Protective film for headlights: what and how

Any car enthusiast knows very well that different stones can fly from under the wheels of the vehicle in front. They can cause a broken or damaged headlight. To reduce the risk of such consequences, you can increase the distance between cars. But this is not always possible. Another thing is to try to protect them. And for this there is a special film for headlights.

What is it

A film for headlights is a protective coating for vehicle lighting fixtures. It prevents not only the appearance of scratches and chips, but also the breaking of glass. Outwardly it looks like household scotch, with which every person is perfectly familiar. The difference from it is that the film is much thicker, and it does not stretch.

Composition

Protective film for headlights is made of polyurethane, which is a polymer material. It has excellent characteristics of strength and durability. But, unfortunately, it has a significant drawback - a narrow range of operating temperatures. This material can only be used within -20 to +80 degrees Celsius.

Efficiency

The film for the headlights perfectly protects against chips and scratches that can occur as a result of a small stone blow. And this is an important factor, because in many models of cars it will not be possible to replace only the glass, but it is necessary to buy the entire assembly in assembly. At more powerful impacts the headlight, certainly, will be broken. But the film will not allow the glass to shatter.

disadvantages

Unfortunately, the headlight film has a very serious negative feature. It weakens the light flux. Thus, a protective coating with a thickness of only 0.5 mm reduces the light transmittance by 2%, while 1 mm - by 4%. But these figures look much better than conventional plastic, which will reduce the flow of light by 15%. For parking lights and dipped headlights, such losses will be uncritical. Visibility when driving such a decline in performance will not hurt. The situation with the far-off light is completely different. He must light the path for a distance of 300 meters. With a decrease in the luminous flux of only 2%, the distance will decrease to 250 meters.

How to glue a film on the headlights

It is most convenient to carry out this operation on the dismantled lighting devices of the vehicle. But the removal of headlights is often difficult because it may require additional labor-intensive work. For example, the dismantling of the bumper. Then the cost of effort and time for the performance of all work will increase significantly. Therefore, the application of a protective coating can also be carried out on installed headlights.

First you need to prepare the workpiece. To do this, the film must be attached to the headlamp and using the scissors to cut out the desired piece. Can be done with a small margin.

Before hanging the headlights, they should be thoroughly cleaned and washed. If you do not, then under the film there will be dirt, which can not only spoil the appearance, but also bring to nothing all the works. After that, the entire surface should be degreased.

Then the headlight should be moistened with soapy water, separate the film from the substrate and attach it to the glass. After that, it should be rolled with a squeegee. That's all.