kondovski

So my car is obviously out of warranty, since March, and the right side (passanger) headlight just kept getting worse. It looked and felt like the headlight had been sunburnt and was peeling. I finally purchased the lens cleaner kit from Turtle Wax and it cleaned up the exterior of the headlight (smooth as butter now). When I washed everything away, well, the picture speaks for iteself. The inside of the headlight is pitted like crazy. It basically looks the same as it did before but the exterior is clean now. Has anyone had this happen? The driver side headlight was replaced because of a hole and water was getting in but it wasn't even that bad. At the time the dealer looked at it and "tried" to get it replaced under warranty but they wouldn't accept it... "normal wear and tear".

So, other than buying a new or used housing, anyone have any ideas? I've searched on here but everyone seems to have had the exterior issues, none on the interior. I know you can't, well, not easily, pull the cover off and clean it and seal it back up. I've been looking all over the place and since mine is an 04, I need to get part 63127166120. Can someone tell me me why or what is different on the post 05 models that it won't work on my car? This isn't and LCI thing right. I have found a ton of housings that fit post 05 models but only a few 04's.

Thanks,

turboawd

you sure those pitting marks arent on the outside?

kondovski

When I run my hand over the light its smooth. It wasn't before I did the Turtle Wax treatment (basically we sanding) so I don't know. Could it have been so deep that it went through and through? It doesn't make sense to me.

mmitev

never seen anything like that
could it be dirt/dust inside? or salt?
looks pretty evenly spread to be an effect of the light or heat?
or it could be that the plastic was of very low quality to start with and it "degraded", which would be a warranty issue?
looks really weird to me, particularly how even it is spread...

jasperxli

That's weird o.O

nomis_nehc

I don't know the weather condition in NC, so it's very hard to judge. At the same time, you would think that there would be other members that have or witnessed such effects over the years.

With that said, if I were to guess, I would place my bet on deterioration/decay as well. At this point, you might as well take rougher sand paper, and give the process another go. If it comes off, great, if not, then you probably need a new headlight.

As for the plastic quality being low... that I have to disagree. Through my experience installing Orions, I have to say that it seems that earlier E60's actually had used more durable plastic to make the headlights. They are noticeably tougher to cut open than LCI's.

eojj

I think you'll need to sand it down another layer on the outside! My headlights were terrible when i got my car. I tried the turtle wax headlight restoration kit too! i thought my headlights couldn't be fixed up and just like you the surface felt smooth. I went and bought 800&1000 grit wet sandpaper and sanded some more now it looks much better. You may even need to use some more rough sandpaper. Needless to say the turtle wax kit SUCKED ASS! there are several DIY on here look em up!

check it out:Before


After, this is the only picture i have at the moment. but you can somewhat see the difference.

kondovski

Thanks everyone. I'm glad to see that its not something I'm imagining. I'm going to try to take it to the dealership and see what they say once again before I go the harder wet sanding. As you said nomis, if it works great but if not then I need to get a new light. I'll let everyone know what happens.

Thanks again,

stoic1

This is an easy fix, start over with a lower grit wet sandpaper like 800. Then work your way through the grits say 1000, 1200, 1500 and 2000. Each time you use a higher grit,the scratches will become less noticeable. May sure that the lens surface stays wet! Otherwise the friction from the sandpaper could cause unrepairable damage to the lens. Finish with a good headlight polishing kit. The best ones have you use a drill or an orbital polisher. Here is the one I used: http://www.autogeek.net/plastik-lens-cleaning.html

kondovski

Follow up:
Thanks to eojj and stoic1 for your advice. Actually before I tried to wet sand with tougher grit sand papaer I ran it by the dealership just for a 'what do you think...' The service manager, whom I have become friends with was there at the time and came out and spoke with me. He said he had seen this happen before and they had been able to take care of it. I told him what I had tried and he called one of the service techs out who had apparently just done a similar job. The guy comes out and in 10 seconds says "yeah, not a problem. You just need to use 800, 1000 and then 1200 etc." He said he could knock it out in 30 minutes for $75 with the new kit he had just bought. I figured since I was there and my drill was dead (I don't think doing it by hand works as well) I would go ahead and do it. Low and behold, 2 hours later...this is what it looks like. Since he couldn't get into the inside corner for fear of hitting the paint(which the pictures don't show so well)they cut the price down to $35. Not bad since the cost of a decent kit is around that price.



New OEM housing from dealership $1,200
New OEM housing from dealership with % discount @ $900
New(?) OEM housing on Ebay $500
Good wet sanding job (discounted) $35!

I think I did good.

Thanks again to everyone on here, you saved me once again.