Headlamps clear coat peeling ?

[lukegt]

Anyone see this happen. Both of my front lamps clear coat are starting to peel at the top and its working its way down the lamp. I see there are no open recalls for my car.

[humanoid]

That happens to almost every car that's parked outside in the baking sun. It's UV light making quick work of your lens.

[theirishscion]

I feel your pain, I just spotted it starting on the RDX (that sits out in the sun all day).

This sucker

This sucker

reviews well, though I haven't tried it myself. Bet it works fine, though I wonder how many times you can do that before you run out of headlight plastic to polish.

[lukegt]

Well, should i expect the clear coat on my hood to start peeling from the excessive heat of the engine? or the paint/clear around the roof racks to start peeling? I've owned several cars and none did this before especially after 1.5 years. This has to be a manufacture defect. I have 5-10 year old cars that do not do that.

Edit: What does honda expect people to do with their cars? people should keep them indoor all day? i wonder what owners do in arizona or texas or another fun filled state do?

[theirishscion]

Well, I don't think it's clear coat, though I suppose it could very well be a coating on the outer lens. I think that's really just UV damage on the plexiglass. You didn't say how old the Pilot was. But if you're still under warranty, by all means take it back to the dealer and complain. Let us know how you get on. Maybe I can get Acura to replace the lenses on the RDX for free if you succeed. Damn things are $570 each.

[dpm333]

You can wet sand and buff the headlamps to bring back the shine. Lightly sand the lamp with 1000grit sand paper then buff with compound then sand again with 1500grit and buff with a polish wax. You may need to repeat these steps several times to get it close to normal. You can really screw it up if you dont know what your doing so you may just want to take it to a shop &have them do it. 3m makes a great kit for this but I don't think it's available to the public. Any reputable collision repair facility will know what to do & should have the kit,it's pretty popular In our industry. Shouldn't cost more than $50. Good luck

[samc]

And one good tip is to put a coating of wax on your headlights after you polish them. Otherwise it's bare plastic against the elements and they will oxidize again real fast.

[lukegt]

I'm going to take it to the dealer and see what they say. Its a 2010 Pilot

[theirishscion]

Having looked into the restoration kits in some more depth, thinking about the RDX, I have to say I'm not in love with them. There obviously seems to be a coated layer on top of the plastic lens, evidently this is a hard UV protective layer designed to save the underlying plastic from the sun. By all accounts the kits don't restore that, they just grind what remains of it off, along with any damaged lens plastic. The best they do is provide a wipe-on wax-y stuff that allegedly provides UV protection but needs to be reapplied regularly (and may or may not work, think long-term sunscreen for your headlights). All in all a very hack-ish solution. Evidently a fresh application of uv-protective clearcoat is what you really need. Not something I think my DIY skills are up to, though I've seen forum posts where it's been done successfully.

There are lots of operators around Houston offering headlight restoration services for $15-$35 per headlight, though I have yet to find one offering to refresh the clearcoat afterwards. There are a number of products out there that allege to apply a new UV protective layer, some UV cured, some heat cured, none of them selling to the general public. All very messy.

Honestly, I don't know what the correct long terms answer to it is, but if I had a 2010 vehicle this was happening to, I think I'd push for new lights.

[SD16]

My pilot is a 2003. It spent its first 5 years in Dubai, and the last 3 years in Riyadh,Saudi Arabia. The lenses did start clouding over, but I have been able to keep them up with rubbing compound (3M Fine Compound - #09375). I polish them every 3 to 6 months. I can't say they look like new, but they project light as if they were new. I would rather polish them than spend the money to replace them.

[belundy]

Our garaged '03 headlight UV coating started to peel last year. To be fair, my '02 HL that sits outside 24/7 lost most of its coating three years ago. I buff with plastic polish every few weeks to keep them from yellowing. I've tried everything from silicone based car wax to rain x in hopes of slowing the yellowing down--nothing works.

Irish is right--there is a very hard UV coating applied to the polycarb lens during manufacture. It appears to be very similar to the coating they use on eye glasses. Once the coating is compromised (begins peeling/flaking), it deteriorates rapidly, until you use one of those restoration kits that grinds ALL of the coating off.

The semi-permanent fix is aftermarket lenses off E-Bay. The ones I bought for the '01 Civic two years ago--originals were crazed and occluded-- were as identical to factory lenses as I can could tell, and they still look great.

The HL is getting a Ebay lenses soon--found them for about $110 a pair.

[94eg!]

My best friends dad had an 04 (or 05) G35 coupe with only 25k miles on it (sold it earlier this year). The thing spent 99%+ of it's life in a garage cause he worked from home, and still this coating dried out and peeled off. I've never seen headlights that were garaged end up so bad.

Nissan... <_<

[Underdog]

Forgive me but I should have in hindsight taken pictures.

My 04's headlights had a yellowish discolouring at the top and the entire headlights had become very dull. On a "Whim" I took some fine rubbing compound and experimented.

I am speechless as to how good they look now......................

All the yellow came off, the H/L's are still pitted but the plastic is clear again.

Compounding was all done by hand, not with a buffer.

[rka4570]

I've had the clearbra put on my vehicles which includes a covering the headlights and even to this day my 2005 TL the headlights are crystal clear not scratches, pit or any inperfections.

[Im2c0oL]

Originally Posted by 94eg!

My best friends dad had an 04 (or 05) G35 coupe with only 25k miles on it (sold it earlier this year). The thing spent 99%+ of it's life in a garage cause he worked from home, and still this coating dried out and peeled off. I've never seen headlights that were garaged end up so bad.

Nissan... <_<

I believe G35 got pretty bad headlight design that the whole lense are 80% expose to sunlight, I see most of the G35 around with hella fog headlight that I can't even see what's behind the lense!