plastic headlight lens?

[Andrew Buc <abuc@ibm.net>]

Addressed to: Phil and Judy Rose <pjrose@servtech.com>
              quattro@coimbra.ans.net

** Reply to note from Phil and Judy Rose <pjrose@servtech.com> Sun, 24 May 1998 12:30:22 -0800
>   
> Are plastic headlights commonly used on other makes of cars? I can't
> imagine the lighting from these would be any worse than Audi headlights of
> the same vintage, but certainly the plastic ought to be a lot cheaper to
> replace (and more resistant to stone damage?).

It's almost certainly polycarbonate, a plastic known for its toughness and
good optical properties. It's also used for plastic lenses in glasses. Quite
a few cars these days have polycarb lenses--U.S. Fords come to mind. Every
plastic has an Achilles heel, and in the case of polycarb, it's
susceptibility to organic solvents--don't get funny ideas about cleaning the
lenses with gasoline!