Has anyone else installed clear bra material on headlights?

Re: Has anyone else installed clear bra material on headligh

Like in Final Destination!
Death MUST win!!

 

No problems with mine. I installed X-pel Headlight Protection a couple of months ago. The material is much heavier than the clear bra and went on easily. There were a couple of small bubbles and a few areas that were foggy for a few days but cleared up and disappeared. No problem with the lights, the material is crystal clear and offers great protection.

 

Ken,
That could be the problem, my headlights are Halogen.

 

i have pkge. 8 so i guess i'm halogen-free.
i too have the heavy clear bra headlite covers, as well as the full front end tx, and i have also noticed the "banding" effect, and it never dawned on me that it began after the covers were installed, but you are right, sir!
don't know if i have x-pel, i do know it is 3m stuff.
the only thing is, i like the bands, still seems to be plenty of lite, and the pattern is kinda, i don't know, 60's, if you know what i mean.
now that you brought it up, i'm in trouble, remove or not, enuf lite or not, always something. ain't it great?
art

 

i have pkge. 8 so i guess i'm halogen-free.
i too have the heavy clear bra headlite covers, as well as the full front end tx, and i have also noticed the "banding" effect, and it never dawned on me that it began after the covers were installed, but you are right, sir!
don't know if i have x-pel, i do know it is 3m stuff.
the only thing is, i like the bands, still seems to be plenty of lite, and the pattern is kinda, i don't know, 60's, if you know what i mean.
now that you brought it up, i'm in trouble, remove or not, enuf lite or not, always something. ain't it great?
art

 

yup, me too

I noticed the same effect: when the headlights are on and it's really dark outside, the lower portion of the field of view has a kind of "light being refracted through a crystal goblet" effect. I got used to it, however, and I didn't notice any dimming of my field of view, only the above mentioned effect. Turning on the fog lights virtually eliminated the effect. I elected to keep the covers on as it took me two hours of ditzing to get them on in the first place, and they apparently work according to numerous posts on this chatline. Since the HID's cost about 300 bucks a pair, I think it's worth the minor distraction to protect them as well as possible. My covers are made by Invica Shield and they are much thicker than the bra material. The thickness is likely the cause of the refraction.
Bob

 

I am ordering a sheet of that 3m material and will have to cut to suit. I am curious about the coverage of the x-pel kit.

Does it cover all the glass? or just a strip at the front. I would have thought that it would have to be contoured or "shaped" to fit all the glass area, and that a panel cut from a flat sheet would not fit the contour of the glass properly.

If anyone could post a close up photo, that would be greatly appreciated, or just a verbal description would help.

Thanks.

 

The flat material conforms to the contour quite easily. Mine was cut to the same size as the headlamp cover. I had to use a hair dryer to get the final wrinkle out on the first side but had gained enough experience the the second one was a snap. As I mentioned in a previous post there were some small bubbles and a couple of foggy areas that disappeared in a couple of days. I was also concerned because in one area the matrial overlapped the cover by about 1/4 inch. I planned to trim that of later but noticed that it had shrunk back to a point where it is not noticeable. I'll try to get some closeup pictures tomorrow and post hem for you.

 

Seasalsa,

My material (Scotch 3m) came is a sheet, and I have to trace my lights and cut it out.

When tracing (with tracing paper), there was no way that I could get a snug fit to the light unless I put a dart (as they say in the dressmaking trade) about half way up on the outer edge coming in about 3 inches. I suspect that is because the tracing paper has no flexibility like the 3m material. When laid flat, the outer width of the dart area is just over half an inch.

What was the trick when applying it? Did you start on one side and work across, or did you start from the bottom and work up?

Gee, an A3 scan of one of these sheets (or the discarded backing material) would sure make the task a lot easier ;-)

 

When I installed my 3m rear bumper applique protection, I wet the surface with soft soapy water. This allowed me to move the material round to get it to the right spot. I then sqeegeed the water and bubbles out. I wonder if the same technique can be followed with the headlight covers?

 

Can someone point to data indicating that a thin piece of plastic can prevent a headlight lens from breaking if hit by a rock? Aren't those lenses made of polycarbonate, which is much more resistant to cracking than glass?

Many people around here put masking tape on glass windows when hurricanes approach, even though it's obvious that the tape offers no protection against anything thrown against the glass; then most it can do is keep some pieces of glass from flying in all directions.

Do the diffraction patterns caused by the plastic bother oncoming drivers? That seems much more important than the protection they may offer against breakage.

 

Re: Polycarbonate.

That's a very good point jamarimutt,

By tapping lightly on the headlight (and tail light) "glass", it sounds more like plastic to me than glass. If they are Polycarbonate, that might explain why the headlight assembly is so expensive.

Having already bought the material, I am now wondering if it really offers that much value other than a psychological one.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jamarimutt\";p=\"34368)</div>

Actually, the headlight stuff (X-Pel anyway) is quite a bit thicker than the same stuff used on the painted surfaces. I would guess that my lens covers are almost a quarter of an inch thick. This would be like covering your lenses with transparent rubber which might also explain the refraction that is being talked about in this post. The light is passing through the plastic at an oblique angle. I think the thickness of the material and its slightly spongy nature do add a level of protection that's worth it. Besides, I hate to admit I might have wasted 70 bucks. The refraction, as far as I can tell from looking at the car head on, is not apparent to oncoming drivers.
Bob

 

This thread is interesting to me because I have never heard of anyone losing a headlight to a rock. I've been driving for 32 years so if there was some serious issue, I would think I would have heard about at least a few. Maybe it depends on where one drives.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(bruceha_2000\";p=\"44049)</div>

Sounds like to me you have never driven behind a log truck and/or behind a big rig that has picked up a rock in one of their doolies. I lived in Louisiana for 13 years and I always had toyota headlight protector on all my vehicles.

Ben

 

Re: Broken head light

A city bus threw a rock...
There went a very expensive front head light on my Saab 900 Turbo.

Granted this was a few years ago.

Jim

 

Re: Has anyone else installed clear bra material on headligh

In thirty-seven years of driving and approximately half a million miles, I lost exactly one headlight to road debris.

The odds of it happening are pretty remote.

 

Re: Has anyone else installed clear bra material on headligh

As always it depends the roads a person must travel.