Cleaning Headlight Lens

Improve your driving preparedness during adverse weather conditions

The weather guys just sounded the alarm: more typhoons and heavy rains are to be expected in the coming weeks and the Inquirer Motoring team wants everybody to be prepared for driving in poor weather. As raindrops keep falling on our heads, we continue our series on safety checks by offering these valuable tips on how to increase your own visibility as well as the visibility of your car to other motorists on the road.

1.) Check your headlamps. A lot of cars, even brand-new ones come out of the factory with headlights mis-aligned or pointing in the wrong directions (either too high or too low). The first step is to bring it to a shop that has an alignment machine for your headlights so that it will be pointing in the right direction. Xenon Bulbs in Araneta Ave. as well as Autotechnika/DTM in Fort Bonifacio are two such shops with a headlight alignment device. Tommy Teng of Autotechnika/DTM says that ideally the headlamps should have a focal range of 75-90 meters on the passenger side (right-hand side) and 55-75 meters on the driver’s side (left-hand side) for left-hand drive vehicles. The reduced focal range on the driver’s side is to minimize glare for oncoming vehicles on the opposite lane.

I’ve seen a lot of cars have their headlights dipped too low straight out of the factory, and through years of use, or constantly switching out and replacing headlamp bulbs and assemblies, or retrofitting HID headlamp assemblies. If your headlamp housings are made of plastic and are older than five years, chances are the insides are slightly burnt and discolored, leading to impaired focal range of your headlamps and limited visibility for you. You should ideally have these assemblies replaced, or for more adventurous and frugal car owners, bring them to Banaue where a variety of sidewalk salesmen offer to dismantle your headlamp assemblies, use a professional-grade cleaning solution to wipe out the discoloration and have your headlights looking almost as good and as clear as new. The risk involved though is that the process can break the headlamp assembly completely, or will cause poor sealing, thereby allowing condensation/fogging to occur inside your headlamps, further reducing your focal range and limiting visibility in bad weather.

2.) Check your window tints. Tint that is too dark will adversely limit your night time visibility even if your headlamps are working properly. No amount of headlight upgrading will safely improve visibility; get headlamp bulbs too bright and you pose as a menace to incoming traffic who might be temporarily blinded by the intense glare from your headlamps, thereby causing an accident, especially in adverse driving conditions. At the very least, have your front windshield tinted with a neutral or very light tint so you can see clearly well ahead of you when it is raining hard or driving through thick fog. Technically, both the LTO and MMDA have issued strict rulings on how dark window tints can be especially for the front windows so you’ll be legally compliant when you install very light tint on your windshield at least.

3M Headlight Lens Restoration System | Car Auto Part

>>>> Only $9.90 Best Buy Plastic lenses can yellow with age, reducing headlight brightness, and new lenses can be expensive. The 3M Headlight Lens Restoration System lets you shine and restore plastic lenses, including headlights, taillights, fog and directional lights. By restoring clarity to the lens, the performance of the headlight is improved and the appearance of the vehicle is enhanced Now you can produce professional results with the 3M Headlight Lens Restoration System and a household drill (1200-1600 rpm). Kit includes all items necessary to perform the task except for the drill, tape and clean cloth.

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