Don’t Wait for Collision Repair: Upgrade Your Headlights Today

Even for night owls and those who love the snow, one of the most frustrating things about winter is undoubtedly the shortened days. The long nights of winter can make driving between campsites more dangerous due to decreased visibility and increased likelihood of encountering drunk, fatigued, or otherwise impaired drivers. One good way to prevent yourself from being involved in a nighttime accident and eliminate the need for costly collision repair is to be proactive and make sure your RV has the best possible headlights.

The Cause of Hazy Headlights

Walk outside to your RV and take a look at the vehicle’s headlights. Do the lenses look hazy or yellowed? Hazy, yellowed, and foggy headlights are unfortunately very common and can be caused by a number of things including:

• Oxidation. During the manufacturing process, headlights are covered with a hard topcoat to protect them from marring. However, this topcoat will deteriorate over time and ultimately expose the underlying acrylic lenses to UV rays which causes the material to oxidize and become yellowed.
• Road chemical film. During winter, many communities will use salt and specialized road chemicals to melt the ice on pavement. While this makes it safer to drive, this same mixture of chemicals commonly gets splattered on headlight lenses and creates a film that impairs headlights and makes them hazy.
• Water vapor. Commonly, the headlight seal around the lamp will break and allow in moisture. This makes it so water vapor forms on the inside of the lens where it can’t be wiped away and ultimately causes the lamps to fog up and decrease nighttime visibility.

Get Your Headlights Cleaned and Upgrade Your Lamps

If you notice water vapor inside your headlights or a chemical film that you can’t clean up, then now is the time to take your RV in for some maintenance before that impaired visibility causes you to need collision repair. Our mechanics at Premier Coach Works have all the tools to get those lenses looking like new again–or even better than new!

Additionally, RV owners should consider swapping out their current lamp bulbs for either HID or high lumen LEDs. The average headlight on RVs and consumer cars is a halogen or other sealed-beam lamp that offers about 2000 lumens. An HID (high-intensity discharge) offers about 3000 lumens with a whiter light that greatly improves nighttime visibility. LEDs, which used to have the major con of not offering as much lumens as halogen competitors, can now be found with upwards of 3600 lumen ratings. That’s an especially bright bulb that simultaneously boasts a significantly longer lifespan (LED headlights can last upwards of 30,000 hours while standard halogen headlights get a lifespan of between 1,000 and 6,000 hours).

Visit Premier Coach Works for Your RV Upgrade & Collision Repair

Whether you need collision repair or preemptive repair, our team is here for you! Contact us to learn more.