My 03 sedan hid headlight lenses have that notorious ugly haze. I've tried lense cleaning kits without any luck. Sanding them won't work. Has anybody replaced their 03 or 04 hid headlight lenses with the aftermarket halogen ones from ebay? I'm worried about fitment issues since I would have to use my oem xenon reflector and housing. Most of the complete oem hid headlights on ebay either have broken tabs or priced at 300 bucks. What would be the best solution?

 

Best solution? OEM headlights. But as you've said, the downside is $$$

Your D2R HID bulbs will not fit the halogen housing which takes an H1 bulb. You'd basically have to convert to a halogen headlight setup, or purchase an aftermarket HID kit with H1 bulbs, and hack out your OEM HID's and go aftermarket HID...which is a step down IMHO.

Personally, if it was my car i'd pony up the $$ for OEM HID housings and do it right

 

don't think he was talking about swapping the while housing, the OP seems to be talking about the lense itself. Now I would assume that the lense would fit but I am thnking that there would be a problem with the heat since halogen bulbs don't give off the amount of heat that HIDs give off

 

^HID's are colder than halogen.

OP, IIRC G35Papa swapped the lenses off the ebay ones onto oem housings, but they didn't fit closely enough to seal, so he had to use some kind of sealant.

 

It may just be a need to go deeper in the recondition stage. If your getting results then there is no reason you shouldn't be able to keep at it till they are clean as long as the inside is in good shape.
I would think that there is still damage on the surface if your not getting the results your after. You really have to go beyond the damage (chips) to get to the clean plastic. Once you are there careful work should get you where you need to be. Do not rely on headlight kits. Though they work, sometimes you need to dig deeper and get out the sand paper and polisher to get the job done. I have seen salvage yards take a light that looked like chalk and make it crystal clear. It just takes some work.

Being able to swap parts with the after market lights would be a great option but seems a gamble at this point.

 

You got that right Ashley. From what I experienced, the aftermarket lenses don't quite sit down far enough to clip into the OEM base clips. I had condensation because of it but adding some sealant all the way around the lense got rid of the condensation issue.

Adler, give Ryan a call and tell him I sent you. He's made mention before about being able to do up fogged up lenses. Not sure if he would be interested in it but worth a try.

http://rjspaintshop.com/

If you decide to go with aftermarket lenses, hit me up and I'll help you get the lenses swapped out. I'm going back to my ebay lenses this weekend.

 

guess i read it bad. My fault.

 

G35Papa- What are the specifics of getting the aftermarket lenses sealed on the 2003 OEM HID housing? I know this is an old thread, but your assistance is well appreciated. I used the 3M headlight resto kit, the Mothers headlight ball, and had them "professionally" polished twice with poor results. The outer edges stayed yellow-tinged and then the rest of the light eventually turned the same color. Its so bad that it is almost as if I'm driving without the headlights on at night.

 

I was wondering the same thing so I asked my buddy, owns a body shop, he told me it can be done but they would have to be modified to take the HID bulb. I think Im going to have it done in the next weak or so. I'll let you know how it works out. The other option is to sand and then polish them till they are clear and then clear coat them.

 

I wouldn't need to modify my OEM HID housing because I would only be replacing the the "fogged" OEM lenses with the aftermarket Halogen lenses. I'm curious about the sealant and additional details G35Papa performed on his lights.

 

I was talking about the aftermarket headlight unit not the oem unit. Why don't you polish then clear coat over them and save yourself a headache. Sounds like the aftermarket lens doesn't fit well

 

anthony. IIRC, the whole side that sits on the inside of the engine bay is where the lens doesn't sit all the way down to snap back into the clips. There is where I used some black rtv gasket maker after putting everything back together.

I've never tried it but it is possible you could sand down the edge of the lens that sits inside the groove to see if you can get it to sit down more.

Whatever you do, don't forget to put the 3 screws back into the back of the housing that helps hold the lens onto the base.

 

Oh I see. I thought you were refering to my initial question. I'm trying to secure a POC to perform the polish and clear of my stock headlights here in the Dallas area.



Cool, I'll keep all of that in mind if I decide to pursue the lens replacement. First, I'm going to try the polish and clear 01ylellowr and some others suggested. My previous attempts at fixing my lights didn't include the clear nor the work being performed with the headlights off the car.

 

If your buddy owns a body shop, have him sand them and clear coat them with a uv resistant clear coat.

 

I kinda want the black housing lights I think they look better