How To Clean Foggy Headlights At Home
Driving in fog is such a challenging task for the drivers, especially if you are new in the place. It is one of the major causes of the motorway piles ups during the foggy winter months. Drivers confronted with foggy conditions, speed up often to drive through it faster or follow the lights only front lights so closely to find out what is ahead.
Unfortunately, both of the techniques are dangerous. Fog lights have jutted the boon in foggy weather. Due to the weather, sunlight and different road chemicals that our car’s headlight is exposed to, the plastic part of the lenses becomes foggy eventually and reduces the visibility level for the drivers.
When it is important to drive at dark foggy night or in a condition with limited visibility, a must-have safety weapon that the driver can keep sharp and good in working condition is the fog light. Fog can affect your headlight lenses significantly and hampered lenses can reduce your visibility level also.
Clean up the fog headlights of your car is an easy matter at all. It takes a lot of time and care. You need to be aware of all the tricks of cleaning to get back your fog lights back in the previous condition.
It is not just the matter of that how your car looks with the foggy headlights but the safety of the driver or the passengers can be affected too. If you are driving at the night with foggy headlights, the light beams of the car will be more scattered potentially making it quite difficult to see the road hazards.
The Meaning Of Foggy Headlights
If you find that the light coming from the headlights is not much clear and reduces your visibility level, then your car should suffer from the issue of foggy headlights. Sometimes, many drivers notice that the headlights of their car are very less bright and it has a yellowish shade to it. This is because of the foggy headlights also. Headlight fogging is a common issue, especially if you live in a place where winter is the major season.
Headlight fogginess is very common and scientific as well. Most of the headlight lenses, that available in today’s market, are made of the thick plastic with the polycarbonate cover. In older cars, you will find the glass lenses only. Plastic lenses are more durable and scratch-resistant.
Over time, when the polycarbonate plastic gets an exposure of the UV rays of the sun, it starts damaging the outer portion and the outer part begins to degrade and break down. With the new changes, lenses of the headlight start to absorb all the blue lights from the headlight bulbs and cause a yellowish, less potent light to come out. Cleaning up the fog light is not very easy even for a non-technical person.
Clean Foggy Headlights With Household Items
Process Number: 1
Firstly you can go for expert help to clean up your foggy headlights. Every auto supply store keeps the good stocks of the items that can be very helpful to clean the lenses of the foggy headlight when it is damaged by the UV rays or too much fog. They are popularly known as the Fog headlight restoration kits. This is the easiest way to clean up your foggy headlight.
When you buy the readymade kits for the foggy plastic headlight restoration kits, you may have all the materials and tools at your own home too, to attempt the process. You need 1,000-grade sandpapers, some water, and the rubbing compound only. Just put some water on the sandpaper and sand gently each of the headlights. To get rid of the oxidation layers, repeat the process several times. Just go side to side then repeat the process by going up and down. Then buff the headlight with rubbing compound on a clean, soft cloth or the electric buffer.
Process Number: 2
There also other DIY ways to get rid of the foggy lights faster. You just need a few simple items to get rid of the issue. Baking soda and toothpaste can work excellent to clean up the foggy headlights. They are enough to get rid of the fog without damaging or scratching the headlights. Some polishing compound like the Rain X might be effective enough to make your job done.
If you want to try the DIY process at your home, you just need some easy to get items in your hand:
- Toothpaste or baking soda and cleaning kit
- Old towels or rags
- Water to rinse
- Latex gloves to save your sensitive skin
- A soft-bristled good quality brush
- A mild cleanser
Step By Step Process To Clean Foggy Headlights:
- Clean up the surface of the debris
To start your cleaning process, just make sure that you are going to a clear and clean surface. Now take a mild cleanser and spritz the foggy headlight with a good quality mild cleanser. Wipe away all the dirt, dead bugs, particles and gunk gently, which may have gathered on headlights.
- Towel dry
After cleaning up the surface, make the surface moisture free by wiping down a dry towel.
- Apply the restorer of the headlight
Now take a fair amount of headlight cleanser that you will have the restoration kit of your headlight, toothpaste or the baking soda. Spread it thickly over the lenses of the headlight. If you are cleaning it with baking soda, just make a thick paste of it by mixing it with water. Leave it on the lens for several minutes and let it dry.
- Use the brush to clean up the cleanser
Use the brush to clean up the cleanser and work in a circular motion gently on the headlight with the brush. Use only the abrasive cleanser that not to be gauged into the lens’s plastic surface.
With your dry rag or towel, buff away all the excess cleanser from the lens. Use more water if there any stubborn dirt that dried on the bits and polish the surface with the towel.
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