To Go For Led's Or No?

[Trelose]

So the left driver-side headlight seems to be permanently "fogged" (don't know what else to call it), and I was considering getting new headlights. What my question is:

Is there a way to fix the headlight to be cleaned (already tried toothpaste and Windex...)? Or should I get new headlight domes? If so, should I go for LED's? These are the LED's I'm looking at: http://www.americanmuscle.com/projector-headlight-led-chrome-9904.html

If I could get LED domes that look closer to the original design (assuming I go that route), that would be awesome.

 

[samcudney]

Those are projector lights with LED halos, not LED headlights (which, by the way, exist. Check superbright LEDs for some examples, but you'll have to figure out what fits, and you'll possibly have law enforcement issues as well). Personally, I think the halos look more than a little crappy but it's your car, and the price on those isn't bad assuming the quality is decent.

Having gone through the "aged to imperfection" thing with headlights on more than one occasion, I speak from experience on this; try one of the made-for-the-purpose headlight restoring kits first, they are all about equally effective, don't go for the most expensive. I believe I got the TurtleWax stuff in Walmart for about $6. If they're not too far gone this will work fine. If that doesn't do the job because they're too far gone, you can sand down the lenses with increasingly fine sandpaper starting with something in the 400 range and finishing up with 2000 grit then polishing compound, and a clad of wax. cost will be only a few bucks and an hour or so of your time and they'll look like new. Really.

 

[Trelose]

Yeah, a friend at school told me about the headlight cleaner. Gonna try that first and see how it does, because if I can keep the car looking stock... That would be awesome.

 

[vertigasen]

The Maguires headlight cleaning kit has sanding sponges, a polishing drill attachment, plastic polish, and plastic protectant to keep it from discoloring/fogging as fast.

My factory ford headlight that I still have on the drivers side is pristine, I have never had to polish or clean it. My passenger one was replaced in 2009 after I hit a deer (very minor damage). I have had to polish and clean that headlight every year. This year, nothing new. I will take it out and take it apart to clean it. I think I might seal the whole thing this time with silicone, and make a homemade silicone gasket for the headlight lamp so that I can TRY to keep moisture out of it.

 

[Trelose]

Used some headlight cleaner on it with no luck.

What do I do now?

Also, Vertigasen, I will look into that.

 

[03_TrueBlue_GT]

Did you sand the headlights or did you just use a paste? If you didn't sand them try a kit that comes with the sanding paper. Autozone carries a nice headlight cleaner called Headlight Restore I believe.

 

[Trelose]

Did you sand the headlights or did you just use a paste? If you didn't sand them try a kit that comes with the sanding paper. Autozone carries a nice headlight cleaner called Headlight Restore I believe.

That's actually what I used. But I haven't tried sanding yet.