Hi all,

My wife's 99 intrepid has about 115K miles and the glass lens on the headlamp assemblies have become extremely fogged up. I've read elsewhere on this board that this is a common problem with this vehicle. Is there a way to get inside these assemblies and actually clean the glasses or am I stuck purchasing two new headlamp assemblies?

 

So glad you asked! I was logging on to post the most amazing discovery to fix the foggy headlight problem. We have 4 Intrepids, 3 have the notoriously foggy headlamps. A guy told me about a product he uses on truck lights so I bought some from him. It's called Busch Aluminum Polish, a pinkish liquid similar to car wax. I used it on the drivers side headlamp with a rough towel. It takes a bit of elbow grease to do it by hand so I drove it over to my husband who was amazed how much clearer the drivers side was. He removed the headlamps and put a buffing wheel to both headlamps with the Aluminum Polish. They are so much better! I can actually see at night now! If you're going to use a buffing wheel I suggest removing the lamps. You could damage the paint with the Aluminum Polish if you're not careful. I was very excited how much better they were just by using the towel! Good luck!

 

My local NAPA store also has a simular product (not sure if all NAPAs will carry it) but it works great!!!

 

what was the name of the product at your NAPA?

 

FYI: Any aluminum polisher will work.

 

I have a 97 and it has the plastic lens covers. As far as I know, unless you go through a lot of sand storms, glass lens covers don't really fog up. If you ment plastic covers, which tend to yellow over time, I just bought a product fromMeguiar's called "PlastX Clear Plastic Cleaner & Polish." I just bought it from Auto Zone for about five bucks, and used a few drops. Not a lot of hard scrubbing or reapplications, and now the lights look like new. Sory for the late reply, but I just tried it myself, as my lights were dim and yellow too.

PS, I saw you said "get inside these assemblies", I only needed to clean the outside to make them crystal clear again.

 

mine are fogged up but when I wiped them off it had shiny crystal-like things on the towel....I was wondering if it wasn't from road salt.....

 

The type of cloudiness I was refering to can't be washed or wipped off by any normal means. It is from when the plastic becomes oxidized over time. Did you mean, after you wiped, they were still cloudy AND you had crystals on the rag? If there is no cloudiness left, I guess you just had dirt/grime/road salt (wash your car while you are at it )!

If it's not regular dirt yor are talking about, are the crystals water solubable? If so, they could be salt on top of your oxidized lens, if not, they may be the plastic braking down futher (I don't know if this can happen or not). This PlastiX stuff says it has conditioning oils for plastic to restore optical clarity. It may help preserve and prevent futher damage on yours. Good luck!

 

I agree with the posts, you may need to use 2000 grit wet sand paper first then rubbing compound. Take a look at EBAY several places sell aftermarket units for less than 100 per set. They are EURO style but look great and are quite easy to install.
What ever you do, do not watse your money on so called restorer products you may see on ebay or the web. They are all just rubbing compounds, what you can get 8 oz of for 2.99 they will sell you 1oz for much more. You will have some areas that will not be clear as it is also degraded inside the lens.

 

Oxidation does not sound like something that would be corrected by polishing the surface. Wouldn't oxidation be in the plastic itself? Does polishing the lens do any good at all in this case? I have this problem too, so I'm very interested to hear.