ilubmoney

Gerard just alerted to me earlier tonight that my passenger-side headlamp is out. As I came home, I was dreading about the cost of having that replaced, so I tried to google the cost. Turns out that it's supposed to be fairly simple to replace it yourself. Getting the replacement bulbs from Kragen's only costs $10-$20 each (depending on the type of bulb), so that'll save me at least $70-$100 a bulb. If the problem's electrical instead of a burnt-out bulb, I'll take it to a mechanic then.

I think that while I'm at it, I'm also going to restore the headlight covers so that they're not foggy and yellowish anymore. I first saw an ad from Walmart about restoring faded headlights for $39.99, but according to some sources, you can do it yourself for a little less if you take the trouble to buy a bottle of headlight restorer. There's one at Kragen's for about $5.99 that I think I'll try. Some places online also recommended using toothpaste and sandpaper to restore the headlight covers, but I'm not convinced that sandpaper won't scratch up the cover.

Wish me luck! DIY car stuff is fun!

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Update:

I was finally able to replace the headlight bulb after not being able to do it all morning. I had issues figuring out how to get the bulb out of the socket and had to ask a friend of a friend to help pull it out. Once we got the bulb out, we realized that the new bulb was the wrong one; the Kragen guy gave me the bulb for the high beams, not the low beams. Unfortunately, they wouldn't let me exchange it since I opened the package (jerks! They sold me the wrong one!!), but they were willing to give me a small discount on the new bulb. Aggravation. Anyway, I put the new bulb in myself, and it works great now. Yay! Still saved a ton of money despite buying the wrong bulb.

Also tried the headlight restorer. It worked okay; not brand-new looking as promised, but it looks a LOT better.