coat route, i'd probably take them out of the van, sand them, and take them to your favorite local body shop and have them clear them when they are painting a car. You can buy aerosol cans of clear coat, but they are not (usually) going to have the UV protection that a high quality clear coat the body shop sprays has.

We do this in our shop often. Especially if one headlight gets replaced, the other one looks really bad. Sand it down, spray on adhesion promoter, put on good clear. Looks really nice.

 

[Ericpwp]

None have lasted for me. Chrisfix has a video on it where he used uv-resistant clear spray paint on them. I will be trying that next.

I think this is the vid
[video=youtube_share;UEJbKLZ7RmM]http://youtu.be/UEJbKLZ7RmM[/video]

 

[Cameramonkey]

Quick search looks like you could replace both with new assemblies from dorman for under $100. I'd guess if you sand then take to body shop for them to clear coat it will cost more that way

[STRIKE]Please share your results. I cant find them for under $150 EACH.[/STRIKE]

Disregard. Found them.

 

[bwframe]

Please share your results. I cant find them for under $150 EACH.

https://www.ebay.com/i/371049193789?chn=ps

Maybe I googled the wrong ones? $58.98 for the set w/bulbs, free shipping from IL.

 

[Cameramonkey]

Thanks guys. Amazon will have them to my door Wednesday for $70. (pair)

 

[d.kaufman]

Thanks guys. Amazon will have them to my door Wednesday for $70. (pair)

Darn good price. Not worth the elbow grease required when you can get a set that cheap

 

[sht4brnz]

https://youtu.be/0YRrgrMZB0E[video=youtube_share;0YRrgrMZB0E]https://youtu.be/0YRrgrMZB0E[/video]

 

[Alpo]

I replace the assemblies in my Toyota pickup for well under $100. The greatest amount of time was spent researching how to align the beams. It was pretty easy after finding the correct video on youtube.

Headlight repair of plastic lenses is a much less satisfying method of solving the problem.

 

[ghuns]

I have a 1000 and a 1500 grit wet sanding pad. A Porter Cable buffer, some pads, and some different compounds from Chemical Guys. Oh, and some sealer from Klasse. If the light comes out easy, it takes me about 15-20 minutes to scuff and buff it back into shape...