3 weeks ago I polished my headlight lenses.

They came out great.

I had replaced a bulb and noticed again how cloudy they were, 2005 car.

It took about 2 hours but would have taken less if my back didn't hurt
and I had to sit down over and over, and if then I didn't start
listening to the radio on the day that the presidential election was
called. So maybe an hour.

Instructions said to wash the lenses.

Also to mask the painted part around the lenses. I had 3 rolls of
masking tape, the youngest 25 years old. I checked in advance and the
first roll worked fine, stuck fine, came off fine, but on the day I did
this, I couldn't tear off an 10" piece without it ripping at 4 inches.
I didn't test for that. But the 3rd roll worked.

Use Surface Activator, from the second kit, near the bottom.

Then for this kit, 3M Headlight Lens Restoration System, 39008
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
it said: One kit may not be enough. Ugh, now they tell me.

I chose this kit because it didnt' expect me to do the sanding by hand.

For the first sanding, it came with 6 ~3" disks that stuck easily on the
arbor they included. I thought putting disks on and off was hard,
involved a screw. Has something changed in the last 35 years?????

I figured that meant 3 disks per headlight but after the left side, the
disk seemed fine so I did the right side. It didnt' seem bad after the
right side ei4ther. Finished the first step and had 5 disks left. Maybe
I'm not doing it right.

For the second sanding, it came with 2 ~3" disks. But it took only one,
so maybe I'm not doing it right. But even before the third step, the
plastic looked clear

The third step was a liquid rubbing compound that went on a foam rubber
thing that also went on the drill.

Then go on to the fourth step.**

Read all the instructions for any product you buy because some I've left
out, like not keeping the drill in the same place so long you melt the
lens. Especially if you're going to try to use two kits together.
The sanding instructions keep saying that if you do more in this step,
you won't have to do so much in the next, but I went over each area 2 or
3 times with a spinning drill and that was all. Maybe mine were not
that bad, even though they looked it.

**This one comes either with sand paper etc also; and also comes with
only this liquid that's supposed to protect for UV. The first kit and
some other had nothing that claimed to do that. This product actually
has a first step Surface Activator, that I did before using the other
product above, and then the instructions recognize that you may buy
another product for the sanding, and ends with a third step to apply the
anti-uv. It ssays iirc to apply more every 3 months but there is no way
I'm going to do that.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Plenty of rubbing compound left over and plenty of anti-UV liquid also.


Finally took it out for a drive 4AM yesterday. I didn't see much
difference, couldn't say for sure there was any, but i"m sure the light
had been diffused before meaning less where it's supposed to be and some
in eyes of the oncoming driver. I'm sure it was worth it for the light
and it looks great.

$13.14 for the first thing and the second thing has become unavailable,
at least on Amazon, but I paid $9.99

You can still get https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00429NKWK/ref=dp_prsubs_1
for $20. It's the same as the one that's unavailable but the extra $10
pays for polish clothes, vinyl gloves (whoopdedo), and 3 kinds of
sandpaper but not stuff that will fit on a drill.

To get the $10 kit somewhere else, the Sylvania website only suggest
Amazon!

Advance has it but only for buying at the store. No shipping for some
reaon.
https://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/...oat/10719345-P

But I'm sure this isn't the only anti-UV stuff and I have no reason to
think this one is better than the others. Maybe none of them work.
Maybe they only made the instruction complicated to make me think it
works? (I didn't look at reviews because one would need years to judge
this stuff.)

Ebay has it too, but for 19 or 19.48 and for 50 cents or a dollar more
you can get the bigger kit.
https://www.ebay.com/i/373298430551?...RoCuNkQAvD_BwE

On Friday, November 27, 2020 at 9:54:06 AM UTC-5, micky wrote:
3 weeks ago I polished my headlight lenses.

They came out great.

I had replaced a bulb and noticed again how cloudy they were, 2005 car.



I've used the 3M kit a couple of time, it worked great, went from cloudy to very clear.

On Fri, 27 Nov 2020 07:23:34 -0800, trader_4 wrote:

On Friday, November 27, 2020 at 9:54:06 AM UTC-5, micky wrote:
3 weeks ago I polished my headlight lenses.

They came out great.

I had replaced a bulb and noticed again how cloudy they were, 2005 car.



I've used the 3M kit a couple of time, it worked great, went from cloudy
to very clear.

Thank you for the information on this. I've been meaning to do this on two
of my cars for a while. Replacement OEM are likely worth more than the
entire car at this point, and they are getting really cloudy.

In alt.home.repair, on Fri, 27 Nov 2020 09:53:59 -0500, micky
wrote:


Advance has it but only for buying at the store. No shipping for some
reaon.
https://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/...oat/10719345-P

It seems there are advance autoparts in 47 states and the Virgin
Islands.

Over 4000 branches. but not alaska, hawaii, or california.

micky wrote:
3 weeks ago I polished my headlight lenses.

They came out great.

I had replaced a bulb and noticed again how cloudy they were, 2005 car.

It took about 2 hours but would have taken less if my back didn't hurt
and I had to sit down over and over, and if then I didn't start
listening to the radio on the day that the presidential election was
called. So maybe an hour.

Instructions said to wash the lenses.

Also to mask the painted part around the lenses. I had 3 rolls of
masking tape, the youngest 25 years old. I checked in advance and the
first roll worked fine, stuck fine, came off fine, but on the day I did
this, I couldn't tear off an 10" piece without it ripping at 4 inches.
I didn't test for that. But the 3rd roll worked.

For "dead" masking tape here is a trick, put it in a microwave for 10-20
seconds depending on roll size. It will make it like new again.


Use Surface Activator, from the second kit, near the bottom.

Then for this kit, 3M Headlight Lens Restoration System, 39008
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
it said: One kit may not be enough. Ugh, now they tell me.

I chose this kit because it didnt' expect me to do the sanding by hand.

For the first sanding, it came with 6 ~3" disks that stuck easily on the
arbor they included. I thought putting disks on and off was hard,
involved a screw. Has something changed in the last 35 years?????

I figured that meant 3 disks per headlight but after the left side, the
disk seemed fine so I did the right side. It didnt' seem bad after the
right side ei4ther. Finished the first step and had 5 disks left. Maybe
I'm not doing it right.

For the second sanding, it came with 2 ~3" disks. But it took only one,
so maybe I'm not doing it right. But even before the third step, the
plastic looked clear

The third step was a liquid rubbing compound that went on a foam rubber
thing that also went on the drill.

Then go on to the fourth step.**

Read all the instructions for any product you buy because some I've left
out, like not keeping the drill in the same place so long you melt the
lens. Especially if you're going to try to use two kits together.
The sanding instructions keep saying that if you do more in this step,
you won't have to do so much in the next, but I went over each area 2 or
3 times with a spinning drill and that was all. Maybe mine were not
that bad, even though they looked it.

**This one comes either with sand paper etc also; and also comes with
only this liquid that's supposed to protect for UV. The first kit and
some other had nothing that claimed to do that. This product actually
has a first step Surface Activator, that I did before using the other
product above, and then the instructions recognize that you may buy
another product for the sanding, and ends with a third step to apply the
anti-uv. It ssays iirc to apply more every 3 months but there is no way
I'm going to do that.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Plenty of rubbing compound left over and plenty of anti-UV liquid also.


Finally took it out for a drive 4AM yesterday. I didn't see much
difference, couldn't say for sure there was any, but i"m sure the light
had been diffused before meaning less where it's supposed to be and some
in eyes of the oncoming driver. I'm sure it was worth it for the light
and it looks great.

$13.14 for the first thing and the second thing has become unavailable,
at least on Amazon, but I paid $9.99

You can still get https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00429NKWK/ref=dp_prsubs_1
for $20. It's the same as the one that's unavailable but the extra $10
pays for polish clothes, vinyl gloves (whoopdedo), and 3 kinds of
sandpaper but not stuff that will fit on a drill.

To get the $10 kit somewhere else, the Sylvania website only suggest
Amazon!

Advance has it but only for buying at the store. No shipping for some
reaon.
https://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/...oat/10719345-P

But I'm sure this isn't the only anti-UV stuff and I have no reason to
think this one is better than the others. Maybe none of them work.
Maybe they only made the instruction complicated to make me think it
works? (I didn't look at reviews because one would need years to judge
this stuff.)

I have used the 3M kit but as you noted most of the kit's come with
nothing for UV. To really make them last the best solution is to sand
the old crud off in steps, then polish the light up, clean it very well
and spray it with an automotive clear top coat to seal it and keep the
UV from damaging it any more. You can buy that in spray cans now with an
activator in the bottom. You pop the bottom button and shake the crap
out of it, then let it set for however long they say, that lets the two
parts start to blend well and then you apply it in thin coats.

--
Steve W.

Steve W. wrote:
micky wrote:
3 weeks ago I polished my headlight lenses.
They came out great.
I had replaced a bulb and noticed again how cloudy they were,
2005 car.
It took about 2 hours but would have taken less if my back didn't
hurt
and I had to sit down over and over, and if then I didn't start
listening to the radio on the day that the presidential election was
called.* So maybe an hour.
Instructions said to wash the lenses.
Also to mask the painted part around the lenses.** I had 3 rolls of
masking tape, the youngest 25 years old.* I checked in advance
and the
first roll worked fine, stuck fine, came off fine, but on the day
I did
this, I couldn't tear off an 10" piece without it ripping at 4
inches.
I didn't test for that.* But the 3rd roll worked.

For "dead" masking tape here is a trick, put it in a microwave for
10-20 seconds depending on roll size. It will make it like new again.


Use Surface Activator, from the second kit, near the bottom.
Then for this kit, 3M Headlight Lens Restoration System, 39008
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

it said: One kit may not be enough.* Ugh, now they tell me.
I chose this kit because it didnt' expect me to do the sanding by
hand.
For the first sanding, it came with 6 ~3" disks that stuck easily
on the
arbor they included. I thought putting disks on and off was hard,
involved a screw.* Has something changed in the last 35 years?????

I figured that meant 3 disks per headlight but after the left
side, the
disk seemed fine so I did the right side.* It didnt' seem bad
after the
right side ei4ther. Finished the first step and had 5 disks
left.* Maybe
I'm not doing it right.
For the second sanding, it came with 2 ~3" disks.* But it took
only one,
so maybe I'm not doing it right.* But even before the third step,
the
plastic looked clear

The third step was a liquid rubbing compound that went on a foam
rubber
thing that also went on the drill.
Then go on to the fourth step.**

Read all the instructions for any product you buy because some
I've left
out, like not keeping the drill in the same place so long you
melt the
lens.** Especially if you're going to try to use two kits together.
The sanding instructions keep saying that if you do more in this
step,
you won't have to do so much in the next, but I went over each
area 2 or
3 times with a spinning drill and that was all.* Maybe mine were not
that bad, even though they looked it.
**This one comes either with sand paper etc also; and also comes
with
only this liquid that's supposed to protect for UV.* The first
kit and
some other had nothing that claimed to do that.** This product
actually
has a first step Surface Activator, that I did before using the
other
product above, and then the instructions recognize that you may buy
another product for the sanding, and ends with a third step to
apply the
anti-uv. It ssays iirc to apply more every 3 months but there is
no way
I'm going to do that.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1


Plenty of rubbing compound left over and plenty of anti-UV liquid
also.


Finally took it out for a drive 4AM yesterday.** I didn't see much
difference, couldn't say for sure there was any, but i"m sure the
light
had been diffused before meaning less where it's supposed to be
and some
in eyes of the oncoming driver. I'm sure it was worth it for the
light
and it looks great.
$13.14 for the first thing and the second thing has become
unavailable,
at least on Amazon, but I paid $9.99
You can still get
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00429NKWK/ref=dp_prsubs_1
for $20.* It's the same as the one that's unavailable but the
extra $10
pays for polish clothes, vinyl gloves (whoopdedo), and 3 kinds of
sandpaper but not stuff that will fit on a drill.
To get the $10 kit somewhere else, the Sylvania website only suggest
Amazon!

Advance has it but only for buying at the store.* No shipping for
some
reaon.
https://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/...oat/10719345-P


But I'm sure this isn't the only anti-UV stuff and I have no
reason to
think this one is better than the others.** Maybe none of them
work. Maybe they only made the instruction complicated to make me
think it
works?* (I didn't look at reviews because one would need years to
judge
this stuff.)

I have used the 3M kit but as you noted most of the kit's come with
nothing for UV. To really make them last the best solution is to
sand the old crud off in steps, then polish the light up, clean it
very well and spray it with an automotive clear top coat to seal it
and keep the UV from damaging it any more. You can buy that in
spray cans now with an activator in the bottom. You pop the bottom
button and shake the crap out of it, then let it set for however
long they say, that lets the two parts start to blend well and then
you apply it in thin coats.


Remember when we had sealed beam headlights? Plain, cheap Glass.

You could buy replacements at any store, even Kmart or later walmart.

Now, we **** around with cheap plastic covered expensive stuff.

On 11/27/2020 04:05 PM, Hank Rogers wrote:

Remember when we had sealed beam headlights? Plain, cheap Glass.

You could buy replacements at any store, even Kmart or later walmart.

Now, we **** around with cheap plastic covered expensive stuff.

And bumpers were made of chromed steel and were made to BUMP! Now they
have a protective plastic sheath that needs to be replaced. It's made
of black plastic, so if your car is white the scuff shows REALLY well.

They're not designed for US any more...

--
Cheers, Bev
"The last thing you want is for somebody to commit suicide
before executing them."
-Gary Deland, former Utah director for corrections

In alt.home.repair, on Fri, 27 Nov 2020 18:05:44 -0600, Hank Rogers
wrote:

Steve W. wrote:
micky wrote:
3 weeks ago I polished my headlight lenses.
They came out great.
I had replaced a bulb and noticed again how cloudy they were,
2005 car.
It took about 2 hours but would have taken less if my back didn't
hurt
and I had to sit down over and over, and if then I didn't start
listening to the radio on the day that the presidential election was
called.* So maybe an hour.
Instructions said to wash the lenses.
Also to mask the painted part around the lenses.** I had 3 rolls of
masking tape, the youngest 25 years old.* I checked in advance
and the
first roll worked fine, stuck fine, came off fine, but on the day
I did
this, I couldn't tear off an 10" piece without it ripping at 4
inches.
I didn't test for that.* But the 3rd roll worked.

For "dead" masking tape here is a trick, put it in a microwave for
10-20 seconds depending on roll size. It will make it like new again.

Good to know. BTW, I didn't buy more than one of those rolls. Maybe
note even 1.



I have used the 3M kit but as you noted most of the kit's come with
nothing for UV. To really make them last the best solution is to
sand the old crud off in steps, then polish the light up, clean it
very well and spray it with an automotive clear top coat to seal it
and keep the UV from damaging it any more. You can buy that in
spray cans now with an activator in the bottom. You pop the bottom
button and shake the crap out of it, then let it set for however
long they say, that lets the two parts start to blend well and then
you apply it in thin coats.


Remember when we had sealed beam headlights? Plain, cheap Glass.

And they never burned out. Though I decided to get fancy and I
replaced them once with halogen, and those did burn out.

You could buy replacements at any store, even Kmart or later walmart.

Now, we **** around with cheap plastic covered expensive stuff.

On Sat, 28 Nov 2020 01:13:08 -0500, micky wrote:

In alt.home.repair, on Fri, 27 Nov 2020 18:05:44 -0600, Hank Rogers

Remember when we had sealed beam headlights? Plain, cheap Glass.

And they never burned out. Though I decided to get fancy and I
replaced them once with halogen, and those did burn out.


Your memory of sealed beams is different than mine. Besides replacing a few on my own
cars, I saw many "one-eyed" cars on the road. That's a rare sight nowadays.

On Friday, November 27, 2020 at 7:05:55 PM UTC-5, Hank Rogers wrote:
Steve W. wrote:
micky wrote:
3 weeks ago I polished my headlight lenses.
They came out great.
I had replaced a bulb and noticed again how cloudy they were,
2005 car.
It took about 2 hours but would have taken less if my back didn't
hurt
and I had to sit down over and over, and if then I didn't start
listening to the radio on the day that the presidential election was
called. So maybe an hour.
Instructions said to wash the lenses.
Also to mask the painted part around the lenses. I had 3 rolls of
masking tape, the youngest 25 years old. I checked in advance
and the
first roll worked fine, stuck fine, came off fine, but on the day
I did
this, I couldn't tear off an 10" piece without it ripping at 4
inches.
I didn't test for that. But the 3rd roll worked.

For "dead" masking tape here is a trick, put it in a microwave for
10-20 seconds depending on roll size. It will make it like new again.


Use Surface Activator, from the second kit, near the bottom.
Then for this kit, 3M Headlight Lens Restoration System, 39008
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

it said: One kit may not be enough. Ugh, now they tell me.
I chose this kit because it didnt' expect me to do the sanding by
hand.
For the first sanding, it came with 6 ~3" disks that stuck easily
on the
arbor they included. I thought putting disks on and off was hard,
involved a screw. Has something changed in the last 35 years?????

I figured that meant 3 disks per headlight but after the left
side, the
disk seemed fine so I did the right side. It didnt' seem bad
after the
right side ei4ther. Finished the first step and had 5 disks
left. Maybe
I'm not doing it right.
For the second sanding, it came with 2 ~3" disks. But it took
only one,
so maybe I'm not doing it right. But even before the third step,
the
plastic looked clear

The third step was a liquid rubbing compound that went on a foam
rubber
thing that also went on the drill.
Then go on to the fourth step.**

Read all the instructions for any product you buy because some
I've left
out, like not keeping the drill in the same place so long you
melt the
lens. Especially if you're going to try to use two kits together.
The sanding instructions keep saying that if you do more in this
step,
you won't have to do so much in the next, but I went over each
area 2 or
3 times with a spinning drill and that was all. Maybe mine were not
that bad, even though they looked it.
**This one comes either with sand paper etc also; and also comes
with
only this liquid that's supposed to protect for UV. The first
kit and
some other had nothing that claimed to do that. This product
actually
has a first step Surface Activator, that I did before using the
other
product above, and then the instructions recognize that you may buy
another product for the sanding, and ends with a third step to
apply the
anti-uv. It ssays iirc to apply more every 3 months but there is
no way
I'm going to do that.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1


Plenty of rubbing compound left over and plenty of anti-UV liquid
also.


Finally took it out for a drive 4AM yesterday. I didn't see much
difference, couldn't say for sure there was any, but i"m sure the
light
had been diffused before meaning less where it's supposed to be
and some
in eyes of the oncoming driver. I'm sure it was worth it for the
light
and it looks great.
$13.14 for the first thing and the second thing has become
unavailable,
at least on Amazon, but I paid $9.99
You can still get
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00429NKWK/ref=dp_prsubs_1
for $20. It's the same as the one that's unavailable but the
extra $10
pays for polish clothes, vinyl gloves (whoopdedo), and 3 kinds of
sandpaper but not stuff that will fit on a drill.
To get the $10 kit somewhere else, the Sylvania website only suggest
Amazon!

Advance has it but only for buying at the store. No shipping for
some
reaon.
https://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/...oat/10719345-P


But I'm sure this isn't the only anti-UV stuff and I have no
reason to
think this one is better than the others. Maybe none of them
work. Maybe they only made the instruction complicated to make me
think it
works? (I didn't look at reviews because one would need years to
judge
this stuff.)

I have used the 3M kit but as you noted most of the kit's come with
nothing for UV. To really make them last the best solution is to
sand the old crud off in steps, then polish the light up, clean it
very well and spray it with an automotive clear top coat to seal it
and keep the UV from damaging it any more. You can buy that in
spray cans now with an activator in the bottom. You pop the bottom
button and shake the crap out of it, then let it set for however
long they say, that lets the two parts start to blend well and then
you apply it in thin coats.

Remember when we had sealed beam headlights? Plain, cheap Glass.

You could buy replacements at any store, even Kmart or later walmart.

Now, we **** around with cheap plastic covered expensive stuff.


Modern lights do a far better job of focusing nice white light where it needs to
be and blend in with the styling and aerodynamics of the car. I sure wouldn't trade
them for sealed beams. Polishing the lenses after many years and miles to restore
them isn't a big deal.

On Saturday, November 28, 2020 at 7:19:00 AM UTC-5, Vic Smith wrote:
On Sat, 28 Nov 2020 01:13:08 -0500, micky wrote:

In alt.home.repair, on Fri, 27 Nov 2020 18:05:44 -0600, Hank Rogers
Remember when we had sealed beam headlights? Plain, cheap Glass.

And they never burned out. Though I decided to get fancy and I
replaced them once with halogen, and those did burn out.

Your memory of sealed beams is different than mine. Besides replacing a few on my own
cars, I saw many "one-eyed" cars on the road. That's a rare sight nowadays.

In my experience with many vehicles and sealed beams, they rarely burned out.
With the bulb type, my failure rate is high, the BMW every one or two years one fails.
But in all other respects, they are far superior.

In alt.home.repair, on Sat, 28 Nov 2020 06:18:47 -0600, Vic Smith
wrote:

On Sat, 28 Nov 2020 01:13:08 -0500, micky wrote:

In alt.home.repair, on Fri, 27 Nov 2020 18:05:44 -0600, Hank Rogers

Remember when we had sealed beam headlights? Plain, cheap Glass.

And they never burned out. Though I decided to get fancy and I
replaced them once with halogen, and those did burn out.


Your memory of sealed beams is different than mine.

Well maybe I didn't drive as much as I could have.

Besides replacing a few on my own
cars, I saw many "one-eyed" cars on the road. That's a rare sight nowadays.

But I drive less now than I did then, and I was one-eyed twice in the
last two years. Occasionally when I'm facing something reflective, a
store window, certain cars, I test my headlights but I don't know how
long they had been out. There are enough street lights here that
unless I go to the next town at night, I can't tell by how well I can
see.

Also one fog light burned out. Will the police stop you for that? I
guess, if allowed, it would make a good excuse and they like to stop
people.

On Saturday, November 28, 2020 at 9:53:57 AM UTC-5, micky wrote:
In alt.home.repair, on Sat, 28 Nov 2020 06:18:47 -0600, Vic Smith
wrote:

On Sat, 28 Nov 2020 01:13:08 -0500, micky wrote:

In alt.home.repair, on Fri, 27 Nov 2020 18:05:44 -0600, Hank Rogers

Remember when we had sealed beam headlights? Plain, cheap Glass.

And they never burned out. Though I decided to get fancy and I
replaced them once with halogen, and those did burn out.


Your memory of sealed beams is different than mine.
Well maybe I didn't drive as much as I could have.
Besides replacing a few on my own
cars, I saw many "one-eyed" cars on the road. That's a rare sight nowadays.
But I drive less now than I did then, and I was one-eyed twice in the
last two years. Occasionally when I'm facing something reflective, a
store window, certain cars, I test my headlights but I don't know how
long they had been out. There are enough street lights here that
unless I go to the next town at night, I can't tell by how well I can
see.

Also one fog light burned out. Will the police stop you for that? I
guess, if allowed, it would make a good excuse and they like to stop
people.


Police where? AFAIK fog lights are not required in NJ, there might be some state that
does, but I doubt it. From my experience they are close to worthless anyway. Maybe
if you live somewhere that regularly has serious fog, they might be useful.

On 11/28/2020 12:47 PM, trader_4 wrote:
On Saturday, November 28, 2020 at 9:53:57 AM UTC-5, micky wrote:
In alt.home.repair, on Sat, 28 Nov 2020 06:18:47 -0600, Vic Smith
wrote:

On Sat, 28 Nov 2020 01:13:08 -0500, micky wrote:

In alt.home.repair, on Fri, 27 Nov 2020 18:05:44 -0600, Hank Rogers

Remember when we had sealed beam headlights? Plain, cheap Glass.

And they never burned out. Though I decided to get fancy and I
replaced them once with halogen, and those did burn out.


Your memory of sealed beams is different than mine.
Well maybe I didn't drive as much as I could have.
Besides replacing a few on my own
cars, I saw many "one-eyed" cars on the road. That's a rare sight nowadays.
But I drive less now than I did then, and I was one-eyed twice in the
last two years. Occasionally when I'm facing something reflective, a
store window, certain cars, I test my headlights but I don't know how
long they had been out. There are enough street lights here that
unless I go to the next town at night, I can't tell by how well I can
see.

Also one fog light burned out. Will the police stop you for that? I
guess, if allowed, it would make a good excuse and they like to stop
people.


Police where? AFAIK fog lights are not required in NJ, there might be some state that
does, but I doubt it. From my experience they are close to worthless anyway. Maybe
if you live somewhere that regularly has serious fog, they might be useful.



At least in some states, if the car has them they must work in order to
pass inspection. Unless foggy, they would not be on anyway so the
police would not stop you.
Of the 30 or so cars I've owned, only a few had fog lights. Just three
I can think of and I never used them.

In alt.home.repair, on Sat, 28 Nov 2020 09:47:23 -0800 (PST), trader_4
wrote:

On Saturday, November 28, 2020 at 9:53:57 AM UTC-5, micky wrote:
In alt.home.repair, on Sat, 28 Nov 2020 06:18:47 -0600, Vic Smith
wrote:

On Sat, 28 Nov 2020 01:13:08 -0500, micky wrote:

In alt.home.repair, on Fri, 27 Nov 2020 18:05:44 -0600, Hank Rogers

Remember when we had sealed beam headlights? Plain, cheap Glass.

And they never burned out. Though I decided to get fancy and I
replaced them once with halogen, and those did burn out.


Your memory of sealed beams is different than mine.
Well maybe I didn't drive as much as I could have.
Besides replacing a few on my own
cars, I saw many "one-eyed" cars on the road. That's a rare sight nowadays.
But I drive less now than I did then, and I was one-eyed twice in the
last two years. Occasionally when I'm facing something reflective, a
store window, certain cars, I test my headlights but I don't know how
long they had been out. There are enough street lights here that
unless I go to the next town at night, I can't tell by how well I can
see.

Also one fog light burned out. Will the police stop you for that? I
guess, if allowed, it would make a good excuse and they like to stop
people.


Police where?

In Eldersburg, for example.

AFAIK fog lights are not required in NJ, there might be some state that
does, but I doubt it.

They're not required in Maryland either, but if the car has fog lights
and you have a time-of-sale inspection, the fog lights have to work.

So if one fog light is on, the cop will know that the car has fog lights
and that one is not working, and it's certainly possible that that's a
violation.

From my experience they are close to worthless anyway. Maybe
if you live somewhere that regularly has serious fog, they might be useful.

Sometimes around here there is heavy fog.

On 28/11/2020 18:33, Ed Pawlowski wrote:
On 11/28/2020 12:47 PM, trader_4 wrote:
On Saturday, November 28, 2020 at 9:53:57 AM UTC-5, micky wrote:
In alt.home.repair, on Sat, 28 Nov 2020 06:18:47 -0600, Vic Smith
wrote:

On Sat, 28 Nov 2020 01:13:08 -0500, micky wrote:

In alt.home.repair, on Fri, 27 Nov 2020 18:05:44 -0600, Hank Rogers

Remember when we had sealed beam headlights? Plain, cheap Glass.

And they never burned out. Though I decided to get fancy and I
replaced them once with halogen, and those did burn out.


Your memory of sealed beams is different than mine.
Well maybe I didn't drive as much as I could have.
Besides replacing a few on my own
cars, I saw many "one-eyed" cars on the road. That's a rare sight
nowadays.
But I drive less now than I did then, and I was one-eyed twice in the
last two years. Occasionally when I'm facing something reflective, a
store window, certain cars, I test my headlights but I don't know how
long they had been out. There are enough street lights here that
unless I go to the next town at night, I can't tell by how well I can
see.

Also one fog light burned out. Will the police stop you for that? I
guess, if allowed, it would make a good excuse and they like to stop
people.


Police where?Â*Â* AFAIK fog lights are not required in NJ, there might
be some state that
does, but I doubt it.Â* From my experience they are close to worthless
anyway.Â* Maybe
if you live somewhere that regularly has serious fog, they might be
useful.



At least in some states, if the car has them they must work in order to
pass inspection.Â* Unless foggy, they would not be on anyway so the
police would not stop you.
Of the 30 or so cars I've owned, only a few had fog lights.Â* Just three
I can think of and I never used them.

Does the US have a mandatory yearly car safety check?
In the UK your car has to be tested annually. It is illegal to drive a
vehicle without a valid and up to date MOT (Ministry Of Transport)
certificate.
The test is quite strict and includes headlight alignment and UV etc,
etc...

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/mot-insp...rcial-vehicles

In alt.home.repair, on Sat, 28 Nov 2020 13:33:43 -0500, micky
wrote:


Police where?

In Eldersburg, for example.

AFAIK fog lights are not required in NJ, there might be some state that
does, but I doubt it.

They're not required in Maryland either, but if the car has fog lights
and you have a time-of-sale inspection, the fog lights have to work.

So if one fog light is on, the cop will know that the car has fog lights
and that one is not working, and it's certainly possible that that's a
violation.

Ed's post reminds me. It's not just possible. It's a fact, because
even though cars here only have to go for inspection when they are being
sold, they have to be able to pass inspection at all times. If a cop
notices something, he's supposed to give, I don't know what it's called,
a conditional ticket, that gives you 30 or sumpin' days to get the car
fixed and take it to a police station to either show that it's fixed or,
iirc, show the receipt for getting it fixed.


From my experience they are close to worthless anyway. Maybe
if you live somewhere that regularly has serious fog, they might be useful.

Sometimes around here there is heavy fog.

On Saturday, November 28, 2020 at 1:45:56 PM UTC-5, Bod wrote:
On 28/11/2020 18:33, Ed Pawlowski wrote:
On 11/28/2020 12:47 PM, trader_4 wrote:
On Saturday, November 28, 2020 at 9:53:57 AM UTC-5, micky wrote:
In alt.home.repair, on Sat, 28 Nov 2020 06:18:47 -0600, Vic Smith
wrote:

On Sat, 28 Nov 2020 01:13:08 -0500, micky wrote:

In alt.home.repair, on Fri, 27 Nov 2020 18:05:44 -0600, Hank Rogers

Remember when we had sealed beam headlights? Plain, cheap Glass.

And they never burned out. Though I decided to get fancy and I
replaced them once with halogen, and those did burn out.


Your memory of sealed beams is different than mine.
Well maybe I didn't drive as much as I could have.
Besides replacing a few on my own
cars, I saw many "one-eyed" cars on the road. That's a rare sight
nowadays.
But I drive less now than I did then, and I was one-eyed twice in the
last two years. Occasionally when I'm facing something reflective, a
store window, certain cars, I test my headlights but I don't know how
long they had been out. There are enough street lights here that
unless I go to the next town at night, I can't tell by how well I can
see.

Also one fog light burned out. Will the police stop you for that? I
guess, if allowed, it would make a good excuse and they like to stop
people.


Police where? AFAIK fog lights are not required in NJ, there might
be some state that
does, but I doubt it. From my experience they are close to worthless
anyway. Maybe
if you live somewhere that regularly has serious fog, they might be
useful.



At least in some states, if the car has them they must work in order to
pass inspection. Unless foggy, they would not be on anyway so the
police would not stop you.
Of the 30 or so cars I've owned, only a few had fog lights. Just three
I can think of and I never used them.

Does the US have a mandatory yearly car safety check?

It varies from state to state and IDK what the latest status is, but some states required
no inspections. Others like here in NJ used to be annual. We have state inspection
stations. They used to check most things, lights, horn, windshield wipers, cracks in glass, tire tread.
They lifted the front of the car up, shook the wheels to see if ball joints were loose.
The drove it forward slowly to a spot with a brake force pad, slammed on the brakes and
red fluid would rise in cylinders on a test jig, showing force on each wheel. Then they
added emissions testing, even running it on a dynamometer. That cost cost us a
a billion and it was screwed royally, didn't work at first, lines hours long waiting to get
inspected. That was from a federal mandate under Clinton.

Then just a few years later, the feds suddenly decided that the info from the car's
computer was sufficient, so they tore out the billion of gear they had just put in.
Surely the EPA had to know that the OBD method was available and either was or
soon would be available. That's why many of us are very skeptical of the environmentalists.

And today here in NJ that's all they check, emissions via hooking up to the OBD port on
the car. You can drive in with headlights out or pointed to blind oncoming traffic,
bad brakes, cracked winshield, loose suspension parts. None of it is checked or matters.
Just emissions. Pass and it's good for 2 years. And new cars are exempt for 5 years.
And in all my years, I can't recall reading about a single accident that was caused by
a fault on a car in NJ. Other states tested nothing and I don't think they had any worse
accident stats. So I guess all that testing was for nothing.

In article ,
says...

Does the US have a mandatory yearly car safety check?
In the UK your car has to be tested annually. It is illegal to drive a
vehicle without a valid and up to date MOT (Ministry Of Transport)
certificate.
The test is quite strict and includes headlight alignment and UV etc,
etc...




I am not sure about all states, but many do require an anual inspection.
In NC you take your car to an inspection place , when it passes the
computer sends a message to the NC Department of Motor Vehicles. Then
you can either send for a license tag renewal by mail or go to the local
tag office. Being on the computer I have left the inspection place and
less than an hour later picked up the new tag sticker at the local tag
office. No up to date inspection means the sticker for the license tag
is not renewed.

Some inspection places are a joke. There was a place I took my car to
regularry and the inspection was just a matter of scraping off the old
sticker and putting on a new one when it was put on the window. Now
they do not put the sticker on the window. Being retired now and most
of my vehicles have low milage on them, I just go to the local dealer
and get it inspected and the oil changed.

About all that can not be bypassed now that I know of is the newer cars
are plugged in to the computer system tht reads the computer in the car.

On 28/11/2020 19:06, trader_4 wrote:
On Saturday, November 28, 2020 at 1:45:56 PM UTC-5, Bod wrote:
On 28/11/2020 18:33, Ed Pawlowski wrote:
On 11/28/2020 12:47 PM, trader_4 wrote:
On Saturday, November 28, 2020 at 9:53:57 AM UTC-5, micky wrote:
In alt.home.repair, on Sat, 28 Nov 2020 06:18:47 -0600, Vic Smith
wrote:

On Sat, 28 Nov 2020 01:13:08 -0500, micky wrote:

In alt.home.repair, on Fri, 27 Nov 2020 18:05:44 -0600, Hank Rogers

Remember when we had sealed beam headlights? Plain, cheap Glass.

And they never burned out. Though I decided to get fancy and I
replaced them once with halogen, and those did burn out.


Your memory of sealed beams is different than mine.
Well maybe I didn't drive as much as I could have.
Besides replacing a few on my own
cars, I saw many "one-eyed" cars on the road. That's a rare sight
nowadays.
But I drive less now than I did then, and I was one-eyed twice in the
last two years. Occasionally when I'm facing something reflective, a
store window, certain cars, I test my headlights but I don't know how
long they had been out. There are enough street lights here that
unless I go to the next town at night, I can't tell by how well I can
see.

Also one fog light burned out. Will the police stop you for that? I
guess, if allowed, it would make a good excuse and they like to stop
people.


Police where? AFAIK fog lights are not required in NJ, there might
be some state that
does, but I doubt it. From my experience they are close to worthless
anyway. Maybe
if you live somewhere that regularly has serious fog, they might be
useful.



At least in some states, if the car has them they must work in order to
pass inspection. Unless foggy, they would not be on anyway so the
police would not stop you.
Of the 30 or so cars I've owned, only a few had fog lights. Just three
I can think of and I never used them.

Does the US have a mandatory yearly car safety check?

It varies from state to state and IDK what the latest status is, but some states required
no inspections. Others like here in NJ used to be annual. We have state inspection
stations. They used to check most things, lights, horn, windshield wipers, cracks in glass, tire tread.
They lifted the front of the car up, shook the wheels to see if ball joints were loose.
The drove it forward slowly to a spot with a brake force pad, slammed on the brakes and
red fluid would rise in cylinders on a test jig, showing force on each wheel. Then they
added emissions testing, even running it on a dynamometer. That cost cost us a
a billion and it was screwed royally, didn't work at first, lines hours long waiting to get
inspected. That was from a federal mandate under Clinton.

Then just a few years later, the feds suddenly decided that the info from the car's
computer was sufficient, so they tore out the billion of gear they had just put in.
Surely the EPA had to know that the OBD method was available and either was or
soon would be available. That's why many of us are very skeptical of the environmentalists.

And today here in NJ that's all they check, emissions via hooking up to the OBD port on
the car. You can drive in with headlights out or pointed to blind oncoming traffic,
bad brakes, cracked winshield, loose suspension parts. None of it is checked or matters.
Just emissions. Pass and it's good for 2 years. And new cars are exempt for 5 years.
And in all my years, I can't recall reading about a single accident that was caused by
a fault on a car in NJ. Other states tested nothing and I don't think they had any worse
accident stats. So I guess all that testing was for nothing.



Hmm! Interesting, but a bit worrying, IMO.

On 28/11/2020 19:14, Ralph Mowery wrote:
In article ,
says...

Does the US have a mandatory yearly car safety check?
In the UK your car has to be tested annually. It is illegal to drive a
vehicle without a valid and up to date MOT (Ministry Of Transport)
certificate.
The test is quite strict and includes headlight alignment and UV etc,
etc...




I am not sure about all states, but many do require an anual inspection.
In NC you take your car to an inspection place , when it passes the
computer sends a message to the NC Department of Motor Vehicles. Then
you can either send for a license tag renewal by mail or go to the local
tag office. Being on the computer I have left the inspection place and
less than an hour later picked up the new tag sticker at the local tag
office. No up to date inspection means the sticker for the license tag
is not renewed.

Some inspection places are a joke. There was a place I took my car to
regularry and the inspection was just a matter of scraping off the old
sticker and putting on a new one when it was put on the window. Now
they do not put the sticker on the window. Being retired now and most
of my vehicles have low milage on them, I just go to the local dealer
and get it inspected and the oil changed.

About all that can not be bypassed now that I know of is the newer cars
are plugged in to the computer system tht reads the computer in the car.

Wow! thanks.

On 11/28/2020 2:14 PM, Ralph Mowery wrote:



Some inspection places are a joke. There was a place I took my car to
regularry and the inspection was just a matter of scraping off the old
sticker and putting on a new one when it was put on the window. Now
they do not put the sticker on the window. Being retired now and most
of my vehicles have low milage on them, I just go to the local dealer
and get it inspected and the oil changed.

I grew up in PA and inspection was a joke and often a fraud. I wen to a
place like you mention. You had to stay and BS with Frank for 20
minutes as that is how long a legal inspection should take and at times,
there would be state inspectors watching. He did check lights though as
that was easily spotted.

Another place I took the three family cars to did not check some things
I knew were wrong but every one needed a headlight adjustment for an
extra $2. Every station had a gimmick like that. The fact you could not
see out the fogged convertible roof window did not matter.

Sadly, others were thieves. Yes ma'am, you need some front end
bushings, or a drag link or some other money making thing the average
person had no idea how to check.

On 11/28/2020 1:51 PM, micky wrote:

Ed's post reminds me. It's not just possible. It's a fact, because
even though cars here only have to go for inspection when they are being
sold, they have to be able to pass inspection at all times. If a cop
notices something, he's supposed to give, I don't know what it's called,
a conditional ticket, that gives you 30 or sumpin' days to get the car
fixed and take it to a police station to either show that it's fixed or,
iirc, show the receipt for getting it fixed.


In CT the state police have some discretion and one in particular was a
real dick. He stopped a car with a headlight out. The woman had the
light she just bought and was on her way home to have it put in. The
dick cop still gave her a ticket. Most would just send you on your was
since it was obvious you'd take care of it. There were other stories
about him too.

In alt.home.repair, on Sat, 28 Nov 2020 14:41:15 -0500, Ed Pawlowski
wrote:

On 11/28/2020 1:51 PM, micky wrote:

Ed's post reminds me. It's not just possible. It's a fact, because
even though cars here only have to go for inspection when they are being
sold, they have to be able to pass inspection at all times. If a cop
notices something, he's supposed to give, I don't know what it's called,
a conditional ticket, that gives you 30 or sumpin' days to get the car
fixed and take it to a police station to either show that it's fixed or,
iirc, show the receipt for getting it fixed.


In CT the state police have some discretion and one in particular was a
real dick. He stopped a car with a headlight out. The woman had the
light she just bought and was on her way home to have it put in. The
dick cop still gave her a ticket. Most would just send you on your was
since it was obvious you'd take care of it.

Right.

There were other stories
about him too.

When I bought the headlight, twice, I didn't put it in immediately, but
I kept it in the car for just this reason.

Actually I kept the cardboard for the first one, in case the second one
went out, so it would look like I'd just bought a new one and it failed.

When I bought the fog light, I did't put it in for a few days and then I
couldn't get the old one out. I might needs some work and was even
considering "having" it done, and that takes me a long time.

Eventually I got the bulb out of the connector by, I think, pushing it
in. I didn't feel it move at all, but it came out soon after.

These might all be 15 years old. I've only had the car 3 years.

micky wrote:
In alt.home.repair, on Sat, 28 Nov 2020 06:18:47 -0600, Vic Smith
wrote:

On Sat, 28 Nov 2020 01:13:08 -0500, micky wrote:

In alt.home.repair, on Fri, 27 Nov 2020 18:05:44 -0600, Hank Rogers
Remember when we had sealed beam headlights? Plain, cheap Glass.
And they never burned out. Though I decided to get fancy and I
replaced them once with halogen, and those did burn out.

Your memory of sealed beams is different than mine.

Well maybe I didn't drive as much as I could have.



Besides replacing a few on my own
cars, I saw many "one-eyed" cars on the road. That's a rare sight nowadays.

But I drive less now than I did then, and I was one-eyed twice in the
last two years. Occasionally when I'm facing something reflective, a
store window, certain cars, I test my headlights but I don't know how
long they had been out. There are enough street lights here that
unless I go to the next town at night, I can't tell by how well I can
see.

The trade off with modern lighting is that to get brighter lighting with
the smaller reflectors used they run the bulbs at a higher voltage than
they used to. So an older sealed beam may have been tagged as a 12 volt.
but the filament was set up to run at 14 or higher. So the sealed beams
tended to last a while, unless they were the cheap ones and in poor
mountings.


Also one fog light burned out. Will the police stop you for that? I
guess, if allowed, it would make a good excuse and they like to stop
people.

Nope, fog lights are not required lighting. They can stop you for
headlights, tail brake (although technically the laws state you need two
rear facing brake lights so if the CHMSL is working they cannot give you
a ticket for one out UNLESS it is also the turn lamp) And these days for
not having them on in the rain.

--
Steve W.

On Sat, 28 Nov 2020 11:06:57 -0800 (PST), trader_4
wrote:

On Saturday, November 28, 2020 at 1:45:56 PM UTC-5, Bod wrote:
On 28/11/2020 18:33, Ed Pawlowski wrote:
On 11/28/2020 12:47 PM, trader_4 wrote:
On Saturday, November 28, 2020 at 9:53:57 AM UTC-5, micky wrote:
In alt.home.repair, on Sat, 28 Nov 2020 06:18:47 -0600, Vic Smith
wrote:

On Sat, 28 Nov 2020 01:13:08 -0500, micky wrote:

In alt.home.repair, on Fri, 27 Nov 2020 18:05:44 -0600, Hank Rogers

Remember when we had sealed beam headlights? Plain, cheap Glass.

And they never burned out. Though I decided to get fancy and I
replaced them once with halogen, and those did burn out.


Your memory of sealed beams is different than mine.
Well maybe I didn't drive as much as I could have.
Besides replacing a few on my own
cars, I saw many "one-eyed" cars on the road. That's a rare sight
nowadays.
But I drive less now than I did then, and I was one-eyed twice in the
last two years. Occasionally when I'm facing something reflective, a
store window, certain cars, I test my headlights but I don't know how
long they had been out. There are enough street lights here that
unless I go to the next town at night, I can't tell by how well I can
see.

Also one fog light burned out. Will the police stop you for that? I
guess, if allowed, it would make a good excuse and they like to stop
people.


Police where? AFAIK fog lights are not required in NJ, there might
be some state that
does, but I doubt it. From my experience they are close to worthless
anyway. Maybe
if you live somewhere that regularly has serious fog, they might be
useful.



At least in some states, if the car has them they must work in order to
pass inspection. Unless foggy, they would not be on anyway so the
police would not stop you.
Of the 30 or so cars I've owned, only a few had fog lights. Just three
I can think of and I never used them.

Does the US have a mandatory yearly car safety check?

It varies from state to state and IDK what the latest status is, but some states required
no inspections. Others like here in NJ used to be annual. We have state inspection
stations. They used to check most things, lights, horn, windshield wipers, cracks in glass, tire tread.
They lifted the front of the car up, shook the wheels to see if ball joints were loose.
The drove it forward slowly to a spot with a brake force pad, slammed on the brakes and
red fluid would rise in cylinders on a test jig, showing force on each wheel. Then they
added emissions testing, even running it on a dynamometer. That cost cost us a
a billion and it was screwed royally, didn't work at first, lines hours long waiting to get
inspected. That was from a federal mandate under Clinton.

Then just a few years later, the feds suddenly decided that the info from the car's
computer was sufficient, so they tore out the billion of gear they had just put in.
Surely the EPA had to know that the OBD method was available and either was or
soon would be available. That's why many of us are very skeptical of the environmentalists.

And today here in NJ that's all they check, emissions via hooking up to the OBD port on
the car. You can drive in with headlights out or pointed to blind oncoming traffic,
bad brakes, cracked winshield, loose suspension parts. None of it is checked or matters.
Just emissions. Pass and it's good for 2 years. And new cars are exempt for 5 years.
And in all my years, I can't recall reading about a single accident that was caused by
a fault on a car in NJ. Other states tested nothing and I don't think they had any worse
accident stats. So I guess all that testing was for nothing.



Florida did away with the car testing under Bob Graham, a Democrat, in
1981. It was never demonstrated that the accident rate got worse for
it. In 1991 they started emissions testing but only in a few big
cities. It never happened here. That is a computer readout these days
but originally it was a tail pipe sniff.

On Sat, 28 Nov 2020 13:51:18 -0500, micky posted for all of us to digest...


Ed's post reminds me. It's not just possible. It's a fact, because
even though cars here only have to go for inspection when they are being
sold, they have to be able to pass inspection at all times. If a cop
notices something, he's supposed to give, I don't know what it's called,
a conditional ticket, that gives you 30 or sumpin' days to get the car
fixed and take it to a police station to either show that it's fixed or,
iirc, show the receipt for getting it fixed.


It's called a Fixit Ticket. They have these in PA and like Ed mentioned an
annual inspection w/smog only for certain counties. Find a good shop.

--
Tekkie

In alt.home.repair, on Sat, 28 Nov 2020 11:06:57 -0800 (PST), trader_4
wrote:


Then just a few years later, the feds suddenly decided that the info from the car's
computer was sufficient, so they tore out the billion of gear they had just put in.
Surely the EPA had to know that the OBD method was available and either was or

Even after OBD was invented, there were a lot of cars not set up for it.
That number goes down every year.

soon would be available. That's why many of us are very skeptical of the environmentalists.

And today here in NJ that's all they check, emissions via hooking up to the OBD port on
the car.

That's the emission test.

Maryland has long had a separate safety check, although it's only when a
car is sold. If you never sell you car, and a cop never notices how bad
it is, it could be falling apart.

Pa. used to have safety checks twice a year, but they changed to once.

You can drive in with headlights out or pointed to blind oncoming traffic,
bad brakes, cracked winshield, loose suspension parts. None of it is checked or matters.
Just emissions. Pass and it's good for 2 years. And new cars are exempt for 5 years.
And in all my years, I can't recall reading about a single accident that was caused by
a fault on a car in NJ. Other states tested nothing and I don't think they had any worse
accident stats. So I guess all that testing was for nothing.

Required testing started because a lot of people were driving wrecks and
causing accidents. I don't have x-ray eyes but the number of cars with
visible body damage has gone down in the past decades, and I think so
have safety failings. But it's going to take an effort by someone to
change the testing requirements in any state.

On 11/28/2020 02:13 PM, Steve W. wrote:
micky wrote:
In alt.home.repair, on Sat, 28 Nov 2020 06:18:47 -0600, Vic Smith
wrote:

On Sat, 28 Nov 2020 01:13:08 -0500, micky
wrote:

In alt.home.repair, on Fri, 27 Nov 2020 18:05:44 -0600, Hank Rogers
Remember when we had sealed beam headlights? Plain, cheap Glass.
And they never burned out. Though I decided to get fancy and I
replaced them once with halogen, and those did burn out.
Your memory of sealed beams is different than mine.

Well maybe I didn't drive as much as I could have.



Besides replacing a few on my own
cars, I saw many "one-eyed" cars on the road. That's a rare sight
nowadays.

But I drive less now than I did then, and I was one-eyed twice in the
last two years. Occasionally when I'm facing something reflective, a
store window, certain cars, I test my headlights but I don't know how
long they had been out. There are enough street lights here that
unless I go to the next town at night, I can't tell by how well I can
see.

The trade off with modern lighting is that to get brighter lighting with
the smaller reflectors used they run the bulbs at a higher voltage than
they used to. So an older sealed beam may have been tagged as a 12 volt.
but the filament was set up to run at 14 or higher. So the sealed beams
tended to last a while, unless they were the cheap ones and in poor
mountings.


Also one fog light burned out. Will the police stop you for that? I
guess, if allowed, it would make a good excuse and they like to stop
people.

Nope, fog lights are not required lighting. They can stop you for
headlights, tail brake (although technically the laws state you need two
rear facing brake lights so if the CHMSL is working they cannot give you
a ticket for one out UNLESS it is also the turn lamp) And these days for
not having them on in the rain.


A different situation: I'd bought an old Dodge pickup where someone with
big truck envy had installed clearance lights on the cab. According to
New Hampshire law while they certainly weren't required if they were
there they had to work.

rbowman wrote:
On 11/28/2020 02:13 PM, Steve W. wrote:
micky wrote:
In alt.home.repair, on Sat, 28 Nov 2020 06:18:47 -0600, Vic Smith
wrote:

On Sat, 28 Nov 2020 01:13:08 -0500, micky
wrote:

In alt.home.repair, on Fri, 27 Nov 2020 18:05:44 -0600, Hank
Rogers
Remember when we had sealed beam headlights? Plain, cheap Glass.
And they never burned out.*** Though I decided to get fancy and I
replaced them once with halogen, and those did burn out.
Your memory of sealed beams is different than mine.

Well maybe I didn't drive as much as I could have.



Besides replacing a few on my own
cars, I saw many "one-eyed" cars on the road.* That's a rare sight
nowadays.

But I drive less now than I did then, and I was one-eyed twice
in the
last two years.*** Occasionally when I'm facing something
reflective, a
store window, certain cars, I test my headlights but I don't
know how
long they had been out.** There are enough street lights here that
unless I go to the next town at night, I can't tell by how well
I can
see.

The trade off with modern lighting is that to get brighter
lighting with
the smaller reflectors used they run the bulbs at a higher
voltage than
they used to. So an older sealed beam may have been tagged as a
12 volt.
but the filament was set up to run at 14 or higher. So the sealed
beams
tended to last a while, unless they were the cheap ones and in poor
mountings.


Also one fog light burned out. Will the police stop you for
that?* I
guess, if allowed, it would make a good excuse and they like to
stop
people.

Nope, fog lights are not required lighting. They can stop you for
headlights, tail brake (although technically the laws state you
need two
rear facing brake lights so if the CHMSL is working they cannot
give you
a ticket for one out UNLESS it is also the turn lamp) And these
days for
not having them on in the rain.


A different situation: I'd bought an old Dodge pickup where someone
with big truck envy had installed clearance lights on the cab.
According to New Hampshire law while they certainly weren't
required if they were there they had to work.



So, remove them. Caulk the holes with RTV silicon.

A different situation: I'd bought an old Dodge pickup where someone with
big truck envy

"Big truck envy", you verbose big words addict? LOL

In alt.home.repair, on Sat, 28 Nov 2020 17:40:38 -0500,
wrote:

On Sat, 28 Nov 2020 11:06:57 -0800 (PST), trader_4
wrote:

On Saturday, November 28, 2020 at 1:45:56 PM UTC-5, Bod wrote:
On 28/11/2020 18:33, Ed Pawlowski wrote:
On 11/28/2020 12:47 PM, trader_4 wrote:
On Saturday, November 28, 2020 at 9:53:57 AM UTC-5, micky wrote:
In alt.home.repair, on Sat, 28 Nov 2020 06:18:47 -0600, Vic Smith
wrote:

On Sat, 28 Nov 2020 01:13:08 -0500, micky wrote:

In alt.home.repair, on Fri, 27 Nov 2020 18:05:44 -0600, Hank Rogers

Remember when we had sealed beam headlights? Plain, cheap Glass.

And they never burned out. Though I decided to get fancy and I
replaced them once with halogen, and those did burn out.


Your memory of sealed beams is different than mine.
Well maybe I didn't drive as much as I could have.
Besides replacing a few on my own
cars, I saw many "one-eyed" cars on the road. That's a rare sight
nowadays.
But I drive less now than I did then, and I was one-eyed twice in the
last two years. Occasionally when I'm facing something reflective, a
store window, certain cars, I test my headlights but I don't know how
long they had been out. There are enough street lights here that
unless I go to the next town at night, I can't tell by how well I can
see.

Also one fog light burned out. Will the police stop you for that? I
guess, if allowed, it would make a good excuse and they like to stop
people.


Police where? AFAIK fog lights are not required in NJ, there might
be some state that
does, but I doubt it. From my experience they are close to worthless
anyway. Maybe
if you live somewhere that regularly has serious fog, they might be
useful.



At least in some states, if the car has them they must work in order to
pass inspection. Unless foggy, they would not be on anyway so the
police would not stop you.
Of the 30 or so cars I've owned, only a few had fog lights. Just three
I can think of and I never used them.

Does the US have a mandatory yearly car safety check?

It varies from state to state and IDK what the latest status is, but some states required
no inspections. Others like here in NJ used to be annual. We have state inspection
stations. They used to check most things, lights, horn, windshield wipers, cracks in glass, tire tread.
They lifted the front of the car up, shook the wheels to see if ball joints were loose.
The drove it forward slowly to a spot with a brake force pad, slammed on the brakes and
red fluid would rise in cylinders on a test jig, showing force on each wheel. Then they
added emissions testing, even running it on a dynamometer. That cost cost us a
a billion and it was screwed royally, didn't work at first, lines hours long waiting to get
inspected. That was from a federal mandate under Clinton.

Then just a few years later, the feds suddenly decided that the info from the car's
computer was sufficient, so they tore out the billion of gear they had just put in.
Surely the EPA had to know that the OBD method was available and either was or
soon would be available. That's why many of us are very skeptical of the environmentalists.

And today here in NJ that's all they check, emissions via hooking up to the OBD port on
the car. You can drive in with headlights out or pointed to blind oncoming traffic,
bad brakes, cracked winshield, loose suspension parts. None of it is checked or matters.
Just emissions. Pass and it's good for 2 years. And new cars are exempt for 5 years.
And in all my years, I can't recall reading about a single accident that was caused by
a fault on a car in NJ. Other states tested nothing and I don't think they had any worse
accident stats. So I guess all that testing was for nothing.



Florida did away with the car testing under Bob Graham, a Democrat, in
1981. It was never demonstrated that the accident rate got worse for
it. In 1991 they started emissions testing but only in a few big
cities. It never happened here. That is a computer readout these days
but originally it was a tail pipe sniff.

Yes, you remind me that the law never required emissions testing
everywhere, only in places with high measured air pollution, with the
kind of pollution caused by cars.

In Maryland this is only Baltimore City and Baltimore County, and the
suburbs of DC, Montgomery, Anne Arundel, and Prince George counties, and
surpringly to me, Frederick County. That's still less than half the
state and I think in every other state it's less, much less, or much
much less.

And I don't have to do it anymore because I'm over some age and drive
less than some amount. I do have to tell them every 2? years how
little I drive.

In alt.home.repair, on Sat, 28 Nov 2020 19:49:21 -0600, Hank Rogers
wrote:

rbowman wrote:
On 11/28/2020 02:13 PM, Steve W. wrote:
micky wrote:
In alt.home.repair, on Sat, 28 Nov 2020 06:18:47 -0600, Vic Smith
wrote:

On Sat, 28 Nov 2020 01:13:08 -0500, micky
wrote:

In alt.home.repair, on Fri, 27 Nov 2020 18:05:44 -0600, Hank
Rogers
Remember when we had sealed beam headlights? Plain, cheap Glass.
And they never burned out.*** Though I decided to get fancy and I
replaced them once with halogen, and those did burn out.
Your memory of sealed beams is different than mine.

Well maybe I didn't drive as much as I could have.



Besides replacing a few on my own
cars, I saw many "one-eyed" cars on the road.* That's a rare sight
nowadays.

But I drive less now than I did then, and I was one-eyed twice
in the
last two years.*** Occasionally when I'm facing something
reflective, a
store window, certain cars, I test my headlights but I don't
know how
long they had been out.** There are enough street lights here that
unless I go to the next town at night, I can't tell by how well
I can
see.

The trade off with modern lighting is that to get brighter
lighting with
the smaller reflectors used they run the bulbs at a higher
voltage than
they used to. So an older sealed beam may have been tagged as a
12 volt.
but the filament was set up to run at 14 or higher. So the sealed
beams
tended to last a while, unless they were the cheap ones and in poor
mountings.


Also one fog light burned out. Will the police stop you for
that?* I
guess, if allowed, it would make a good excuse and they like to
stop
people.

Nope, fog lights are not required lighting. They can stop you for

Yep. Read my other post. You act like there is one law for the whole
country, and that you know what that law is. You're wrong on the first
and I doubt you're right about any state.

headlights, tail brake (although technically the laws state you
need two
rear facing brake lights so if the CHMSL is working they cannot
give you
a ticket for one out UNLESS it is also the turn lamp) And these
days for
not having them on in the rain.


A different situation: I'd bought an old Dodge pickup where someone
with big truck envy had installed clearance lights on the cab.
According to New Hampshire law while they certainly weren't
required if they were there they had to work.



So, remove them. Caulk the holes with RTV silicon.

Since they were added after manufacture, that would probably work, but
you never know and I'd check first. And actually it's easier to replace
a burned out bulb or two than to remove them.

On Sun, 29 Nov 2020 06:00:46 -0500, micky
wrote:

In alt.home.repair, on Sat, 28 Nov 2020 17:40:38 -0500,
wrote:

On Sat, 28 Nov 2020 11:06:57 -0800 (PST), trader_4
wrote:

On Saturday, November 28, 2020 at 1:45:56 PM UTC-5, Bod wrote:
On 28/11/2020 18:33, Ed Pawlowski wrote:
On 11/28/2020 12:47 PM, trader_4 wrote:
On Saturday, November 28, 2020 at 9:53:57 AM UTC-5, micky wrote:
In alt.home.repair, on Sat, 28 Nov 2020 06:18:47 -0600, Vic Smith
wrote:

On Sat, 28 Nov 2020 01:13:08 -0500, micky wrote:

In alt.home.repair, on Fri, 27 Nov 2020 18:05:44 -0600, Hank Rogers

Remember when we had sealed beam headlights? Plain, cheap Glass.

And they never burned out. Though I decided to get fancy and I
replaced them once with halogen, and those did burn out.


Your memory of sealed beams is different than mine.
Well maybe I didn't drive as much as I could have.
Besides replacing a few on my own
cars, I saw many "one-eyed" cars on the road. That's a rare sight
nowadays.
But I drive less now than I did then, and I was one-eyed twice in the
last two years. Occasionally when I'm facing something reflective, a
store window, certain cars, I test my headlights but I don't know how
long they had been out. There are enough street lights here that
unless I go to the next town at night, I can't tell by how well I can
see.

Also one fog light burned out. Will the police stop you for that? I
guess, if allowed, it would make a good excuse and they like to stop
people.


Police where? AFAIK fog lights are not required in NJ, there might
be some state that
does, but I doubt it. From my experience they are close to worthless
anyway. Maybe
if you live somewhere that regularly has serious fog, they might be
useful.



At least in some states, if the car has them they must work in order to
pass inspection. Unless foggy, they would not be on anyway so the
police would not stop you.
Of the 30 or so cars I've owned, only a few had fog lights. Just three
I can think of and I never used them.

Does the US have a mandatory yearly car safety check?

It varies from state to state and IDK what the latest status is, but some states required
no inspections. Others like here in NJ used to be annual. We have state inspection
stations. They used to check most things, lights, horn, windshield wipers, cracks in glass, tire tread.
They lifted the front of the car up, shook the wheels to see if ball joints were loose.
The drove it forward slowly to a spot with a brake force pad, slammed on the brakes and
red fluid would rise in cylinders on a test jig, showing force on each wheel. Then they
added emissions testing, even running it on a dynamometer. That cost cost us a
a billion and it was screwed royally, didn't work at first, lines hours long waiting to get
inspected. That was from a federal mandate under Clinton.

Then just a few years later, the feds suddenly decided that the info from the car's
computer was sufficient, so they tore out the billion of gear they had just put in.
Surely the EPA had to know that the OBD method was available and either was or
soon would be available. That's why many of us are very skeptical of the environmentalists.

And today here in NJ that's all they check, emissions via hooking up to the OBD port on
the car. You can drive in with headlights out or pointed to blind oncoming traffic,
bad brakes, cracked winshield, loose suspension parts. None of it is checked or matters.
Just emissions. Pass and it's good for 2 years. And new cars are exempt for 5 years.
And in all my years, I can't recall reading about a single accident that was caused by
a fault on a car in NJ. Other states tested nothing and I don't think they had any worse
accident stats. So I guess all that testing was for nothing.



Florida did away with the car testing under Bob Graham, a Democrat, in
1981. It was never demonstrated that the accident rate got worse for
it. In 1991 they started emissions testing but only in a few big
cities. It never happened here. That is a computer readout these days
but originally it was a tail pipe sniff.

Yes, you remind me that the law never required emissions testing
everywhere, only in places with high measured air pollution, with the
kind of pollution caused by cars.

In Maryland this is only Baltimore City and Baltimore County, and the
suburbs of DC, Montgomery, Anne Arundel, and Prince George counties, and
surpringly to me, Frederick County. That's still less than half the
state and I think in every other state it's less, much less, or much
much less.

And I don't have to do it anymore because I'm over some age and drive
less than some amount. I do have to tell them every 2? years how
little I drive.

I changed my address to Chuck County to dodge the PG testing before I
could just get out of Maryland completely.

rbowman wrote:
On 11/28/2020 02:13 PM, Steve W. wrote:
micky wrote:
In alt.home.repair, on Sat, 28 Nov 2020 06:18:47 -0600, Vic Smith
wrote:

On Sat, 28 Nov 2020 01:13:08 -0500, micky
wrote:

In alt.home.repair, on Fri, 27 Nov 2020 18:05:44 -0600, Hank Rogers
Remember when we had sealed beam headlights? Plain, cheap Glass.
And they never burned out. Though I decided to get fancy and I
replaced them once with halogen, and those did burn out.
Your memory of sealed beams is different than mine.
Well maybe I didn't drive as much as I could have.

Besides replacing a few on my own
cars, I saw many "one-eyed" cars on the road. That's a rare sight
nowadays.
But I drive less now than I did then, and I was one-eyed twice in the
last two years. Occasionally when I'm facing something reflective, a
store window, certain cars, I test my headlights but I don't know how
long they had been out. There are enough street lights here that
unless I go to the next town at night, I can't tell by how well I can
see.
The trade off with modern lighting is that to get brighter lighting with
the smaller reflectors used they run the bulbs at a higher voltage than
they used to. So an older sealed beam may have been tagged as a 12 volt.
but the filament was set up to run at 14 or higher. So the sealed beams
tended to last a while, unless they were the cheap ones and in poor
mountings.

Also one fog light burned out. Will the police stop you for that? I
guess, if allowed, it would make a good excuse and they like to stop
people.
Nope, fog lights are not required lighting. They can stop you for
headlights, tail brake (although technically the laws state you need two
rear facing brake lights so if the CHMSL is working they cannot give you
a ticket for one out UNLESS it is also the turn lamp) And these days for
not having them on in the rain.


A different situation: I'd bought an old Dodge pickup where someone with
big truck envy had installed clearance lights on the cab. According to
New Hampshire law while they certainly weren't required if they were
there they had to work.



Don't see that in the V&T laws for passenger vehicles. I know for
commercial vehicles that is the case though and many states have
pick-ups tagged as commercial vehicles so for a pickup truck it would
likely apply under the CMV laws.


--
Steve W.

On 11/30/2020 01:00 AM, Steve W. wrote:

Don't see that in the V&T laws for passenger vehicles. I know for
commercial vehicles that is the case though and many states have
pick-ups tagged as commercial vehicles so for a pickup truck it would
likely apply under the CMV laws.

In Kalifornia you don't have to register your pickup as a commercial
vehicle unless you plan to actually carry something in the bed. Really
cheesy. Just like our liability insurance -- which goes with the car
rather than the driver. If you have 3 cars you have to have 3 liability
policies although you can only drive one car at a time.

--
Cheers, Bev
"Even Islamic terrorists don't hate America like liberals do.
They don't have the energy. If they had that much energy,
they'd have indoor plumbing by now." -- Ann Coulter

On 11/30/2020 3:35 PM, The Real Bev wrote:
On 11/30/2020 01:00 AM, Steve W. wrote:

Don't see that in the V&T laws for passenger vehicles. I
know for
commercial vehicles that is the case though and many
states have
pick-ups tagged as commercial vehicles so for a pickup
truck it would
likely apply under the CMV laws.

In Kalifornia you don't have to register your pickup as a
commercial vehicle unless you plan to actually carry
something in the bed. Really cheesy. Just like our
liability insurance -- which goes with the car rather than
the driver. If you have 3 cars you have to have 3 liability
policies although you can only drive one car at a time.

"Even Islamic terrorists don't hate America like liberals do.
They don't have the energy. If they had that much energy,
they'd have indoor plumbing by now." -- Ann
Coulter


Your sig quotes brighten my day!
Thank you, Bev.

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org/
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

On 11/30/2020 6:47 PM, AMuzi wrote:
On 11/30/2020 3:35 PM, The Real Bev wrote:
On 11/30/2020 01:00 AM, Steve W. wrote:

Don't see that in the V&T laws for passenger vehicles. I
know for
commercial vehicles that is the case though and many
states have
pick-ups tagged as commercial vehicles so for a pickup
truck it would
likely apply under the CMV laws.

In Kalifornia you don't have to register your pickup as a
commercial vehicle unless you plan to actually carry
something in the bed. Really cheesy.Â* Just like our
liability insurance -- which goes with the car rather than
the driver.Â* If you have 3 cars you have to have 3 liability
policies although you can only drive one car at a time.

"Even Islamic terrorists don't hate America like liberals do.
Â*Â* They don't have the energy.Â* If they had that much energy,
Â*Â* they'd have indoor plumbing by now."Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â* -- Ann Coulter


Your sig quotes brighten my day!
Thank you, Bev.

Makes me want to vomit.

The Real Bev wrote:
On 11/30/2020 01:00 AM, Steve W. wrote:

Don't see that in the V&T laws for passenger vehicles. I know for
commercial vehicles that is the case though and many states have
pick-ups tagged as commercial vehicles so for a pickup truck it would
likely apply under the CMV laws.

In Kalifornia you don't have to register your pickup as a commercial
vehicle unless you plan to actually carry something in the bed. Really
cheesy. Just like our liability insurance -- which goes with the car
rather than the driver. If you have 3 cars you have to have 3 liability
policies although you can only drive one car at a time.


Most states started as having them commercial, then changed it when they
started to become used more like cars than trucks. About that same time
was when the double cabs with s 4 foot "bed" started showing up...

Not a surprise on the insurance, anything to fleece the sheep. NY hasn't
gone that way yet.
--
Steve W.

On 11/30/2020 02:35 PM, The Real Bev wrote:
On 11/30/2020 01:00 AM, Steve W. wrote:

Don't see that in the V&T laws for passenger vehicles. I know for
commercial vehicles that is the case though and many states have
pick-ups tagged as commercial vehicles so for a pickup truck it would
likely apply under the CMV laws.

In Kalifornia you don't have to register your pickup as a commercial
vehicle unless you plan to actually carry something in the bed. Really
cheesy. Just like our liability insurance -- which goes with the car
rather than the driver. If you have 3 cars you have to have 3 liability
policies although you can only drive one car at a time.


I've got a truck, a car, and three motorcycles. I'm trying for a fleet
discount. The truck and motorcycles don't cost much luckily.