Headlight replacement?

Blackout

Blackout

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I love the look on my Mark VIII but there is one thing that is sets the car off and that is the headlights. The housing is I guess oxidized or something because they aren't clean looking. So my question is how much are new headlight housings for a gen 1 Mark VIII?
 
Blackout said:
I love the look on my Mark VIII but there is one thing that is sets the car off and that is the headlights. The housing is I guess oxidized or something because they aren't clean looking. So my question is how much are new headlight housings for a gen 1 Mark VIII?
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I forget the price, but I think they are in the $200 ballpark (each), but you can call Max at 5 Star Ford and find out 1-800-866-1520 ext. 236. But, you will end up with the same problem sooner or later, and it is not so much the yellowing lense, it is the reflector inside the housing that screws up the light.

What I would recommend, is saving up some $$ and get the HID from Max for $520 each side. You will NEVER have the light problem again....well, unless a bulb blows out.....LOL.

Hope that helps. :Beer
 
1wykdmk8 said:
I forget the price, but I think they are in the $200 ballpark (each), but you can call Max at 5 Star Ford and find out 1-800-866-1520 ext. 236. But, you will end up with the same problem sooner or later, and it is not so much the yellowing lense, it is the reflector inside the housing that screws up the light.

What I would recommend, is saving up some $$ and get the HID from Max for $520 each side. You will NEVER have the light problem again....well, unless a bulb blows out.....LOL.

Hope that helps. :Beer
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Its not really the inside. Its the lens on the outside. Its just discolored and doesn't match the turn signal housings to the outside of the headlights. But I heard the HID one's are like $1000 or something like that because they are rare
 
If it is just the outside of the lenses that is clouded, then get yourself some 1500grit wet-sandpaper, and spend about 20 mins per light. Then use a power buffer (to save time) and apply plastic polish, one that removes scratches and scrapes etc. This should solve the cloudy and discolored area of the light, but you will have to do this about every 6 months or it will come back. If in fact it is the outside and not the inside that is cloudy and discolored. But like 1wykdmk8 said, about (what i would guess to be) 80% of the gen 1 owners have burnt reflectors. So the wetsanding will help a little, but the real problem will not be solved by doing this. Hope i gave some insight. I finally got fed up w\ my headlights, and got myself some HID's, i can't wait to see the difference.

Chris
95 Mark
http://members.cardomain.com/k9t8m
 
on my left headlight I always seem to have condensation in it so at some point I will just replace the damn things to get it to look good.
 
Blackout said:
on my left headlight I always seem to have condensation in it so at some point I will just replace the damn things to get it to look good.
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Just my opinion, but looks should be your second concern; Driving safely at night should be #1.
 
Well in his case looks coinside with safety. Because I have Sylvania Silverstars for my low and high beams. I wanted to get the HID's but when I looked into pricing for them I would much rather spend that money on performance mods then to have bright lights
 
Blackout said:
Well in his case looks coinside with safety. Because I have Sylvania Silverstars for my low and high beams. I wanted to get the HID's but when I looked into pricing for them I would much rather spend that money on performance mods then to have bright lights
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You are throwing good money away for bad if you buy new non-HID housings. You will end up with the same problem a VERY short period down the road. I polished up my housings on my green car a few times, and then got tired of it and got the HID's. I had driving lights behind the grille to offset the lack of lighting that the base housings had. Just my $.02. :Beer

lightb4after.jpg


MKb4.jpg


MKafter.jpg
 
1wykdmk8 said:
You are throwing good money away for bad if you buy new non-HID housings. You will end up with the same problem a VERY short period down the road. I polished up my housings on my green car a few times, and then got tired of it and got the HID's. I had driving lights behind the grille to offset the lack of lighting that the base housings had. Just my $.02. :Beer
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With the whole HID thing are you talking about the HID housings or getting the HID setup instead of halogen bulbs?
 
Blackout said:
With the whole HID thing are you talking about the HID housings or getting the HID setup instead of halogen bulbs?
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Don't bother getting any of the Hid Equipment without buying all of it, which includes, Housings, Bulbs, Ballasts, Etc.


Improved light quality, and looks good 2.

headlights.jpg
 
Blackout said:
With the whole HID thing are you talking about the HID housings or getting the HID setup instead of halogen bulbs?
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The WHOLE set up....housings, bulbs, wiring, and ballasts for the price that Max quoted (~$520). It is WELL worth it...IMHO that is.

If you either buy new ones, or even polish them up, they will end up looking cloudy very soon afterwards and you are back at square one. Another thing is that the reflector inside just about everyone of them are burnt not allowing the appropriate amount of light out the lense anyways.

Not only did I polish the lense, but I removed the reflector, and the light still sucked. It was better, but not by much. I even put in the brightest bulbs I could find, and there still was not enuf light. Most of the time I could not tell if the headlights were even on when driving at night. I added the driving lights behind the grille and I could actually see, but that got to be a bit of a PITA because once a bulb burnt out I had to rip a whole bunch of things apart to get at them to replace the bulbs.

I still have the driving lights in the car I have now, but I do not have HID's.....YET. Once I get the $$$$ I WILL be adding them. Not only because they look better, are easier to take care of/do not discolor, but the allow WAY more light/safer for night driving. :Beer
 
1wykdmk8 said:
The WHOLE set up....housings, bulbs, wiring, and ballasts for the price that Max quoted (~$520). It is WELL worth it...IMHO that is.
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So is this Max the one from Five Star Ford? And is the price he quoted you the price if your a Gold Member or just a regual member?
 
Re: HID's

I too have done the HID conversion, and I must tell you, it is well worth the investment. If you plan on keeping your Mark for years to come. Here's my Mark.
hid1.jpg

hid7.jpg


GMAN
 
Blackout said:
So is this Max the one from Five Star Ford? And is the price he quoted you the price if your a Gold Member or just a regual member?
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Yes, this is the 5 Star Ford Max. The price I quoted is for LvC members according to this post from Max. It does not say anything about being a gold member, but just that you are a member of LvC. Give him a call and find out 1-800-866-1520 ext. 236 and he should be able to answer that question better than I can. :Beer
 
1wykdmk8 said:
Yes, this is the 5 Star Ford Max. The price I quoted is for LvC members according to this post from Max. It does not say anything about being a gold member, but just that you are a member of LvC. Give him a call and find out 1-800-866-1520 ext. 236 and he should be able to answer that question better than I can. :Beer
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Well $520 sounds a lot more reasonable and hell if that price is for Gold Members then the extra $30 to become one will be well worth it
 
Blackout said:
Well $520 sounds a lot more reasonable and hell if that price is for Gold Members then the extra $30 to become one will be well worth it
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Keep in mind, that is $520 each side, not $520 for both sides. :Beer
 
i have the same problems with my lights..i used a plastic cleaner and it did well but still has stuff in the inside of lens even after i put in stronger bulbs its helped alot but i suggest getting hid lights

http://www.hidexpress.com/

that website says 250 bucks for both i have no idea if its good or not
 
chump2825 said:
i have the same problems with my lights..i used a plastic cleaner and it did well but still has stuff in the inside of lens even after i put in stronger bulbs its helped alot but i suggest getting hid lights

http://www.hidexpress.com/

that website says 250 bucks for both i have no idea if its good or not
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Not worth the money. You will be spending that money for bad. The reason behind this is it is not totally the light that is giving you the problem. One reason is the reflector inside the factory NON-HID housings usually get burnt, not allowing much light to be reflected back into the housing and then you have the foggy lense itself not allowing much light to pass.

What you need is the 'kit' that you can get from Max @ 5 Star Ford like I suggested above to have ANY light output.....unless you add driving lights behind the grille. But, the HID kit you are referring to will be a complete waste of your money unless you change the housings that you have now. :Beer
 
what exactly causes the fading of the housings anyways?
 
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