DIY car headlight repair

In detail: do-it-yourself car headlight repair from a real master for the site my.housecope.com.

The optics of a car are often subjected to mechanical stress, which is the reason for their damage. This can happen as a result of a collision or due to the driver's carelessness. It is not difficult to repair optics, it is enough to have the necessary parts, tools and sealant for fastening.

Tuned auto headlight on the car

Repair of auto headlights is necessary if damage or defects affect their light transmission, which can lead to a traffic accident in the dark. Yellowed plastic does not attract attention either.

Among the most common defects faced by motorists are:

the formation of cracks on the glass surface;
damage to the case and fasteners; chips and scratches;
violation of tightness at the joints.

Broken mount on optics

In addition, the restoration of auto headlights may be required in the following cases:

Fogging. Minor damage in the form of chips and scuffs is the reason why the headlights sweat. If this defect is not eliminated in time, the mirror layer will deteriorate over time, which will require more serious repairs. In addition, excess moisture causes oxidation of the contacts, so the problem must be addressed as soon as possible. The tightness can be restored with a sealant.
Plaque from the inside. It can appear due to chemicals that get inside. Under the influence of high temperatures, plaque appears on the glass surface, which impairs light transmission. The glass may turn yellow due to plaque. You can remove plaque from the inside to restore light transmission in a specialized center.
Cracking of the protective layer. It degrades from UV rays and chemicals.
Scratches. All car owners face this defect. Headlamp scratches are removed by sanding and polishing the surface. Thus, you can almost completely restore the original appearance of the headlamps.

Video (click to play).

If you are confident in your abilities, then you can repair car headlights with your own hands (video by GO TV).

When restoring the headlights of your car, you can tune the headlights, for example, paint the headlights. Some drivers paint their headlights black.

DIY headlight repair includes the following steps:

Prepare the crack: clean, wash and dry thoroughly.
Fill the defect with adhesive so that there are no bubbles.
Use an ultraviolet lamp to dry the repair site.
To fix the result, the sealed crack must be covered with hardener.
The final touch is to polish the restoration with sandpaper or a grinder.

Polishing with a sander

In addition to restoration, restoration of the headlight reflector is often necessary.

In this case, follow these steps:

cover the reflector with metallized tape;
paint reflectors with chrome paint;
you can restore the auto headlight reflector using metal foil or film and sealant.

The function of the auto headlight hydrocorrector is to change the direction of the light beam. If it breaks down, then the possibilities for correction are reduced, so it needs to be repaired as soon as malfunctions are found. If repair is impossible, the device should be replaced.

To do this, you need to do the following manipulations:

First you need to dismantle the corrector handle.
Then, by unscrewing the fastening nut, it is necessary to remove the master cylinder.
Using a screwdriver, unscrew the fasteners and remove the cladding, light guide and scale.
For the smooth removal of the hydraulic corrector, it is necessary to dismantle the scale illumination lamp.
The next step is to disconnect the headlights of the car from the working cylinders.
The corrector should be dismantled completely assembled.
After installing the new device, the assembly is carried out in the reverse order.

Auto headlights before and after polishing

The auto headlight can be made of glass or plastic. Plastic allows you to repair the case on your own. For car headlights, use warm welding or sealant. Hot streams melt the plastic and you can give it any shape you want or attach the breakaway part of the headlight housing to it. It should be remembered that the parts to be connected by heat welding must be made of the same plastic, you can use a sealant.

The repair of auto headlights includes the restoration of fasteners, since in plastic products they most often become unusable. You should not use welding or sealant for this, such a mount will not last long. The best option is prosthetics, which is best done by a professional car service. There are different ways to remove yellowness from headlights, for example, by polishing. Restoration of headlights, glass repair makes it possible to improve the light of the headlights of your car, they start to burn brighter.

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This video demonstrates technologies on how to remove scratches from headlights (video by Master Flomaster Service).

Automotive optics is an element on which road safety depends. A burned out light bulb is not the only reason a car headlight fails. The headlight, in addition to the lamp, includes other elements - a washer, a reflector, a diffuser, a hydrocorrector and other elements, the malfunctions of which must be eliminated as soon as possible after detection. What are the reasons for breakdowns of car headlights, how are car headlights repaired and what are the features of repairing certain types? Every car owner should know the answers to these questions.

Restoration of car headlights is required in situations that arise for the following common reasons in practice:

Headlight range control may need to be repaired for three common reasons:

Breakage of the sensor, as a result of which the readings are distorted or completely disappear.
Poor connection, negatively affecting the readings of the device.
The specificity of the car model is a small adjustment angle and other features.

Regardless of the reasons for the breakdown of car headlights, it is necessary to timely perform work on troubleshooting and restoring standard lighting.

Car headlight glass repair is more common than other types of restoration - stones and other debris cause serious damage to the glass at high speed, which degrades the performance of the headlights and reduces the light transmission.

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Broken pieces of headlights can be glued together using special glue. The repair procedure is similar to the above sequence. If you do not have the necessary parts, you can make them yourself from plexiglass. All seams must be treated with hardener on both sides without fail.

Sometimes the glued headlights may not match the shape of the cap. In this case, a fit is made using a technical hair dryer.

In case of damage to glass optics and the impossibility of replacing with a new one, you can make a similar headlight from plexiglass:

Preparing the template. We put the destroyed optics in parts, replace the lost elements with ordinary plasticine. Then we make a plaster matrix.
We cut a workpiece of the required size from plexiglass.
On tracing paper we draw a template for the internal drawing of the glass with a caliper.
Using a milling machine on a plexiglass workpiece, we reproduce the optics pattern with maximum accuracy.
After that we put plexiglass on a gypsum matrix and pack it in a heat-resistant vacuum bag.
We heat the resulting package until the plexiglass is completely softened and, with the help of a compressor, give it the shape of a gypsum matrix.

It should be noted that this procedure is rather complicated and time consuming. It is difficult to cope with it without the necessary skills and special equipment. Therefore, it is easier to resort to the services of specialists.

The rear lights are repaired in a similar manner.First, the parts of the destroyed optics are laid out on the table. Then, in the required sequence, glue the existing elements with glue.

As a rule, some parts after an accident will be lost or destroyed without the possibility of recovery. Therefore, it is necessary to prepare spare parts from a similar flashlight. First, we prepare a template for the missing element and cut out a piece of the desired shape with the utmost precision. We glue it and prepare the next element in the same way. After bonding, all seams must be carefully sanded and polished.

Visual video on the restoration of rear optics

Headlight cracks are repaired using an adhesive:

We drill the edges of the cracks.
We wash and dry the surface.
Install the injector just above the crack and apply the glue.
After filling the crack with glue, remove the injector and control the absence of air bubbles in the polymer composition.
To make the glue harden faster, you can dry it with an ultraviolet lamp.
After the adhesive has completely dried, we remove the irregularities with a file, and then we grind and polish the lantern.

After filling the cracks, it is recommended to treat the joints with hardener.

We wash the headlight first, then dry it thoroughly. First, rough grinding is performed in several stages with a gradual increase in the grain size of the wheel. It is not recommended to press strongly to avoid overheating of the plastic. The time of one procedure should not exceed 3-4 minutes.

After rough sanding, we proceed to polishing. For this, wipes and polish are used. A small amount of the mixture is applied to a napkin and the surface is manually polished for 6-8 minutes. You can handle plastic headlights using a grinder. In this case, use low speed and avoid overheating of the surface.

It is recommended to polish the optics every 2 years, as well as after repairs and when cracks or chips appear. This procedure takes about 20-30 minutes and is not difficult.

Clean, whole and beautiful headlights are not only the aesthetically excellent appearance of the car, which is undoubtedly important, but, first of all, it is a rather significant item in the safety of movement on the roads. After all, the road with poor operation of lighting devices is fraught with accidents not only in the dark, when the road ahead is not visible enough, but also during the day, if, for example, brake lights are barely noticeable, and behind the wheel behind you is a driver with not very good eyesight and attention , which on our roads are more than 50%.If the headlights of your car are dim, oxidized or damaged, there is no need to go to the repair, giving money for fairly simple procedures that can be done in the garage or at home.Self-polishing of headlights allows you to economically and quickly improve the operation of car lighting fixtures, and in order for you to easily do this, we have compiled a selection of videos for you, in which it is available and clearly tells how to repair headlights with your own hands.Headlight repair video:

It is worth noting that headlight repair may be required in the following cases:

The problem may appear if chemical reagents get inside the product. Under the influence of high temperatures, plaque develops on the outer part of the glass, which reduces the transmission capacity of the headlight. In addition, due to the appearance of a foreign "film", the glass may acquire a yellow tint. In this case, it is better to involve professionals to restore the headlight.

Scuffs or chips on the surface of the headlamp can cause fogging. If the deficiency is not eliminated in a timely manner, the mirror layer is disturbed, and the flashlight requires repair. Moisture also has a negative effect, the ingress of which leads to the oxidation of contact compounds. That is why, when fogging up, it is important to quickly fix the problem and get the headlight repaired. To restore tightness, you can use a sealant.

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Why does the headlight sweat, and what to do in this case - read here.

In this case, it will be destroyed by the action of "chemistry" and UV rays.

This problem is known to many, if not all car owners. To restore the headlight, the surface is sanded and polished. With the right approach, you can return the glass to its original appearance. It is advisable to repair the lantern only if you have experience, confidence in your abilities and knowledge of the technology for performing work.

Polishing headlights on a car

Together with the restoration, you can do other work - to make tuning the headlights of the car, for example, to apply paint to them. One of the popular options is to apply black paint.

To repair your headlight, do the following:

Prepare the problem area — clean it, wash it and dry it.
Fill the groove with adhesive. Make sure that no bubbles appear during the procedure.
Use a UV lamp to dry the repair area.
Fix the result. To do this, cover the existing crack with hardener.
Polish the restoration area using a sander or emery paper.

In addition to refurbishing the headlight, restoration of the reflector may be required. To do this, do the following:

Peel off the reflector with metallic tape.
Apply chrome paint to the reflector.

Alternatively, when repairing the reflector, you can use metal foil or foil, followed by fixing with a sealant.

Video: How to properly restore the headlights

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The task of the headlamp hydrocorrector is to change the direction of the light beam. If the device fails, then beam alignment becomes unrealistic. That is why the repair of the corrector should be carried out immediately after a breakdown is detected. If recovery is not possible, replace the entire part.To do this, do the following:

Remove the corrector handle.

Unscrew the retaining nut and remove the master cylinder.

Use a screwdriver to unscrew the mount, dismantle the casing, scale and light guide.

Remove the scale illumination lamp in order to dismantle the hydraulic corrector without any problems.

Move the headlights of the machine away from the slave cylinders.

Remove the adjuster assembly.

After installing a new device, return all the elements according to the reverse algorithm.

Video: Repair of the Lada Granta headlight hydrocorrectorIf the video does not show, please refresh the page or ”style =” color: # CC3333 ″> click here

The seam should be welded both from the outside and from the inside in order to provide the headlights with the necessary strength. Before starting work, you should find out from which plastic the case was made. It could be ABC plastic or polypropylene. If it is ABC plastic, then it can be repaired using the "cold welding" method, but polypropylene can only be welded. Please also note that these materials cannot be combined! If you weld one to the other, you get a very fragile connection.

It happens that the glass in the headlight is completely destroyed, and it is not possible to replace it with a new one. In this case, plexiglass comes to the rescue. Before starting this work, it is necessary to reproduce the shape of the damaged glass. The lost parts at this stage are replaced by plasticine. As a result, a template form should appear on your desk. It is on it that a plaster matrix is made. Then you should cut out a piece of plexiglass of the desired size. Typically, a headlamp requires clear glass up to 6 mm thick, and for sidelights or fog lamps, no more than 5 mm.

Next, you need to take tracing paper and draw the inner drawing of the old glass. To measure everything very accurately, use a caliper. Taking a template, the drawing is reproduced on plexiglass using a milling machine. This allows you to keep the luminous flux almost at the same level and achieve a minimum error.

After the actions taken, both the gypsum matrix and plexiglass are packed in a vacuum heat-resistant bag. The next stage will cause difficulties for many, but it only seems. You should find a special machine or workshop that will allow you to use this device to heat the envelope until the plexiglass softens. At the same time, the compressor helps create a vacuum in the glass. As a result, the outside air pressure gives the glass the shape of gypsum. Note that these steps only help to make the front part of the headlight, but the "sides" are made separately and attached later.

Broken pieces of lantern caps or cracks are sealed with glue, which is called molecular. You can replace it with dichloroethane. If the cap is destroyed all or a significant part of the lantern, then the missing elements will have to be made of the same plexiglass of a suitable color. After everything is glued, the seams are treated with a hardener. Handle the adhesive with care as it can cause burns if it comes into contact with the skin. Image - DIY car headlight repair

Irregularities in the seams on the headlamp are removed with a file, processed with sandpaper and polished with GOI paste and a felt disc.It will not work to completely eliminate the seams, but they will not affect the quality of light.

If you need to fit the plexiglass to the old cap, then the material is heated with a hairdryer, and the shape is hand-molded. Caps of complex shapes are driven through a vacuum press. The cap is glued to the body of the lantern with a polyurethane sealant.

The new headlights of your car will be stronger than the “native” ones, because they will withstand even a stone blow. The only thing is that this material can become cloudy or scratched. Let's take into account the fact that fog lights can crack due to snow or cold rain, but low temperatures are not terrible for plexiglass.

Good luck with your car headlight repair!

The easiest way to fix defects on plastic is by injection welding. A polypropylene headlamp can be given a second life with conventional welding. Welding seams are used to connect completely broken-off parts of the headlight, since gluing in this case is ineffective. It should be borne in mind that when connecting different materials, it is almost impossible to achieve strength - a headlight welded from plastic of different types will last no more than 1-2 weeks.

Headlight housing repair is a more time-consuming procedure, which is often performed by the method of prosthetics (replacing individual metal parts with new ones). It is better to entrust such work to the specialists of the service center.

Over time, the headlights can turn matte under the constant influence of rising asphalt particles. In addition, optics made of polycarbonate also lose transparency when exposed to sunlight. Typically, polymer headlights are treated with a protective compound, which is important not to damage during the polishing process. Therefore, to restore transparency and remove minor damage, a fine polish should be used; more serious damage can only be repaired after removing the factory protective layer. At the end of the work, it is recommended to cover it with an anti-gravel film.

Plaque on the inside of the headlamp occurs due to the ingress of chemicals during a non-contact car wash. Under the influence of high temperature, it transforms into a cloudy film, which impairs the light transmittance of the optics. The protective film may crack for the same reason. In most cases, it is problematic to completely eliminate these defects due to the difficulty of accessing the inner surface. Without prior experience with this, you can further damage the plastic or mirror layer of your headlight. Therefore, it is better not to risk it and contact a specialized car service.

It often happens, especially after an accident or a large stone hit in the headlight glass, that it is not possible to restore it and requires replacement. To completely replace it, you need to purchase a new glass, this can be done either from us or in any other specialized store, remove the old glass, apply a new layer of sealant and glue the new glass on the headlight. If the sealant on the headlight is thermally collapsible, then this is not so difficult to do, you can use a construction hairdryer, the main thing is to do it carefully and not to overheat the plastic of the headlight. If the sealant on the headlamp is not a thermoplastic, then I am afraid at home and without special skills, it will not be possible to do this and it is better to contact a specialized workshop.

We are a certified installation center for additional equipment. For 7 years we have been engaged in the repair, modernization and tuning of automotive optics of any complexity for cars of different brands and models. We give a 1-year guarantee for the work carried out with us. We specialize in installing / replacing Bi-Led and Xenon lenses, repairing and improving the light of standard headlights. Any work with auto light and backlighting. All equipment is in stock, installation in your presence.

Installation of additional equipment in the Avtoprisma service center is: - keeping the car warranty - 1 year warranty for work - accurate and honest consultation - individual approach - confidence in the quality of work - order fulfillment on time

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