2001 Tacoma headlight light housing

I recently gave my old 2001 Tacoma TRD to my son. The headlight lens are badly oxidized. Does anyone have new or good lens/housing that are in shape for sale? Amazon has them brand new for $93.

 

I recently replaced my headlamp assemblies for the same reason. I bought mine from rockauto for about $28 each. Be prepared to break a few plastic clips in the process - seems inevitable. Here the youtube video I used to learn first.

 

The 3m kit that polishes your headlights works really well too. It's about $25 but you'll need to redo it every couple of years.

 

I replaced my 03' housings and was never happy. The old oxidized ones were still better. You get what you pay for in the case of headlight housings.

 

If you are open to a restoration kit, this is the result I got on my 01. A good lesson for how to keep vehicle maintenance cost down on a tight budget and some DIY experience for a young, new vehicle owner, IMO.

As stated previously, it requires a little maintenance every 6 months or so. After the initial restoration with a Mothers speed ball kit (4 grades of sanding pads, then drill-bit buffing ball), I just used Plastic-X followed by hard carnauba wax for maintenance.

 

This is true too. I've seen numerous complaints about the poor light pattern and general quality on non-OEM replacements.

 

Mine were Eagle Eyes brand from Rockauto I believe.

 

You also want to put a UV protector on them after you're done restoring them

 

another vote for the abrasive kits. i ended up using the turtlewax one, but was very happy with the results. ...and i went into the process pretty much resigned to needing to replace them even after trying the kit.

 

Thank you, I forwarded the info to my son. Did it fit perfect, any problems with the seals and did it rattles after test driving it?

 

2nd restoring them. Wet sanding is your friend.

I used 600 grit sand paper and removed the factory top coat by hand (you know youre done when the water disperses differently over the lense).

Then went over it with 2000 grit, cleaned up, and applied UV resistant clear coat.

Cost less than $10 and 2 months later still holding up great.

 

X2

IMO the 3M headlight restoration kit works better then the copy cats.
And if done properly... will be crystal clear.

A UV coating after the clean up will see the lens remaining clear longer.

I recommend using painters masking tape applied to the headlight surround (body/paint)
to ensure that is not getting sanded/buffed during the clean up process.

Most liquid hand rub polishes do not work as well.
At least not any I've tried.

Parking outside in the elements fogs the lenses quicker...
Reason being...
The morning's dew dried on by the sun's UV is damaging to all plastic lenses.

Tends not to be good for the body's paint either.
And will cause paint fade or oxidization.