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Okay, what you're looking at is what I THOUGHT would be a fogged headlight piece but it's not... it is moisture and it's on the inner shield of the headlight... BUT IT WON'T COME OFF. How did this happen? One word... GOOP.

After I got my car back from the body shop (because a deer hit me over a month ago) I decided to clear my brand new left headlight as the right one was already cleared. I went to home depot and was looking for some silicone to use. I usually use Super Glue's Silicone Sealer as it worked flawlessly for my headlights previously. I decided to use something different than that because Super Glue's brand came in such a tiny bottle... with no nozzle. I saw this other stuff and it just read "better than super glue" (like most silicones say) and it was called GOOP. It was bigger so I got it.

As I was modifying my headlight I decided to take a break and use mom's car to go get some blue signal bulbs while I had the bumper off the car and I installed them just fine. I used the GOOP to reseal my left headlight and made sure I sealed it nice and tight. The GOOP is stringy, and it does NOT smell strong like vinegar - it barely gave off a scent but it was clear. I noticed that as I sealed it, the GOOP didn't squirt out on the outside like it normally does... instead... the black, tarry silicone was squirting out and though it looked a lot less messier, I guess I thought this was the cleanest job I've ever done. I also used GOOP on the outside of my right headlight which was fogging about 60% in cold weather, and never fogging in warm weather. Everything got put back together and I parked my car outside in the cold night.

Next morning I look at my car and both headlights are still fogged, but to my surprise, the left one was fogged pretty badly. The whole corner of it was just fogged as well as some of the bottom part of the headlight... and I thought this was normal.

On my last left headlight (which I repeat, was successful in clearing) it fogged just a bit in the bottom corner and after a day or so, it went away. After 3 days, this fog was still there and yesterday I decided to get some hyperwhite parking lights AND fix the problem... boy... you don't want to run into this problem.

Opening up the headlight was normal but removing the plastic chrome painted piece took me 45 minutes! It took me 10 minutes to figure out the problem. Usually, it's just a LITTLE hard to take out the chrome piece because the black tar stuff is stuck to the outer shield of the headlight but still, just pulling it off shouldn't take much muscle especially after I put the headlight in the oven to soften it. This is what I ran into. The GOOP combined with the black silicone... making it stringy (the GOOP is stringy on it's own), and SUPER STICKY so the plastic chrome piece was pretty much stuck from the top by the GOOPED black tar. I eventually got it out, and this is what I discovered... the headlight was never fogged, it was sealed perfectly, but something happened because of the GOOP. It appears to have a chemical that just fogged the plastic piece from the inside and it won't come off so easily... (it changed the texture of the plastic inside, too) and this looks BAD. I've tried scrubbing it... scraping it with my fingernail seems to make some kind of progress but otherwise, I don't know what to do. I could try some more scraping with something harsher... but I don't want a scratched up headlight. I'll try some scubbing. The GOOP did nothing to my right headlight BTW since it was only on the outside.

This is really bad because I thought I'd only needed to replace my right headlight because it cannot be opened again (the clips were accidentally siliconed on there.) Now, I have a new... ugly left headlight... I don't want to put it back together unless I know there's a solution other than replacing a headlight that's about $160 from the dealer, correct? ($130 off the internet I think but I forgot which website that was that had it.)

What I've learned?

Don't use GOOP. It seals well but it farts a bad fog. It's stringy, and it's also like spider's web when you use it. But now that I think of it, I think I chose to use GOOP because I thought it sounded like someone from the forums used it. Anyways, if you can shed some light on me (or some sympathy! ) please help me with this because I really don't want to put this back on my car.

-Zell

 
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Tried Windex... didn't work...
Tried 409... it scratched it a lil'... but no go...

I'm starting to think that the moisture is in between the plastic... this could be bad... it reminds me of those "dishes" in my old biology class, if you know what I mean.

 
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I just used normal silicon sealant and it worked just fine.

 
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Take it to TAP's plastic, they can fix it

 
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zell....man i don't know what to say....i'm sorry to hear about it man...bill jus showed me right now....sorrie man...

 
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Ok this is probrobly what happened, when using any type of glue product the fumes that are given off can adhear to any oil from fingers, arms, ext. Actually to any oil or moisture that was already there in the first place. This process is used by police for fingerprinting and is called fuming. An item is placed in a fishtank like object and a stick of basic superglue is allowed to "fume" the item resulting in fingerprints or whatever was on the item. What happened to you is that when you sealed the light there were either oils or moisture on the lense from wiping off fingerprints, ext, that were basicly fumed by this goop stuff that you refer to. I hope that I am wrong because if this is what happened then there is no way to remove it unless you get some compund and buff it out removing a layer of plastic with a high speed buffer. Good luck and I hope my reply was helpful.

 
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<< Take it to TAP's plastic, they can fix it >>



Okay... how much do you think this is gonna cost me? (Can't be as bad as buying a new headlight, right?) Dang... this may postphone my race tomorrow...

 
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Thanks for the reply Cro... I understand what happened - MUCH better now. [IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/IMG]

 
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K, TAP Plastic's said that they could give me a dissolvent to clean the headlight shield... for about $6! I'm going there now! Catcha lata! I'll post pictures of the results! Thanks again!

 
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driving your civic with no bumper or headlight, or using another car?

 
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Another car. LoL, that'd be funny, driving with no front bumper and one headlight... dude, my otherh headlight would be gone under 5 seconds without the bumper...

And I went to TAP... some good news, but more bad news... They cannot buffer it because the problem is on the inside. They gave me some stuff to use and I HAVE to use 409 it get it off... the 409 left a minor scratch but it actually got the foggy sh't off... it wasn't too much, but I've got my work cut out for me. I still might end up buying another headlight. g2g... I should be done by tonight. If anyone else has any ideas, feel free to share.

 
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The results are in early... it cannot be fixed... SO... remember kids! What's gonna happen? I'm getting a new headlight, and....

DON'T USE GOO TO RESEAL HEADLIGHTS!

-ZeLL

 
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Sorry to hear that Sonic, I know its a pain to have to buy a new one. Guess we need to make sure our sealents do not contain glue products. Im fixing to clear mine and surely cannot afford new ones....

Lata,


Ozzy

 
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Well, I just went to look for a new headlight but all the dealer's parts place were closed. [IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/IMG] I feel pretty sad cuz they won't open until Monday. I won't get to race my friend... sole purpose of his arrival here and he leaves the next day. Oh well, this will give me time to do more to my car.

Good news is that dealers sell the parts of headlight or the whole headlight... I can save money just by getting the part that's messed up. Well, that's my story... and now my car remains dismantled for a while... I'm tired... sad... guess I should sleep, huh?