Weathertech Headlight LampGuard Install

I wanted to try these for keeping the scratches off the headlights. Never used something like this before so I am going to see how well they hold up.

http://www.weathertech.com/toyota/2016/tacoma/lampgard/toyota-tacoma-cab/double-cab/

The install was a major pain and @OBXPaul returned his because he couldn't get the bubbles out. But I decided to try anyway. This took a long time and lots of patience. And a good rolling chair. I spent about 45 minutes on each light.

Taking his warnings to heart, I prepared a bit more than I normally would have. I mixed the water/alcohol solution in a spray bottle like the instructions say and instead of a hair dryer, I got out my heat gun I use for shrink wrap. They are cheap on Amazon and super useful if you don't already have one.


Because of how crazy the headlight shape is on our trucks, the film is cut into just as crazy of a shape:


This also comes with fog light covers, which I used as practice before attempting the main headlights. I learned really quick that I needed to apply a lot of heat to the film to get it to stretch correctly. And to use an ample amount of the spray bottle to prevent it from sticking too quickly.

I also found that when doing the main headlights, it was easier to start at the top right corner (closest to the grill) and work down then around the side. Work about 3" of the film, re-heat, then repeat. It takes a while to squeegee out the water and get the film to stick. The key is constantly re-applying heat to the film to get it to stretch out to the edges and make it form to the glass.


You'll also notice that it does reach all the way to the end of the light (where the blinker is). The pic below is from when I was still working to get the water out and the film to adhere.



I was also unable to get the very small bubbles out. These seemed to form after it was squeegeed and adhered to the light. At 10 feet I can't tell they are there, especially with the lights on. But up close you can see them. I think I am OK with that since really I just want to see if these protect from chips and scratches.




Overall, this is not super appealing, but doesn't have to be right now. I might try something else later, but this will hopefully do the job in the meantime.

 

Frogsauce, sounds like your install was similar to mine. I had the same problem with bubbles forming after that area was free of them. You may be ok though, in the instructions it says that small bubbles will disappear after several weeks up to a month or two I believe. I'm glad you were able to only have small bubbles. Hope this works out for you. FWIW, WeatherTech was good to their word, 3 days after I contacted them about mine, I received an email from PayPal that they had issued a refund.

 

That's good to hear about the small bubbles. It would be great if they did go away. I will also see if it peels off in some of the corners that I had to pull it back up after it adhered a bit in order to get it on right. The fog lights look impeccable, can't even tell anything is on there. But the funny shaped headlights made this hard.

 

Mine were only on over night and it took some hard pulling to get them to peel off. I don't think you will have any issues with the film peeling. It's a great product that I wished would have worked for me. If only the headlights weren't so damned curved. I bet on flatter headlights this product is a piece of cake to install.

 

After a month my little bubbles went away and they are crystal clear. Really can't even tell they are on there anymore. I'm pretty surprised in that! I forgot they were on there until I started putting the new bumper on.