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Cleaning inside the headlights

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Nicely sent his headlights off to clearcorners to get the LED's installed.

Are you certain it's on the inside and not on the outside? UV does cause them to haze over, and look like condensation on the inside. I had it on mine, got the machine polisher out and gave them a good going over and they came up like glass!!! James, if you're about, pop over some time and can give them the once over to see.
Cheers mate that'd be great! Ill PM you my number :)
 
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You've just reminded me mate I think I have condensation cos the new(ish) HID kit I fitted onto car forced me to drill holes in the back of the grey plastic caps for the low beams backend of units and the gromets as part of the HID wiring loom do not sit tight/flush in the holes I cut so there isn't a proper seal anymore doh?! :wack:
That would defo be cause for condensation in the light mate,can you seal it up at all?? I have glued the crack in mine and whacked some silicone sealant over the top,hopefully it will do the trick plus if i need to I can just peel the sealant off if I need to change the bulb,so its all good!!
 
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as promised have put up a few pics of how to get the lights out,basically have to take off the front bumper and undo 2 10mm bolts on the inner side of the lights then one on the top and there is another bolt in the wing which is why its necissary to remove the bumper,when these are off you can just remove the light take out all the bulbs then there are 4-5 little screws around the edge of the light that you will have to remove so that you can pry it open when the sealant is warmed up.i didnt end up cleaning my light as there was a crack in the back so would be pretty pointless as the condensation is gonna get back in again,but while the lights were off decided to change my indicator bulbs for the silver ones makes a difference to the look soe pics up before and after......
 
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LuPix_S15

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Nice update mate. I haven't got round to sorting out the grommet with HID bulb kit but I'll wait till I get the units off and give them a proper clean :thumbs:
 

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Yeah thanks pegliobaglio, dosen't look to hard, so will give it a go once I get some time :)
 
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just read through this thread, i have the same problem... i hope to sort it in the next week or two... im somewhat nervous about putting the lense in the oven, considering the price of them if something goes wrong.... would a heat gun be a reasonable alternative?
 
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Luddy-C

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just read through this thread, i have the same problem... i hope to sort it in the next week or two... im somewhat nervous about putting the lense in the oven, considering the price of them if something goes wrong.... would a heat gun be a reasonable alternative?
Did ya do this in the end Simon? Tempted to do it myself too cos my right headlight badly needs it. Same buzz with the oven though, don't wanna melt it!!
 
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i would try a hairdryer first mate if you worried about damaging it,then u can gauge whether a heat gun is needed,just start to work it away at one point with a screwdriver or sharp blade and work your way round ,screwdriver is good as u can get some leverage on it and direct the heat onto the sealant rather than the plastic,and aim the heat onto the black backing rather than the lens if possible as u really dont wanna damage the lens! good luck
 
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Luddy-C

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Not sure if that was a reply to me or to Simon but thanks for the advice anyways! :D

Think I might see if I can find some tidy small spot/fog lights to compliment them when I do get them sorted :)



Edit: Meant to say nice job on the clear indicators! Looks sweet
 
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Did ya do this in the end Simon? Tempted to do it myself too cos my right headlight badly needs it. Same buzz with the oven though, don't wanna melt it!!
Not sure if that was a reply to me or to Simon but thanks for the advice anyways! :D

Think I might see if I can find some tidy small spot/fog lights to compliment them when I do get them sorted :)



Edit: Meant to say nice job on the clear indicators! Looks sweet
Well dude, hows it going....

Ya. i decide to tear into the light the other day, and this is how it went!

picture of the headlight, some of these droplets are on the inside...


I put the whole headlight in the hotpress for a couple of days to see if that resolved the problem but although it dried the droplets of water , there was still a bit of residue left inside..Next, just out of interest i tried the oven for size..... and no, the light is much to big for the oven so people using ovens to do this must be using industrial sized ovens..

Heat gun it was so, and i started by going round all the joint/seam on the lense case , then broke the seal with a flat head screw driver, more heat again with the heat gun and gently prise apart with the screwdriver and with your hands...


i just want to mention also, you'd want to be some numpty to melt the lense case with a heat gun as i heated mine fairly well and was no where near melting. also make sure you have the indicator bulb removed, as i forgot about this and it'll hold in the lense if not removed

I took this picture looking through from the inside of the lense, you can sort of see some of the residue on the inside


Heres the lense seperated


Then i cleaned ,t-cut'd and polished both inside and outside the lense.. However i was and still not 100% happy with the outcome , but not through any of my work.. the lense itself seems to have very minute discrepencies throughout the lense, in the actual glass/perspex... hard to explain, it was lik it was frosted... if you were looking in , you'd think the damgae was on the inside , and if you were looking out you'd think the damage was on the outside.. anyhow no amount of polishing resolved it..

I finished by heating all the old sealer with the heat gun and applied new tigerseal to the lense casing before re-joing, and after joined i used the heat gun to further heat the joint seal just to allow me to be able to seat the lense fully in the groove of the lense case..

the finished article-


Just to finish. i never found any indication of damage to the lense so dont know how moisture got in the lense in the first place , and also a hair dryer would not be near good enough for this task..

Hope this helps guys
 
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Luddy-C

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Good stuff man, cheers! I don't have a heat gun but it's a good excuse to buy one :) I've bought a ton of tools since I got the S15!

Think I know what ya mean about the frostyness. Mine need a good seeing to anyways so I'll get around to it soon. Cheers for the info!
 
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