Headlight armor - cheap way to de-amber??

[blue2000s]

Originally Posted by Lil bastard

It surprises me that these kits are still available.

That's because they allow too much heat to buildup in the headlamp housing causing the lens to yellow, and at least in one case, to melt.

You should not use anything to cover the lenses on these cars.

Cheers!

Adding a sheet of plastic to the outside of the entire headlight will absolutely increase the temperature of the lense. But by how much? Is it enought to accelerate yellowing? The lense itself is plastic so I suspect we're not talking about much of an increase. What's your experience?

In the case of a cover over the parking lights only, the temperature rise will be minimal and localized to the orange part of the light.

[DamageINC123]

Its definitely cheaper and it does cover the amber but I am not 100% sold. Let me know what you guys think.

[Pirrex]

Looks way better than amber to me. In fact, i ordered a sheet of Lamin-X film to do it on mine too. I didn't even receive them before i bought litronics instead.
Got the complete pair of litronics for $220 with everything i needed for a retro-fit, try to beat that!

[aparmex]

WELL, IT DEFINITELY LOOK A LOT BETTER THAN THE AMBER, BUT, THERE IS ALWAYS A BUT, NOTHING BEATS THE CLEAR LOOK OF A NEW CLEAR ONES, I RECENTLY UPGRADED THE ONES ON MY CAR AND THOSE CLEAR LIGHTS MAKE LOOK THE CAR LIKE 5 OR 6 YEARS YOUNGER !!!

YOU CAN NOT GO WRONG WITH THAT, CONSIDER IT, SAVE SOME $$$, PUT AN EYE ON E-BAY FOR A USED ONES, OR BETTER BUY THEM NEW FROM THE U.K. LIKE I DID, I BOUGHT THEM ALL FRONT, REAR AND SIDE LIGHT FROM FORESTFINE.COM, I RECOMMEND THIS SELLER A LOT, VERY NICE DEAL AND FAST !!!

IT IS WORTH ALL THE INVESTMENT !!

[DamageINC123]

I have already swapped out the rear and sides as you can see below. This a third car for me so its not driven that much. If i decide to hang on to longer than expeected I may dump some money in the litronics. I aree, the lits look better.

[23109VC]

Originally Posted by DamageINC123

Its definitely cheaper and it does cover the amber but I am not 100% sold. Let me know what you guys think.

I'm not sold on that either.... from their ad on the website it looked like the tint was more silvery/white in color - so that once you put the tint on - it would blend in better with the silvery OEM color of the headlight.... that stuff is just dark tint..so it covers up the orange, but it still stands out..

the best look is litronics or 03+ halogens..where the whole lens is clear. I would think that if someone made a tint / overlay / coutout that was sized/shaped just like what you bought - BUT not in black..do it in silver/white so that it blends in with the lights - you'd get 90% of the "clear" look w/out really being clear.

the setup I had on my car was a white film that i put on. it held up well for a few months, but wasn't actual tint..so it peeled off...but while it was on..from 5'+ away it looked GREAT. if it had been a better quality film, and teh right color - it would be worth doing and for us guys with older cars who don't want to drpo big money on litronics - it would be a good solution.

i'll see if I can find colored tint. the key is finding the right color...then any tint shop can install/cut to fit perfectly.