New headlights and table

[washman]

After 10 years of PA weather and 3 buffings, I could not longer drive on rainy nights in the Toyota-san. Enter Rock Auto. Enter CAPA certified aftermarket headlight assemblies. 2 Marlboro lights and 30 minutes later with the assistance of a very handy neighbor chap, we had it all changed out. TYC even included new Bosch bulb assemblies! I also treated each somewhat rusty screw with some WD40. Just got back from a test drive. Talk about daylight and dark. The dealer wanted an ungodly amount. A body shop quoted me nearly $400. I looked at a youtube vid and figured what they hey, I can do this much more cost effectively. And I did. Credit Toyota for keeping the fastener size all the same at 10MM. Good thinking, good products. Or so it went.

The gray table came from Jamco products. USA made steel, it will serve as my work area for odds and ends and also see duty as a firearm cleaning area. Dad secured this as an early Christmas present after his visit in September. It just now got delivered thanks to a snafu with Conway Freight being unable to get a 48ft rig in my residential area. Today they came with a 22ft pup. I had to move some things around but I found space for it. In time, I will save for a USA made vice and mount that on there.

 

[warmsecondrinse]

Congrats on the new lights. I was always lucky in that my cars I was able to change out the bulbs independently of the assembly. It seemed to me that most of the headlight buffing/restoration kits produced the same good results, but the brands varied widely in how long they kept the plastic lenses clear.

That table looks good. Is that a garage? Must be nice to have all that space

Jim

 

[ken]

This is a real big pet peeve of mine. In the interests of profit and also to bow to designers to produce many weird a**, compound shaped headlights manufacturers started producing plastic units.

I see some that are so cloudy and yellowed I cant imagine how much light is able to get to the road. And this is safe how? Where is the NHSTA? How are manufacturers allowed to install plastic headlights on cars when they clearly cause a detriment to safety? Didn't have this problem when headlights were glass.

And the owner is then expected to pay the cost of replacing them after they're no longer safe to have on the car. Which IMO shouldn't be allowed on the car in the first place.

Goes right along with car makers continuing to install mild steel brake and fuel lines. Funny thing copper alloy lines are available aftermarket. They dont rust. Guess U.S. car makers haven't been building cars long enough to have yet learned of this. I know some foreign makers like Volvo, I believe, use alloy lines.

End of rant.

 

[washman]

I guess I was lucky

10 winters in PA with the sand, cinders, and salt can play havoc on a car's looks. I always garaged it. Oddly enough, dad has a 2006 Camry that has been in FL since day one and his headlights look brand new. I kinda miss the old days of glass headlights that were much more robust in terms of light output.

I did noticed the OEM bulbs were starting to accumulate a gray dusty deposit inside the bulbs as well.

Yes, that is my garage.