Full Cleanup Of Headlamps/fog Lamps

[Davy]

Hi Guys,

My car is at the painter’s and since most of the external parts have been taken off for painting, I wanted make use of the opportunity and clean the fog lamps. One of the fog lamps in my car was badly discoloured due to water leaking into the assembly causing one of the screws to corrode and spread the corroded metal particles everywhere (see the images below and you’ll see what I mean). So anyway, I thought of writing a DIY for whoever might be interested in doing a full cleanup of their headlights or fog lights. I found a couple of DIYs on the forum about headlamp restoration, but thought of posting this since this is a full cleanup.

Here goes…

What you need:

A heat gun (optional) | Silicone sealant | Sandpaper 1200 grit and 2000 grit | 3M rubbing compound (or Brasso) | Clear coat spray can (optional) | Masking Tape | A bowl of water | An old toothbrush | A little car wash | Tools to take the fog light assembly apart, a set of spanners and screwdrivers would do.

1. Take the fog lamp assembly out of your vehicle. My fog lamp assembly looked like this:

See what I mean about the discolouration?

Remove the mounting brackets and set them aside with the screws and clips that hold the lens and reflector in place.

2. Use the heat gun on the edge of the lens to heat the sealant and carefully pry out the lens using a screwdriver. Follow safety precautions specified on the instruction manual of your heat gun to avoid risk of injury. Once the sealant is heated up, it will start to melt partially and the lens will come out easily.

There is another method to remove the lens and that is to pre heat an oven to about 200 degrees Fahrenheit and put the lens in there for about 3 – 5 mins max. Leaving the light in the oven for a longer time will cause the entire assembly to melt, so you might want to be careful with this method.

3. To avoid the sealant sticking to your hand and every surface it touches, cover the sealant using masking tape. I initially thought that the masking tape wouldn’t come off due to the sealant sticking to the tape itself, but I had no problem, it came off fine.

4. Using water and the sand paper cut away the dirt and discolouration on the lens. Tear a small part of the sand paper and dip it in water and start sanding evenly across the front of the lens. I had some paint marks on my lens so I had to use the 1500 grit sand paper on those areas while I was able to sand the other areas with 2000 grit. Make sure there is enough water on the lens while sanding. The lens will become a bit foggy after sanding, don’t worry about that as we’re going to take care of it in the next step. I had to sand the inside of the lens as well.

5. Apply 3M rubbing compound (or Brasso) on the lens and polish it until the lens is nice and transparent.

BEFORE

AFTER

Continued...

Edited October 18, 2016 by Davy
Fixed broken image links

[Davy]

6. The reflective surface on my fog lamp was all dirty so I had to use an old toothbrush (dipped in car wash) to scrub the dirt off and wash it thoroughly with water.

7. Remove the masking tape off the lens (it should come off easily because it’s partially wet due to all the water) and leave everything to dry. If you have a compressor, you might want to blow the water off beforehand. Until the first lens dries out, you can start on the other one.

8. Apply clear coat on the lens’s outer surface. This acts as a protective layer on the lens and prevents future discolouration. (I had to skip this step because I didn’t have a can of clear coat with me, but I will be applying it before the fog lamps go into the car again).

9. After the lens is dried out, carefully put the lens and reflector back together. Make sure that there are no finger prints or other marks on the inner side of the lens as this is the last time we get a chance to clean it. Use the heat gun again to fasten the two halves together.

10. To give it a perfect seal, I used transparent silicone sealant and applied a very thin layer along the edge where the lens and the reflector meet.

Done. Hope this will help someone. DIY experts, please share your thoughts on anything that I may have overlooked or done incorrectly. \

Other threads on headlight restoration:

1. How To Restore Your Headlights by jdnet

2. Most Easiest Way Of Restoring Your Head Lights by kushan

3. Diy Headlight Painting (Making Your Car Look Unique) by blkr6

Cheers!

Edited October 18, 2016 by Davy
Fixed broken image links

[trinity]

Hey hey... Nice work machan... And thank you for staying up till late night to share your experience with us..

Cheers!!

[Sylvi]

Davy,

I appreciate your post.

Your detail explanation how you did same with photos. It is a very educative 2 posts to members who wants to do DIY projects.

As for my personal assessment you are a talented person with technological ability to do a job with lot of patient.

The forum need members like you to share their experiences with detail step by step photos as you have posted.

I hope you will do more DIY projects in future.

Sylvi Wijesinghe.

[terrabytetango]

Nice write up. Are you planning on doing the same with your headlights as well?

[Komisiripala]

Adey super! Gave me inspiration to clean my oem lights...

[mensoft]

Good Job !

[Davy]

Thanks a lot for your feedback guys! Appreciate it.

Nice write up. Are you planning on doing the same with your headlights as well?

Thanks! Well my headlights are OK, so they don't require a complete cleanup. I'm just going to polish them before installation.

[nexus]

great job Davy congrats.

[zareekz]

Thanks a lot for your feedback guys! Appreciate it.

Thanks! Well my headlights are OK, so they don't require a complete cleanup. I'm just going to polish them before installation.

Can this method be used for the headlights as well?

[harshansenadhir]

Good stuff davy. what's more important in DIY is the preparation with all required tool, planning and execute with lots of patience. All of above were demonstrated very well in this example. Keep it up and keep all of us posted.

[Davy]

Can this method be used for the headlights as well?

Sure you can.

[Davy]

A little update: Since I decided to call this a “full cleanup”, I thought it’s only logical to clean every component of the fog light assembly before it goes into the car. So I cleaned the external plastic housing and metal brackets as well. Also painted the metal brackets as it had scratches and signs of corrosion that’s about to happen.

What you need:

Water (a garden hose would be ideal) | A brush to scrub the brackets | Car wash | 1200 grit sand paper | Black spray paint can

The process:

1. Clean the plastic housing using water, car wash and use a brush to scrub the grime away. Leave them out to dry. That’s about it for the plastic housing.

2. As for the metal brackets, wash them thoroughly and sand them down and prepare for painting. Make sure you cover all the nooks and crannies of the brackets. Let them dry.

3. Hang the brackets (using a wire) to a tree branch or something and spray an even coat of paint over them. Again, make sure you cover all the areas of the brackets. Once done, Leave them to dry.

Before (Left) and After (Right) painting.

4. Put everything back together and you’re done! Now the lights are ready to go back into the car, and now they're almost like new.

Edited October 18, 2016 by Davy
Fixed broken image links

[chan5]

for the plastic and rubber bits you can use peanut butter. It'll remain for several months.

Applied, and it worked

[mazdaspeed]

Great write up - Thanks for sharing

[Davy]

for the plastic and rubber bits you can use peanut butter. It'll remain for several months.

Applied, and it worked

Yeah, I read about it on the forum also recently. Thanks for the reminder. But since this plastic housing goes behind the front bumper and remains hidden from outside, I didn't see any point in cleaning it any further. For the metal parts it was a different story because they are prone to corrosion.

Edit:

Thanks again for all your comments and feedback guys! Really appreciate it!

Edited September 20, 2012 by Davy

[Ripper]

Good stuff Davy.

The hardest part is documenting the process while getting these things done. And you've done a brilliant job of it. keep it up and as always...great to see more and more diy threads on AL

Edited September 20, 2012 by Ripper

[Gona]

Does it need to clean both the side of the lens? or the out side only?

[Sampath Gunasekera]

Nice work Machan. Like very much to read posts like this.

[Davy]

Does it need to clean both the side of the lens? or the out side only?

That depends. Usually discolouration happens on the outside, so cleaning the outer side of the lens is sufficient in most situations. But in cases like mine where there has been water and rust inside the light, it is necessary to clean the inside as well. (I had to sand both sides as quoted below)

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4. Using water and the sand paper cut away the dirt and discolouration on the lens. Tear a small part of the sand paper and dip it in water and start sanding evenly across the front of the lens. I had some paint marks on my lens so I had to use the 1500 grit sand paper on those areas while I was able to sand the other areas with 2000 grit. Make sure there is enough water on the lens while sanding. The lens will become a bit foggy after sanding, don’t worry about that as we’re going to take care of it in the next step. I had to sand the inside of the lens as well.

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Hope this answers your question.

[Gona]

That depends. Usually discolouration happens on the outside, so cleaning the outer side of the lens is sufficient in most situations. But in cases like mine where there has been water and rust inside the light, it is necessary to clean the inside as well. (I had to sand both sides as quoted below)

Hope this answers your question.

Thank You, it is useful info