Unfortunately, my passenger side fog light shattered before I had a chance to put Lamin-X film on to protect the glass. I found about the breakage before water had chance to infiltrate and short out HID system and/or corroding the silver reflective part of the fog.
There are dozens of various owner forums for replacing glass OEM lens with Lexan, etc. so feel free to Google away, including our own Acurazine.
Please refer to:
http://acurazine.com/forums/fourth-g...gen-tl-863117/
for accessing fog light housing.
![Click the image to open in full size.]()
Only two Phillips screws are holding the fog light housing in place, but space is tight so use short, stubby screwdriver to loosen the screws.
Use gloves and a screwdriver (or any tool of your choice) to clean off most of the leftover glass and adhesive holding the glass in place. You might want to use heat gun or hair dryer to make the adhesive more pliable.
![Click the image to open in full size.]()
I cleaned the water stain with microfiber rag and it's all good.
I had some plexiglass left over from other projects and decided to give that a try. All my power tools are tied up in the garage due to basement reno so I only had access to hand tools. I ended up using tin snip to cut the plastic to size.
![Click the image to open in full size.]()
![Click the image to open in full size.]()
![Click the image to open in full size.]()
Once proper size has been chopped away, fill the edge with generous amount of silicone. I used indoor/outdoor type I had on hand.
![Click the image to open in full size.]()
![Click the image to open in full size.]()
Put the replacement lens and fill the side with more silicone to secure and let dry. If I had OCD, I would have trimmed the lens better, but good enough for me. Once the housing goes back into the car, you won't see irregular shapes anyway.
![Click the image to open in full size.]()
I let it cure about 12 hours before re-installing in the car. However, I didn't drive it in wet condition for at least 24 hours to allow the silicone to cure fully.
![Click the image to open in full size.]()
I put Lamin-X film to prevent hazing, pitting, and give it a layer of UV protection. Ignore less than 100% clarity as those will eventually clear up from the heat from the lamp.
After using this plexi-glass for a couple of days, I noticed the lens started to deform from the heat so I ended up using Lexan from Home Depot and repeated the project.
The Lexan I had on hand was for previous 2nd gen TL that had cracked fog lens, but didn't get to replacing it before the car got written off.
You might be able to get different variations of Lexan (ie. with UV coating on one side), but this type was only one carried at my local HD. I used tin snip to cut away Lexan and it was no problem.
![Click the image to open in full size.]()
The final result.
![Click the image to open in full size.]()
I drove around with fogs on for a couple of hours today and no condensation, melting, bubbling noted. Hopefully, this is a long-term fix and if this fails, my next option would be getting
http://acurazine.com/forums/fourth-g...type-s-915221/
or using glass, instead of plastic, to replace the lens.
One thing to note is that OEM glass lense is slightly curved, whereas this DIY will be flat. However, unless you are looking right at it up close, you can't see any difference.
From what I've heard, HID should run at lower temperature than OEM halogens, so I will report back later if I see any changes with bubbling/melting Lexan.
Cost of silicone $3 and Lexan $7 for the sheet.
There are dozens of various owner forums for replacing glass OEM lens with Lexan, etc. so feel free to Google away, including our own Acurazine.
Please refer to:
http://acurazine.com/forums/fourth-g...gen-tl-863117/
for accessing fog light housing.
Only two Phillips screws are holding the fog light housing in place, but space is tight so use short, stubby screwdriver to loosen the screws.
Use gloves and a screwdriver (or any tool of your choice) to clean off most of the leftover glass and adhesive holding the glass in place. You might want to use heat gun or hair dryer to make the adhesive more pliable.
I cleaned the water stain with microfiber rag and it's all good.
I had some plexiglass left over from other projects and decided to give that a try. All my power tools are tied up in the garage due to basement reno so I only had access to hand tools. I ended up using tin snip to cut the plastic to size.
Once proper size has been chopped away, fill the edge with generous amount of silicone. I used indoor/outdoor type I had on hand.
Put the replacement lens and fill the side with more silicone to secure and let dry. If I had OCD, I would have trimmed the lens better, but good enough for me. Once the housing goes back into the car, you won't see irregular shapes anyway.
I let it cure about 12 hours before re-installing in the car. However, I didn't drive it in wet condition for at least 24 hours to allow the silicone to cure fully.
I put Lamin-X film to prevent hazing, pitting, and give it a layer of UV protection. Ignore less than 100% clarity as those will eventually clear up from the heat from the lamp.
After using this plexi-glass for a couple of days, I noticed the lens started to deform from the heat so I ended up using Lexan from Home Depot and repeated the project.
The Lexan I had on hand was for previous 2nd gen TL that had cracked fog lens, but didn't get to replacing it before the car got written off.
You might be able to get different variations of Lexan (ie. with UV coating on one side), but this type was only one carried at my local HD. I used tin snip to cut away Lexan and it was no problem.
The final result.
I drove around with fogs on for a couple of hours today and no condensation, melting, bubbling noted. Hopefully, this is a long-term fix and if this fails, my next option would be getting
http://acurazine.com/forums/fourth-g...type-s-915221/
or using glass, instead of plastic, to replace the lens.
One thing to note is that OEM glass lense is slightly curved, whereas this DIY will be flat. However, unless you are looking right at it up close, you can't see any difference.
From what I've heard, HID should run at lower temperature than OEM halogens, so I will report back later if I see any changes with bubbling/melting Lexan.
Cost of silicone $3 and Lexan $7 for the sheet.