Toyota Altis Headlights

[Negita43]

I have a 21 year old Toyota Altis which is in excellent condition except that the headlight glass/plastic cover (not sure which) is severely fogged.

2 questions.

1. Is it possible to get them restored in Thailand (Korat)

2. I f I can't get them restored or replaced (not sure if replacements would be still available) then the other option is to fit a set of spotlights (at least that what they were called in my day - maybe now something different) to improve night time visibility.

Are such lights legal in Thailand?

Thanks

[transam]

Do it yourself, easy. The outer layer needs cleaning off, sun damage. There are many methods but try this first.

WD40, give them a soak with that first on a bit of cloth, leave it to work for 10 mins. wipe it off, then get car polish paste and give them a good rubbing, even paint cutting paste makes things easier to begin with...

[Woof999]

You can do it yourself with a few different grades of liquid polish and a power drill / orbital sander after some very light sanding with very fine sandpaper. Takes a bit of patience and assumes the issue is on the outside.

 

Meguires I think was the brand of the polish I used on my old Alfa GTAs. Worked wonders.

[PJPom]

check out YouTube, full of methods to make them look like new. In my case Lazada was selling new covers for my Ford Focus for less than 400 baht, easy to replace and looks like new.

[bbko]

As mentioned above, there's several ways to polish off the oxidation, WD-40, toothpaste, wet-dry sandpaper, rubbing compound, some last longer than others.

 

 

[Liverpool Lou]

4 hours ago, Negita43 said:

I f I can't get them restored or replaced (not sure if replacements would be still available

2001 Toyota Corolla headlights are easily available.

[Negita43]

Thanks for your replies but I have already tried several DIY methods including 600 wet and dry paper but it doesn't appear to help (I think maybe the problem is inside the unit).

[PJPom]

Check out Lazada. enter  Toyota Corolla headlights and dozens appear  from 339 Bht to 1600, depends on your model. Any local mechanic can fit them for 200 bht

I have just checked again and found them for 299, you will see the same photo illustration on a wide variation of prices. 

 

Edited January 23, 2022 by PJPom
additional info

[Negita43]

1 hour ago, PJPom said:

Check out Lazada. enter  Toyota Corolla headlights and dozens appear  from 339 Bht to 1600, depends on your model. Any local mechanic can fit them for 200 bht

I have just checked again and found them for 299, you will see the same photo illustration on a wide variation of prices. 

 

Thanks

[Negita43]

1 hour ago, PJPom said:

Check out Lazada. enter  Toyota Corolla headlights and dozens appear  from 339 Bht to 1600, depends on your model. Any local mechanic can fit them for 200 bht

I have just checked again and found them for 299, you will see the same photo illustration on a wide variation of prices. 

 

 

[Negita43]

9 minutes ago, Negita43 said:

just tried a search on lazada a precise search gets nothing a lose search gets thousands and mostly not headlights. Do you have your search criteria or better still the url - or did you get the thousands of results

 

Edited January 23, 2022 by Negita43
spelling loose not lose

[PJPom]

toyota altis headlights ...........my initial fault was Toyota Corolla without specifying altis...I am now looking at opening page...only a few for Altis and they are quite pricey . Not sure if they are complete units including reflectors.

[PJPom]

My opening page tap on image, there are a lot if you scroll down. What year is your altis ?

[Negita43]

2001

[Yellowtail]

19 hours ago, Negita43 said:

2001

[Negita43]

Thanks yellowtail I found the item it seems they only have LH (no RH) and if you look at the bit I've highlighted that's a bit confusing. BUT I looked at the end of the page you sent and found this - not sure if that price is for a pair or not.

Thanks again for taking the time to help.

[Yellowtail]

Good luck with it, let us know how it goes!

[Negita43]

Thanks everybody for your help with the headlight issue Does anybody know the answer to the second question:

Are spotlights/driving lights legal in Thailand?

[Yellowtail]

Given many new vehicles are equipped with them, I would say yes. 

 

But I think it safe to assume that is you mount really bright lights that are blinding/annoying other drivers it will be a issue. 

[Denim]

Had the same on my Vios.

 

Tried WD40 , petrol ,rubbing alcohol , nail varnish remover , bleach ....everything.

 

Nothing really worked to my satisfaction.

 

Then , I was washing my car with Waxy car wash and polish combined and when I got to the headlights ,  I filled up the sponge and worked it over the headlights for about a minute with quite firm pressure. I was amazed when I rinsed off to see the headlights were greatly improved. Much better result than everything else had tried.Not perfect but big improvement Always liked Waxy car wash and polish but even bigger fan now.

 

Alternatively, get replacement lights made in Taiwan. About 2500 baht a pair from Kai Dee. 

 

 

 

Edited January 25, 2022 by Denim

[PJPom]

Just a final thought, you commented that the problem was of course night vision, when I bought my older Ford Focus it had a medium tint on all the windows. I firstly replaced headlight bulbs as I thought they were not good enough but came to the conclusion the tint was the problem, I removed the front screen tint and vision improved dramatically.

Next I put a band or tint on just the top of the screen and cut the side window tint so that I could see the rear view mirrors clearly, amazing the difference.

When you can’t see the driver through the windscreen in the day how much do you think he can see at night, answer, very little.

[Negita43]

Hi just an update about the Altis foggy lights.

Today I called in at my local dealership (I get them to service it from time to time) - cost to replace both headlights 6,000 Baht!!!!!.

So (after they revived me) when I got home I reviewed all your kind inputs and I found one I hadn't tried - WD 40 (or similar).

Hey presto! It made a significant improvement - I followed this up with a paste of ARO stain remover powder (I use this a lot for removing the carbon from the cooking pans I burn!!).

Now I would say that the light intensity is 60 to 70% better.

But now it is also obvious that the lights have a lot of crazing inside, but at least I have bought myself some time.

 

 

[Lancashirelad]

Take note of what PJPom said about heavy windscreen tint.

I do headlights (in the UK) with fine grade wet & dry (used very wet) ..... you should see a milky paste appear as you rub. Then T-cut. Then any car body polish.

Edited January 28, 2022 by Lancashirelad