Is my mechanic taking the .

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smac, Sep 7, 8:21pm
Last WoF the tester said our car would need it's headlights polished before next WoF.

This WoF the tester (same guy) said our car would need it's headlights polished before next WoF.

Fills in the day I guess.
bellky, Sep 7, 8:23pm
I like Brasso myself.
therafter1, Sep 7, 8:28pm
Lol . they seem to degrade to a certain level and stay there, depends on the day and the tester.

But at the end of the day they are better either kept clear or replaced. There is nothing worse on a dark wet night than useless lights and having good lights makes an enormous difference to both the comfort of the drive in the conditions and the safety of the vehicles occupants.
therafter1, Sep 7, 8:37pm
They are both tricky ones ! . where do you draw the line ! . in some instances the client is already aware and EXPECT a fail and will challenge you if you DO NOT fail it or raise it in the comments column.

That's where the comments column comes in handy lol

By the way, you do realise that in fatals there are investigations don't you !

If an inspector has passed a vehicle in the very recent past and it is involved in a fatal on a dark wet night and things like lights lenses, wiper condition etc are not up to speed they can find themselves under the spotlight (scuse the pun lol).

AVI's don't make the rules, but they do have to adhere to them whether they think they are silly rules or not, so bear that in mind before you slam them as being pedantic idiots that are picking who and what they are going to issue WOF's for !
alan1111, Sep 7, 8:43pm
I fail faded dull scratched headlights probably on a weekly basis. Charge $10.00 to polish them to come upto virm standards. What i do is take a before and after photo so the customer can see the differance.
kazbanz, Sep 7, 8:49pm
Nah yea nahh yea --mmmm
There has to be a line drawn somewhere.
Wipers have to clear the screen
Headlights have to actually light up the road propperly
I can say for certain though that the OP's mechanic is taking the mickey.
Tailight lamp works -yes. Tailight lets no white light out through red lens -yesthen pass.
curlcrown, Sep 7, 11:00pm
Very common, some places are more strict on it than others. Ofte the head lamps can be polished and llok great only to have to be done a few weeks later. But it not realy worth worreying about. In the amount of time you have spent in this thread you could have polished them again.
mrfxit, Sep 7, 11:12pm
Hey Kaz,
Easy fix for mildly faded tail light/ orange indicator lenses = colored bulbs (non led)
unbeatabull, Sep 7, 11:15pm
I'm not sure if anyones mentioned it already, but the headlights on Levin's are quite a common thing to need polishing with age. Everyone I've owned has needed it at some stage, and a lot that have come through for a service/WOF have also required it :)

Cheapest option is to get some stuff, a bottle will last you a while and just a case of spending 10-15mins on each headlight polishing it up before WOF time.

New headlight units aren't very cheap some times, and a S/H option has no guarantee that it won't do the same in 6-12 months.
mrfxit, Sep 7, 11:18pm
Most polycarbonate lenses will yellow over time.
Don't know if they have fixed that with the latest versions but only time will tell
neo_psy, Sep 7, 11:27pm
Those blue ones are terrible for that.

Shoulda got a different colour.
um.yea.nah, Sep 7, 11:31pm
OMG true didn't know that
um.yea.nah, Sep 7, 11:33pm
Thanks everyone for your help here, and yes I accept this is going to be a new requirement I have to do every month, I would rather spend 15 mins doing it myself than paying someone else to do it.As for is my mechanic taking the . maybe not over this but it is looking like he was over the other issue.
bellky, Sep 7, 11:34pm
Haha, I think you mean 6 monthly but lol anyway :)
um.yea.nah, Sep 7, 11:45pm
lol oh yer I do sorry stressful day dealing with these mechanics lol
thejazzpianoma, Sep 8, 1:57am
I use a Tamiya model paint designed for emulating tail lamps. I thin it slightly and use it on the outside of the lens. (Generally I remove and mask the lens).

Because its self leveling it can just be carefully brushed on and done properly you would never know to walk past the car.

Its really cheap too, something like $3 a bottle from memory and a bottle will do 2 - 3 cars.
newtec1, Sep 8, 5:37am
Did they have that 'sparkling white' look about them.
gastirling, Sep 8, 12:14pm
Dead flipping right!
franc123, Sep 8, 11:35pm
I've always used a decent quality medium grade of cutting compound to clean lights, in bad cases you can wet sand them, starting with a 600 grit and progressively working through 800,1200 and 2000 grits and finishing up with a polish. Frig $50 for a specialist product lol, thats a pisstake if ever I heard it.
rovercitroen, Sep 8, 11:45pm
I have recently had VTNZ fail a couple of cars for really very minor stuff. I suspect they are trying to get their fail rates up to justify their view that we should retain 6 monthly WoFs.