a Little accident

[nhsjpeterson]

Give me a break here -- I'm not much of a car person and am an even worse mechanic. I don't even know the correct part terminology to do a good search. Anyway...

I managed to scrape my passenger side headlight 'cover'. I've been looking for the part on-line, and I can find an 'exploded' diagram showing apparently every light part there is, except the 'cover'.

What's the name of the part, and would it be easily installable by a regular mechanic or should it be done at a Kia shop. And, can I buy it on-line significantly cheaper than what my local dealer would charge for it?

 

[nhcowboy28]

It’s sold as a very expensive entire assembly.

Get a headlight restoration kit and try buffing it out.

 

[Callum]

If it’s not salvageable, might be able to find one on eBay, and swap the lens over.

These headlights are butyl glue. Very easy to take part.

Wait, is that the new GTS or a yellow Stinger? My phone is playing tricks on me.

 

[SteveCo]

Looks superficial - good chance you can polish that out. Much, much, much cheaper option than buying the headlight assembly.

 

[westcoastGT]

you can definitely buff that out with lens polish ........................keep us posted , and you owe us a beer for saving you a bag of cash !

 

[MerlintheMad]

Tiny nick in the paint above the scuffed lens. Surely, your car is Yellow and the pic pigment is wonky (this is where putting details of your trim in your signature is useful).

 

[nhsjpeterson]

Thanks for the info and (hopefully) good news. I was wondering if that could be buffed out.

it is an orange wrap, not yellow. It actually seems to be quite close to Federation Orange, but I've only seen photos of the GTS.

Yes, there were 2 tiny nicks above the light and one down in the fog light area, but not too bad. I've got rock chips that are bigger than those, so I'm not too worried about it.

 

[TwiceStung]

Thanks for the info and (hopefully) good news. I was wondering if that could be buffed out.

it is an orange wrap, not yellow. It actually seems to be quite close to Federation Orange, but I've only seen photos of the GTS.

Yes, there were 2 tiny nicks above the light and one down in the fog light area, but not too bad. I've got rock chips that are bigger than those, so I'm not too worried about it.

Nice wrap color. May I ask where you got the wrap and what the color code is?

 

[nhsjpeterson]

It's Avery Supreme Gloss Orange. I'm not positive on the color code as the roll is at my other residence, but looking on-line, I would guess it must be SW900-373-O.

The photo was taken in my garage, so the color looks a little off. Better photos are in My Garage:
Album: Getting Wrapped

 

[TwiceStung]

It's Avery Supreme Gloss Orange. I'm not positive on the color code as the roll is at my other residence, but looking on-line, I would guess it must be SW900-373-O.

The photo was taken in my garage, so the color looks a little off. Better photos are in My Garage:
Album: Getting Wrapped

Cool. Thanks. I “practiced” on my 2003 Tundra and it came it pretty good, but I’m too much of a perfectionist I think to attempt the Stinger. It did save me about $3000 on the Tundra though by doing it myself.

 

[nhsjpeterson]

I had it in to the dealer for an oil change. They looked at the headlight and said the scratches were too deep to get them completely out. $1667 to replace a piece of plastic because you can only replace the entire housing. I'm taking it to my insurance company tomorrow. If they'll pay for replacing the wrap section that got chipped, I'll consider it. If not, I think I'll polish it up as much as I can and live with it.

 

[Legendsk]

I wonder if the Safelite windshield chip vacuum epoxy fix would work on it? Get it filled and level with clear epoxy, then buff and polish it smooth? If done well is pretty invisible. . .

 

[nhsjpeterson]

My local dealer gave me a price of $1,667 for the light. But Hilltop Kia has it for about $1,150. Is it common to buy parts from one dealer, then bring them to a local dealer to install? I don't imagine the local dealers like it, but how upset would they get? Yes, it would be covered by insurance, but there's no point in running up their costs unnecessarily.

 

[POS VETT]

That can be wet-sanded, polished, buffed, and then covered using paint protection film which provides UV-resistant coating and a bonus of resistance to debris. My buddy charges $150 for reconditioning a pair of headlights including the paint protection film.

 

[Doel]

I had it in to the dealer for an oil change. They looked at the headlight and said the scratches were too deep to get them completely out. $1667 to replace a piece of plastic because you can only replace the entire housing. I'm taking it to my insurance company tomorrow. If they'll pay for replacing the wrap section that got chipped, I'll consider it. If not, I think I'll polish it up as much as I can and live with it.

get quotes from body shops, they can probably fix 80% or more of it at least.