Head light covers...

Question number two:

My '03 Forester has for some time had a cloudy head light cover. It's cutting down the brightness.

Is this common? What do I use to clean it up?

"As always, we thank you for your support."

H.

Reply to
number 9
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Most steps to clean up the yellow/pitted lenses involve wet sanding with

2-3-4 succesively finer grit abrasives and finishing with a plastic polish and a clearcoat spray. Likely there are kits for this as well. I've read instructions from folks at both
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and
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. In addition to anyone;s experience here - try searching those forums.

Carl

Reply to
Carl 1 Lucky Texan

It's called CHEAP plastic. Subaru will cut corners on everything. Even the lens on Fords last longer than 3 years....

Try this link. It doesn't list a 2003, but they might have it now.

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A friend bought a set of headlights for his 96 Taurus (god knows WHY he bought that wreck). They were good quality

Reply to
Backfire Bob

Yes.

Plastic polish and elbow grease if it's not real bad, soap and water, fine wet-r-dry sandpaper, plastic polish and lotsa elbow grease if it is. Not much trouble to install new headlight assemblies if they don't clean up to your satisfaction, but they're kinda pricy.

Yer welcome.

ByeBye! S.

Steve Jernigan KG0MB Laboratory Manager Microelectronics Research University of Colorado (719) 262-3101

Reply to
S

Thank you all! I thought it was on the inside, but as you pointed out, it is in fact on the outside of the plastic.

Do you think waxing it afterwords will keep it better longer?

H.

Reply to
number 9

They weather pretty fast. It's weather cracks, which are very fine, and just plain old sandblasting from driving the car. The damage is on the outside, but fortunately the actual "lens" is on the inside. The trick is to use fine wet/dry sandpaper to take it down relatively fast, then follow it up with polishes. If you have the bucks just get new ones, or try a junkyard for a cleaner headlight assembly. Unfortunately I think they cost around $300 each new.

If there are a lot of fine cracks in the lens, wax might fill them in and make it look clearer. I used to use Amour All on my plastic bike speedo and tach after polishing it with Simichrome polish. Did a pretty good job. Usually started with some fine wet/dry paper.

Reply to
Sheldon

Just to stir the subject:

Most plastic headlamp lenses are made out of Polycarbonate (PC such as Lexan and other commercial names).

PC is used because it is a tough material, does not break easily, and withstands high temperatures, but unfortunately, it is one of the worst materials to use outdoors because it is highly susceptible to UV radiation, even when loaded with UV stabilization additives. The UV radiation from the sun is what turns the clear lenses into yellowish light intensity hogs.

So why is it used? Weight, Cost and moldability to conform to weird designs. Besides, manufacturers do not mind the extra business of selling replacement lenses at outrageously high prices, do they?

As an after-thought: PC is derived from oil, while glass, for the old fashioned headlights, made from sand.

number 9 wrote:

Reply to
AS

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