My headlights are exceptionally dim. Any thoughts? I've replaced them but almost need to drive with the bright lights on most of the time just to see the road at night. 2011, Gen III, over 230k miles. Thanks!
Are the headlight covers polished and shiny or foggy? If they're foggy, you can buy a kit to polish them and then paint them with clear laquer. If they aren't foggy, have you mentioned this issue to your eye doctor?
If you replaced the lens's and they are still dim, perhaps you have a bad ground and/or wiring. Clean the lens's with windex or other cleaner, and dry them well. Then you can get some Mother's aluminum polish, and a buffing wheel for a drill or other electric device. Put some on the pad and start buffing. You don't have to press hard. Then use a micrfiber cloth to clean it off. If that doesn't work, you can clean them with baking soda and water, then use the mothers polish. DO NOT USE LAQUER! It will start cracking and look crapy and be hard to get off.
So there was a recall a few years back because people kept burning through bulbs. When I got that recall done the headlights were dimmed. Dealership kind of shrugged but said that they could clean/smooth the covers because they are indeed foggy. Well that didn't seem to help. I went to another dealership and they said they could replace the entire lighting fixture for like $1200 or something insane. Really need help here!
Definitely not normal to be dim. After another long interstate drive, I was noticing the number of people who flashed me (no not that, their bright lights!) even though I had low beams on. So lows must be pretty good normally.
Yeah, I'm not sure it's actual lacquer... But all the best headlight kits come with clear coat paint. Polishing out the lens clean doesn't last more than a few months or so before it fades again. That's where I'm at. Gonna eventually figure out what the clear coat paint they use is so I can make that polishing effort last longer.
2.5 months ago I did mine. They still look new. And my Prius sits in the sun. You can also try this: Meguiar's G17804 Keep Clear Headlight Coating, 1 Pack , 1 | eBay or this: Plexus Plastic Cleaner Protectant Polish - 7oz. 7 oz 20207 53-1101 27-4837 7 oz | eBay Both are supposed to work very well. I will be using the Meguiar's next time I polish mine. Walfart has it. I want to see how long just the polishing lasts. It took 5 minutes or less for each lens. I guess that would depend on how bad they are. Mine were fairly bad. If I have to do it every 6 months, I'm happy with that!
I noticed my passenger headlight is real dim the lens is clear but the bulb is dim dealer says oh well tried LCD after market still no better i notice a lot of Prius’s are like that
Replace the halogens with HIDs. You can buy on Ebay for less than $30 and the install just takes about 30 mins They last for years There was a recall on the lighting harness for 2011. Check into that. You may need to replace the harness
