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Headlamps


madrat

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The headlight on the passat have been a bit cloudy for a few years, and as new ones are £80 - £160 each I thought I would try refacing them first. 

 

I got this kit off ebay last year.

 

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b29/madrat/L.jpg

 

Cost about £9

 

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b29/madrat/L2.jpg

 

Didn't hold out much hope but was worth a try.  I am pleasantly surprised, instructions were a bit :?  but results are good.  I used the tool in a cordless drill, was quite easy, but only time will tell.

 

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b29/madrat/L3.jpg

 

Never took a picture of the before, but it was cloudy and discoloured, especially at the top.

 

One question though, what was wrong with glass headlights? they didn't degrade in the sun :evil:

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What is really annoying about polycarbonate headlights is the feebleness of the Ultra-Violet protecting coating.

It is solar UV that yellows the polycarbonate, which is why headlamps cloud quickest on the most horizontal part of their surface. Effective UV coatings do exist, the polycarbonate sheets on my porch are 26 years old and have not gone cloudy because the coating works. (However, one triangular piece that was cut wrong was fitted UV coated side down. It's gone beyond cloudy to brown)

Annual job now on my motors: polishing the solar damage off the headlights with Silvo. At least that does work unlike trying to polish the reflectors on old fashioned glass and metal headlights!

 

Bring back sealed beam units!

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The headlamps of my daily Ignis had also gone opaque, but I couldn't be arsed using a proper kit. So I looked around the internets and decided to buy some of this magic gloop :

 

41T8iK1gzcL._SY355_.jpg

 

To my surprise, it removed most of the haziness in a couple of minutes and with minimal effort ! GR11 for passing the next MoT !

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3M plastic polish is good (if not better) if you can't find Plast-X.

 

My headlight lenses also went all crazed and hazy where the headlight beam shines through them.

I guess the UV or IR content of the headlight light (regular 55W halogen) is enough to do so

 

Phil

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The headlamps of my daily Ignis had also gone opaque, but I couldn't be arsed using a proper kit. So I looked around the internets and decided to buy some of this magic gloop :

 

41T8iK1gzcL._SY355_.jpg

 

To my surprise, it removed most of the haziness in a couple of minutes and with minimal effort ! GR11 for passing the next MoT !

Also useful for rejuvenating scratched Cds and dvds.

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