Have you ever bought a set of aftermarket headlights for your car and found that they fog up with moisture inside? Try sealing them up with 100% silicone.
i've done this to all the lights i've replaced in all my cars and trucks but i do an extra step. i tape off what i don't want silicone on and the run my finger over it let it cure for about 15 minutes and then remove the tape. i get a nice staight line that looks factory.
Thank you so much for making a tutorial for this! I just bought new headlights for my '97 Mustang and while I keep seeing guides that say "you may want to seal up aftermarket headlights," I haven't been able to find an actual guide on how to do it. Much appreciated!
This was the first video i clicked on for sealing newly purchased headlights. And what are the odds your sealing the exact same headlights i plan on doing tonight.. LMR black headlight kit for my 04 GT lol. Great video, and i completely agree we shouldnt have to do this on a brand new headlight!
Just bought some new headlight assemblies for my Magnum and I was thinking about doing the same thing but wasn't sure if it was necessary until I noticed you're video. Thanks for the reassurance. Read to many complaints on condensation forming on inside of lens and didn't want to go through that.
I have a new set of Anzo headlights that fog up I'm going to try this and some goretex vents already have factory tube vents but still get condensation fingers crossed!!!
How have they held up? Any issues and what could I do to improve the results? I just got an aftermarket headlight for my 18 accord. I bought the car used three months ago. Turns out it’s been wrecked before and was replaced with bad headlights.
Okay, it's been 6 years. Is it still watertight? I just bought a set of Mopar OEM replacement headlight assemblies for my 2011 Ram. They have a bead of clear sealant already around the edge, but I don't trust them cause the originals leaked after about 8 years. So I'm going to put an extra bead just in case. I want to get more than 10 years at least. I am the original owner. 2011 Ram 3500 SLT CC LB 4x4 Diesel 74k miles.
Why is it so hard for the aftermarket people to make waterproof headlights?!? My rav4 headlights started leaking almost immediately. This should not be necessary. It is not difficult to replace if you diy, but just frustrating to do all the work twice. Never even crossed my mind that it would leak.
_"Why is it so hard for the aftermarket people to make waterproof headlights?!? My rav4 headlights started leaking almost immediately. This should not be necessary. It is not difficult to replace if you diy, but just frustrating to do all the work twice. Never even crossed my mind that it would leak."_ Annoying... isn't it? Unfortunately, the challenge is: Trying to make a product or part in mass quantities efficiently while keeping consistent quality levels up. Not as easy as you might think. With that said, I realize that everything has certain levels of failure rates. This includes my 2017 Honda CR-V Touring. For those that are not aware, my CR-V has standard LED headlights as OEM on the Touring trim level. Needless to say, I was PISSED when both headlights started to get condensation/water in them. These headlights can cost around $1500 per side from a Honda dealer (and that's not including labor)! I can write a book on the entire, long, drawn-out ordeal I had to go through to try and get Honda to replace my headlights for a reasonable cost. Ultimately, This is why I am here. To seal my own headlights. (Who's to say if the dealer does the work and then it starts to leak again a month later?!?!) If I am going to do this.... I want to do this right. A word of caution/advice to everyone out there: Try to close the hood (or bonnet if you're in the UK) as GENTLY as possible. Many shade-tree mechanics (and seen some professional mechanics too) will either let the weight of the hood drop from an unnecessary height or manually smash the hood closed. The hood of your car does not need that much force to close. The hood crashing onto the top of your (plastic) headlights may crack your headlight casing over a period of time.
Where can you find the new gaskets for the bulbs that you mentioned? Would that be a ‘any car parts store’ thing or would I need to go to the dealership or something for them? Seems like it’s well worth the trouble to go ahead and get new gaskets & not have to worry, considering how attention to detail isn’t exactly a strong suit of Chinese aftermarket parts these days. Thanks for the information. You made it look easy and helped me get past the nerves of trying to replace my headlights myself. 👍🏼
Thanks! I remember seeing them within the isle in Autozone where they have all the different small parts specific to cars. I think they were made by Dorman, but they had "Help" on all the packages. What I did was buy real cheap bulbs and took the gaskets off and used them on my bulbs. I hope that helps you out.
I opened up my headlights to do some halos and stuff, I used butyl to glue them back, but the problem is my headlight has no place to put clamps on, I had to do it using hands by force only. That doesn't give me enough confidence that it's properly sealed. Probably I'll go around the edge with silicone. A car wash should tell me straight away if there is leak or not
Can you use silicon sealant to glue after opening headlight?? Butyl rubber is expensive here and normally sell by the box. I just need to use it for one headlight
Mr Reza I would think you could. The only thing I would worry about is if you could get enough of the original sealant off so you can get enough silicone in between the two pieces to seal it up.
I left my vent open with the little tube connected and it seemed to be okay. If you do end up sealing up those, I’d definitely make sure it was dry before closing them off completely. You don’t want to trap any moisture in there.
It is pathetic that the manufacturer doesn’t seal it properly. I’ve got a set of TYC headlights, and they fogs (fucks) up and water gets in them after 6 months ready for fish to gets in. Everytime its because of the sealing not holding up. Amateurs.
I did. I suppose if you can install the light housing in place without smearing off any or getting on your car, it wouldn’t hurt. You don’t want to get it wet or let it freeze before the silicone sets up.
HUNTING ADDICTS Yes, unfortunately lol. My drivers side housing had some in it the next day after washing the car. It wasn’t heavy, but still sucks. I must have missed a spot somewhere. Funny thing is that it’s only happened during cooler weather, like 50’s and below. I haven’t noticed any yet from just being real wet outside, like foggy mornings. I need to get it off and inspect it.
Anytime! 👍🏼 I never returned the first set of housings I bought from LMR. I think I’m going to strip off the silicone I initially used and try a more aggressive silicone to see if it sticks and seals better.
What happens is it gets hot inside the headlamp so when the outside cools faster then the inside it creates the watery steam inside and that happens because it’s the venting properly
It kinda depends to be honest, for most after market headlights i've got they always got moisture issues never heat. So I rather just not get moisture in there and might mess everything up to a point where I have to buy another set. Plus I don't think LED headlights generate that much heats unless you got bulb then that's the problem but LED wise u should be good to go.
and YES, aftermarket lights DO LEAK because they use the cheapest sealant and sloppy job when installing all pieces together and no QC testing of leak pressure to make sure it passes with good results and the buyer not ending up with an incompetent product that has to return back or never buying from that company again!
