After traveling 40,000 km in KSA, the headlights of my car got really dirty and the intensity of light on the road got very dim. This happened mainly due to sand storms and the terms used in KSA for that is sandblasted headlights. Dim headlights can be dangerous and can lead to accidents.
I visited 4 branches of Petromin Express as they offer headlights cleaning, the conclusion of those visits is as follows:
- Charges for cleaning 1 headlight is SR 75 so SR 150 for 2 headlights
- Some branches do not have the facility of cleaning headlights
- They only clean the headlights from outside and they are not sure if cleaning the headlights from outside would serve the purpose
- It takes 2-3 hours for the chemical to dry after sunset so better to visit in daytime
- They didn’t look very keen to perform this task
By asking here and there I got to know about a Car Wash (Talmiya) service who clean headlights. Their details are:
Name: New Car Talmiya
Coordinates: 24.747706,46.774646
Google Maps Link: http://goo.gl/maps/pzyfZ
Address: Petromin Pump, Khalid Ibn Al Walid St, Ar Rawdah, Riyadh
They checked and confirmed there is no need to clean the headlights from inside, after some negotiation they agreed to clean the headlights and to place a protected sheet on the headlights for SR 150. The sheet has a guaranty of 1 year and you can easily get it replaced which I think is better then getting headlights cleaned again and again. After cleaning, the headlights look as good as new.
Update (5th August 2015):
After some time of my 1st visit in July 2013, I visited New Car Talmiya again but this time, they asked for a lot of money, they were asking a lot of money even for removing the last protection sheets they had installed. I checked around and someone guided me to cheaper shops nearby, I went their took their services and it was a disaster, they damaged 1 headlight and bumper paint while cleaning the lights. So I would highly recommend not to visit anyone who is not expert in cleaning headlights!
After some time, I visited New Car Talmiya again and after some negotiations, they charged me around SR 150 for the same services. I couldn’t find the same Filipino there who did the cleaning for the 1st time, he was very good, this time, the cleaning was not that good.
I asked some car mechanics from time to time about best headlights cleaning services available in Riyadh and some informed me to visit Al Garabbi Street, Al Batha. On 17th June when I visited Al Garabbi Street for new tires, I asked around and found the following person:
Name: Bashir
Nationality: Bangali
Mobile: 0538678714
Work: All Car Decoration related work including Headlights Cleaning, he doesn’t have a shop, he will take you to the relevant shop to get the work done.
For Headlines Cleaning from inside and outside and applying protection sheets, he took me to the following shop:
Worker: Abdul Raheem
Nationality: Pakistani
Mobile: 0581153364
Coordinates: 24. 6459 46. 720381
This is the best Headlights Cleaning Service I have found so far. 1 headlight required cleaning from the inside, both headlights were cleaned from the outside, previous protection sheets were removed and new were applied, this all cost me SR 150. This shop is highly recommended!
Update (20th April 2016):
A reader (Muhammad Wasi) has informed that Abdul Raheem has change his work. He is now doing work of Vehicle Sand Protection, Vehicle Weather Protection, Wind Screen Glass Protection, and Seat Cover work. But he can still guide you to a person for headlights cleaning.
Name: X-Drive
Worker: Abdul Raheem
Nationality: Pakistani
Mobile: 0581153364
Coordinates: 24.647161, 46.720982
Useful Tip from a Reader:
Tashfeen Qayyum: Can be done yourself. Use toothpaste, rub it in, rub it off, this is especially effective for plastic headlamps (xenon). I also found a headlight cleaning kit from Hyper Panda, cost 30 SR. Contains paste and sand paper and polishing mitt. Mitt is attachable to a drill machine. I use it now once a year and the lights stay as good as new. Only use 3M branded light plastic covers.
|
|
|
-urShadow