What causes water to enter your headlights?
Fully functional headlights are important to your safety while driving, especially at night. A good set of headlights should allow you to see in front of you clearly, as well as improve your visibility to other drivers from a distance. When water moisture enters the headlights, it can discolour the headlights and cause cloudiness. This will affect the operation of the light and reduce your car’s visibility.
Additionally, moisture in headlights can lead to your car failing its Warrant of Fitness.
Learn more about headlight WOF requirements >
Condensation is most likely to happen when the seals that protect your car’s headlights begin to fail. This will result in moisture-rich air entering the headlights and forming condensation.
Condensation is caused when the temperature of the headlight lens is significantly lower than the temperature of the headlights themselves. This causes the moisture from the heated air to stick to the lens, reducing the light’s visibility.
Symptoms of headlight condensation:
Below are some of the most common symptoms associated with headlight condensation:
- The lens appears cloudy or blurred.
- The light from the headlight bulb appears to be faint or discoloured
- There are small visible water droplets on the inside of the headlight lens.
Can condensation be removed from headlights?
Fortunately, condensation doesn’t necessarily mean that you will need to fully replace your headlight. Instead, the headlight can often be cleared of moisture by passing dry air through the headlight, allowing it to pass a Warrant of Fitness (WOF).
Condensation can often be removed relatively easily by removing the headlight, undoing the seals, and using a hairdryer to heat the inside of the light. However, extra care needs to be taken so that the seal is not damaged. Otherwise, it will happen again quickly.
If the seal has already failed, cleaning the headlight will only temporarily fix the problem and the seals will need to be replaced in order to permanently fix the issue.
Headlight Cleaning & Replacementin Hamilton
Does your car have blurry, fogged or moisture-filled headlights? If so, we can help! At Grimmer Motors, our team of experienced mechanics can often clear the condensation from the headlight. This will improve the effectiveness of your headlights while driving at night, as well as allow your headlights to pass a Warrant of Fitness.
We can also provide headlight replacement for damaged lights.
For car headlight replacement and servicing in Hamilton, contact Grimmer Motors today!