My wife's 2012 Camry's headlights are getting foggy looking, we bought the car this way. Normally had I owned the car from new I'd have put paint protection film on the lenses. Too late for that now sad to say.

I have used the 3M restoration kit on a VW I owned and it seemed to do a good job... I am debating to use that kit on the Camry or simply buy new units and cover them with the PPF. I assume that like the Prius the front bumper cover must be removed to replace the headlight assemblies. There are many aftermarket ones on eBay I've seen some that say "Don't use XX bulbs" for whatever reason. I will update the lights to LEDS once I get the lenses sorted out. If you know of some replacements that are of crappy quality please let me know.

What would you do if it was yours?

Tnx in advance

Shammo47

 

On the lenses already polished do apply some kind of protective coating.

The bulb issue may be that the headlights may be designed for halogen or high energy discharge bulbs.

There are Utube videos on replacing the headlight assy.

Suppose if polishing is done well and a protective coating is used, the new lens clarity may hold up over time. The issue is holding up over time.

I just replace the headlight assy. Reasons are the condition of plastic may need extensive work to get it finally polished, the internal lens and reflective material may have degradation, who knows how long the lens rework will last (degradation over time) and having dealt with lens issues leading to poor lighting when driving now prefer just to replace rather then repair.. .

Rockauto sells a verity of headlight assy. I use TYC.

When looking there is a listing for CAPA certified parts. The parts are supposed to be built under the CAPA process which is supposed to result in consistent quality and correction of problems. Would assume a maker like TYC already has good Q/C so CAPA may not make any difference other then the official stamp of approval.

Note there are bad headlight assy's sold. These start to leak, have fit up issues and may have different light projection characteristics then OEM. .

 

Hey toyomoho,

All good info thank you. I had never heard of CAPA. I always use PPF on all my cars, since you can remove it if damaged it's a no brainer to use it imho. I see so many cars with headlamp lenses that are so clouded they'd be of no use, Makes me think I could go into business fixing them or at least trying to repair 'em!

Regards,

Shammo

 

There may already be headlight restoration businesses.

 

I have an 07 and the lights were foggy. I tried buffing them but the haze was too deep. I replaced them for about $170 with aftermarket lenses over 5 years ago and they're still nice and clear.

I had to take off the front plastic and undo the fronts of both wheel wells, but that's just a 10mm socket and a screwdriver job. Easy instructions on YouTube.

If I could have buffed the old ones out, I'd have gone that route, but $170 plus about 2 hours of labor wasn't bad.

Good luck