Toyota headlights

[clearvision]

Ive restored about 3 sets now and they all seem to have imperfections that look like ghost like whitish wisps all the way through the headlight in a couple places. You can only see this in certain light,like sunlight.

I am assuming they are all like this?

On my own 2010 Toyota van thats sits outside 24/7 I starting getting long straight lines that I assume are stress cracks that dont sand out and look all the way through.

I did a Prius with the exact same problem.

Now I wonder if Toyota just has inferior headlights !

I had the UV coating on my van that got eaten away after a huge bird dropping sat on the top of the headlight for no more than an hour. Probably a seagull! I was shocked because I take very good care of my van and wipe it down about every other day .

[Brent Deines]

Not sure about the whitish wisps that you can only see in certain light. One thing we see fairly frequently is a bit of a haze on the inside of the lens that can be created from heat and/or dust, etc. That might be what you are referring to. If you take a headlight apart and wipe the inside of the lens it will sometimes come off but obviously you can't do that without destroying the light on most vehicles so it is something we are forced to live with.

I would say that if you look close enough there will be imperfections in every restored headlight except possibly for a headlight that was just beginning to deteriorate on the outside only prior to the restoration. Most that we do are quite severely damaged to begin with so the improvement is dramatic but not new lens perfect. If we need to match a new lens on the other side we can usually do that to the satisfaction of the owner but even then I would say that under certain lighting conditions you will see a slight difference if you inspect it closely enough.

Polycarbonate had a tendency to craze (fine cracks throughout the material) which cannot be sanded out but that is different than the long straight cracks you describe.

I have not noticed Toyota headlights being any inferior to other headlights but again, I'm not sure what the long straight cracks that you mentioned are caused from.

I have to say that you are the first to report a bird dropping that ate away the coating, at least the first I have heard of, but I also have to admit that is something we did not test for. I have seen bird droppings start to eat through painted surfaces but only extended periods of time, like months or years, when a car is just sitting and not being used. I'll be interested to hear if anyone else has experienced this. Was the coating fully cured before the bird attack?

[clearvision]

No the bird attack was on the factory coating. It was the size of a baseball!

I have seen bird dropping etch clear coat paint almost immediately but usually it is neglected vehicles you have talked about.

I guess it depends on what the bird ate and how acidic it is.

Another imperfection I have seen is BMW's with zeenon lights that have burn marks in the lense that are only slightly noticable in certain light. Came across this 2 times now.

BTW I am not using deltakits UV coating but may switch over in time.

[Brent Deines]

We have noticed the BMW burns on the inside of the lights as well. Once they start to deteriorate the heat inside builds up even faster with those hot bulbs.

I used to park my white truck next to a white house and nearly every morning I would come out to a big mess all over the truck and the side of the house. I'm pretty sure we had some pterodactyls in that neighborhood!

[screenman]

I know you are getting on a bit Brent, but I did not realise you were that old.

[HW Miles]

Ive restored about 3 sets now and they all seem to have imperfections that look like ghost like whitish wisps all the way through the headlight in a couple places. You can only see this in certain light,like sunlight.

I am as much a newbie as you are, but I have noticed the same imperfections and in most cases if they can only be seen in direct light, I found that they were merely light patterns reflecting off of the irregular surface of the reflector.

[clearvision]

Thanks HW Miles! Good to know!