Headlamp covers dirty lights are to dim. I have Cleaned them But it still is not good enough for Safe night driving.

I know that 86,87 & 88 have the same (Headlight Lens Covers) but cant find anywhere to buy them. I checked the Junkyards in my City but no luck.

is there any other lights that will fit my Car ?
is there a Conversion light I can Use ?

:banghead:

Did you try eBay?

-Rod

yes I did. I seen 1 for 19.95 + 21.75 shipping = 42 bucks for 1 light that might be a bad as Mine.

then I seen one for 89.99 + 16.10 Shipping = 106 bucks.

I paid 550 for the car Motor, tran's, Body & most of the car is in Great Shape
someone took good care of this auto = one Owner Car..

But I dont want to spend over 200 Dollars for Lights...

I thought there might be some other cars from arown that year that had the same Headlights..

For the past year I have been experimenting with different ways of restoring hazy and yellow headlamps to there original crystal clear appearance. This is an easy project for the do it yourselfer and would take approximately an hour or two to make them like new.

First step is to clean them with any mild detergent. Glass cleaner will work just fine. Next I tape off all of the painted areas that I don't want to accidentally hit with the sand paper. Now the fun begins. Starting with 800 grit wet/dry sandpaper I wet sand each lens until all of the degraded plastic is removed. You will see what I am talking about once you start to sand. I then clean the area again to remove any grit left over from the sanding. Then I go to 1000 grit wet/dry sandpaper and generously sand each lens again. You will start to see the lens get clearer as you sand. After wiping down the lens again I finish the sanding with 3000 grit. Again you will notice the difference as you complete this step. Now its time to polish.

There are many kinds of plastic polishes available. Maguires and 3M are pretty good, I personally use a product that Cornwell Tools has. This will be the most labor intesive part of the job. I have a mini polisher so it go pretty quick for myself but it can still be done by hand with the same results. Polish until crystal clear! You may notice a few places that you missed after polishing, just repeat the above steps and they will look like new.

Here are the latest before and afters. This was a 98 ford contour and took me about an hour to get them 99% perfect!!

Before
http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j293/airjer/HRrightbefore.jpghttp://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j293/airjer/HRleftbefore.jpg
After
http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j293/airjer/HRrightafter.jpghttp://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j293/airjer/HRleftafter.jpg

When machine polishing plastic, be very careful to not let the foam pad get too dry or the plastic to get too warm as it will distort the plastic.

Airjer, have you had good long term results with the process above? It's basically the same process used for wet sanding clear coat paint finishes, so I would expect it to last.

-Rod

Long term I couldn't tell you. I can speculate that some cars are more prone to hazy yellow headlamps than others so the quality of the product that you begin with will impact the longevity of the refinishing. I have been experimenting with "sealers" to help give an added layer of protection.

I can tell you that an occasional buff/waxing will significant extend the results! I did a less extensive restoration on a light bar for a tow truck that sits out in the elements 365. One side I polished and thats it. The other side I polished and waxed with a 3M product. After 3 years the difference between the two are definitely noticeable.

I have tried the 800/3000 grit wet/dry sandpaper I wet sand each lens until all of the degraded plastic is removed, Process. it cleaned it a Little. I believe my problem is the chrome reflection inside the lens is bad, I tried cleaning that too but no Luck..

Clean and dry your lenses to get any dirt off. Take a lint free cloth, wet it with acetone, and lightly and quickly wipe them in a straight line. My lenses look brand new and are crystal clear. I tried wet sanding them a couple of times in the past, but that only made a slight improvement. My father-in-law showed me this a couple of months ago and I cannot believe how quick and easy it is.

The wet sanding is only the first step, you need to polish with a compound and foam pad to get the very fine scratches to blend. Otherwise you'll still have a lense that defracts the light.

And yes, if the reflector in the housing is bad, that will certainly reduce the headlight's effectiveness and probably also means the inside of the lense will be damaged as well.

-Rod

with that said

is there any other lights that will fit my Car ?
is there a Conversion light I can Use ?

I don't believe so to both. You're probably down to buying a replacement, either new DOT-approved or finding a decent set from a salvage yard or eBay. Since the Taurus sold so well, there should be plenty of them in the salvage yard, and hopefully at least a few with decent lenses.

-Rod