Like the restoration kits I do not pretend to know all there is to know about every aftermarket (A.M.) replacement headlights that can be bought. What I will say is this, if you find a cheap aftermarket headlight there could be a very good reason that they are cheap, and that is because, they are cheap .

I used to work for a golf club maker who would buy and build golf clubs using cheap knock offs (copies of brand names) from china and I know from this experience that you do get what you pay for. Not always, but usually, when someone is selling you something for much less than half the price of an OEM (Original equipment manufacturer) part he is cutting corners somewhere.

I have seen that some of these A.M. lights, when trying to install them, the bolt holes do not always lineup properly, or they strip or break very easily. The plastic is usually very much cheaper and thinner than OEMs. And so that fading and yellowing, fogginess that happens, that caused you to need replacements in the first place, happens much faster. Also the seals that keep water out are often not as durable as there OEM counterparts. What this means is that more often than not they will in short order fail and allow water to get in, and that is a whole other set of problems.

I had a man call and ask what I charged to fix his headlights and I quoted him a price of $130.00 and he said that's way too high I can get NEW replacements online for $110.00 each. So why would I give you $130.00 just to fix my old ones? Good question. Let me answer that.

1. As mentioned above the problems that one could experience with cheap copies should stop and make you think.

2. When I am done, you will have a factory, Original equipment manufactured headlight that is in nearly factory new condition, something that if you bought could cost you hundreds of dollars.

3. And in this case I do not understand the man's confusion any way. He was going to pay at least $220.00 (plus shipping) for these cheap copies and then have to install them himself, and on his car you have to drop the bumper to do this. If I did this job for him and, I have extensive experience taking off and putting back on this bumper, it would take me about an hour to an hour and a half to change out these lights. So I ask, what is he thinking? Spend $90.00 more and have to do the work himself, if he can.

There are times that I might personally buy the cheap A.M. light myself. One of them is if I knew that I was not going to keep the car and was going to sell (not to a friend or family member) the car or trade it in. I would let someone else have the headache. On my personal car that I was going to rely on for getting me and my family around safely, never!

The Headlight Guy
www.brightlightsnow.com

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Comments

I agree wholeheartedly on the subject of aftermarket headlights. Here is my story: My lights were bad and so I called Bright Lights Now and when they gave me the price to fix my lights I told them I would get back to them. I then got on line a bought a set of lights for about twice as much as they quoted me to fix mine, thinking that I would be spending twice as much but I would have NEW lights, not “restored” lights. This began a 3 week nightmare. I receive the lights for my Cadillac Catera, then I installed them myself not realizing how involved this would be, the grill had to come off and the bolts to the headlight were not easily accessible. It was a job, about 2 ½ hrs. Then the driver’s side did not work. So I called the company I bought the lights from and they said that I would have to uninstall BOTH lights and return them as a set. They said they could not exchange just the driver’s side. And so another 2 plus hrs. I packed up the lights and shipped them at MY expense. About 10 days later I received the new set, 1 1/2 hrs., more reinstalling (I’m getting better at this instillation). Same problem (Driver’s side not working), I called the company again and this time they told me that this headlight needed to be rewired because these lights fit both the Cadillac Catera and some Opels. Needless to say I was beside myself. I have wasted all this time and really by now have not gained anything (my old “restored” headlights are sounding real good about now). I took these headlights to a small local garage that work only on German imports and they rewired the driver’s side for me for $40. I went and installed them and now they work… ALMOST. My daytime running lights do not work now. My conclusion is that O.E.M’s restored are a much better deal than new CHEEP after markets.

David C. Westside Indianapolis

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