Headlight yellowing on my sport trac
- Thread starter NH73
- Start date
yeah some aftermarket really IS junk, I agree.. Not going to sugar coat that. Like you were saying legitimate reasons to say it's bad. When Honda wanted an insane amount of $$ for their headlights and just had to laugh as a candle with a reflector would've been better for performance! Then to ask that much, I think it was like $250+! I saw TYC and gave them a chance. I had already been using their hvac blower fan and the a/c condensor both of which worked better than the stock parts. Thought I'd give TYC a chance, for $40 how bad could it be? It's not perfect, I will admit that, there is a "hot spot" of light on the light spread, but that hot spot of light was better than I had ever had with the stock lights. Hey I'd be the first to admit if something is terrible, regardless of who made it.
I did discover that TYC, and I think you mentioned this.. they are the supplier for some oem units. In Honda's case from what I could find, Honda contracted Stanley lighting to do their headlights on my 96 Civic, but Stanley didn't make anything! They contracted with TYC. When you compare the stock lights to the TYC it's more than just a copy, there are casting marks that are identical.
I just had to laugh at how cheap your sport trac tyc brand lights are! I know that's rockauto's pricing but it's like $5 more than getting a 3m restoration kit. Guess I'm getting lazy as I get older, lol.. I have found I'm taking the path of least resistance lately, I call it "being efficient"
I'd just try the headlights for that price, for fun.. well keep us posted what you're going to decide to do.. glad I could give ya my experience with the lights..
I just may do that. Try the TYC first and then try a restoration kit if it doesn’t pan out. Do the opposite of you. Do you think I could do the headlight without doing the corner marker lense?yeah some aftermarket really IS junk, I agree.. Not going to sugar coat that. Like you were saying legitimate reasons to say it's bad. When Honda wanted an insane amount of $$ for their headlights and just had to laugh as a candle with a reflector would've been better for performance! Then to ask that much, I think it was like $250+! I saw TYC and gave them a chance. I had already been using their hvac blower fan and the a/c condensor both of which worked better than the stock parts. Thought I'd give TYC a chance, for $40 how bad could it be? It's not perfect, I will admit that, there is a "hot spot" of light on the light spread, but that hot spot of light was better than I had ever had with the stock lights. Hey I'd be the first to admit if something is terrible, regardless of who made it.
I did discover that TYC, and I think you mentioned this.. they are the supplier for some oem units. In Honda's case from what I could find, Honda contracted Stanley lighting to do their headlights on my 96 Civic, but Stanley didn't make anything! They contracted with TYC. When you compare the stock lights to the TYC it's more than just a copy, there are casting marks that are identical.
I just had to laugh at how cheap your sport trac tyc brand lights are! I know that's rockauto's pricing but it's like $5 more than getting a 3m restoration kit. Guess I'm getting lazy as I get older, lol.. I have found I'm taking the path of least resistance lately, I call it "being efficient"
glad I could give ya my experience with the lights..
Sure, I don't see why not.. is the corner marker fogged up or is it still relatively clear? I know on the civic the turn signal side wasn't that fogged up even on the stock one, it was mostly just the headlight lens that fogged up. If the side marker/turn signal isn't that bad, no reason to do anything about it, yet..
definitely let us know how the TYC is.. one other trick I found is to use the garage door as a target to mark where the existing headlight's beam hits. If you have to move the sport trac after you make the marks where the beams are hitting, I marked the front and back tire location with a grease pencil, that way I knew exactly where it was to adjust the new ones up to the same spot. On the civic I hit the low beams, marked where it was, then the high beams.. that way I could keep the same alignment. I don't know about the sport trac but the civic has left/right and up/down adjustments.. some newer cars are just up/down.
Walmart TLE has a headlight restoration service for $29.88. Although I’d follow up with some good protection afterwards. I think it’s the 3M kit they use.
^^^^ This is the only thing I will recommend ^^^^
Buy whatever kit you want and following the instructions to wet-sand, buff, down to smooth clear plastic. I think my kit has something like 600, 1000, 2000 grit sanding pads. Now I just use XXXL steel wool to finish, and if it's bad, something like 440 grit sand paper (youll feel better with the finer grades in a real kit, until you get a feel for it - 440 grit is scary on plastic headlamps). I mask the area and spray it with U-POL clear coat (amazon), which was recommended a long time ago on this forum. 1 dusting coat, 1 light-to-medium coat, and leave it alone - it will settle out. The paint lasts years, whereas the polishes in the kits lasts 3 months at best.
-m
