Frosted headlights.

[Santa]

I have a Fortuner. The headlights have become really frosted over. Do I buy a new set of headlights or get the frosting polished out? Are there any businesses that specializes in polishing out the headlights? Cost of either procedure would be appreciated. Thanks.  

[Convert54]

Some of the "Car Care" enterprises do offer such a resurfacing service. The results  can vary and not last  too long without the re-application of a UV  filter coating. Price on request

New units available on Lazada start around 2200 Bht. Worth trying independent automotive suppliers .

New units are  better not only because of the external surface but because the internal reflective surface is also often tarnished to some degree on old ones.

Edited February 9, 2022 by Convert54
spelling typo

[Noble_Design]

Are yours the older generation Fortuner with the reflective headlamps or the newer one with the projector headlamps?

I'd say forget about polishing, not worth it.

You can go the following routes:

1) Buy the headlamp cover and find a shop that specializes in headlamps to replace them. It's not a difficult process, it's only difficult because you don't have the oven to heat up the lamp and loosen the glue between the cover and housing. The shop can do it and apply new sealant so that it will remain water proof:

 

2) Totally replace the headlamps, the older generation with the reflector lenses are quite cheap and you can probably do the replacement by yourself. Since you will be replacing the entire headlamp unit you may also want to replace the light bulbs (main, hi-beam, indicators etc) so have budget for those as well.

3) If yours is the projector ones, replacement headlamps are gonna cost a lot more and if you plan to replace the Xenon bulbs you will need to factor in 2,000 baht just for that. So 5,000 for the headlamps and 2,000 for the bulbs and we haven't yet talk about labor costs:

 

4) If you have first class insurance for your vehicle then you can just take a baseball bat and smash the headlamps and after that claim new replacement from insurance stating they were damaged from hitting stones