Replacing the Lens on Adaptive HIDs

[miloh]

Scott HD is a reviewer on youtube you should check out. He does trim restorers, window glass coatings, paint coatings, etc and does video comparisons with like 25-30 different products.

I haven’t seen anything about headlights but I would personally try using paint coating since it’s a clear coat and UV protecting. Idk if he does anything about headlights though.


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[Homerlovesbeer]

That's interesting as I've read that applying a clear coat is a no no as the paint alters the refractive index as the light passes through and impacts the beam design.

[miloh]

Originally Posted by Homerlovesbeer

That's interesting as I've read that applying a clear coat is a no no as the paint alters the refractive index as the light passes through and impacts the beam design.

I don't actually know - I was thinking ppf/headlight lens covers would be thick and alter it more than clear coat. I haven't looked into this really at all - if I sounded authoritative on the subject my apologies. If you find some stuff that works well let us/me know. The bottle you posted just makes me think of the different waxes I used to buy over the years that were super generic and looked like that bottle, so I judged it by its cover.

Just an FYI I didn't get to finish this project because I need to grab a second set of some facelift headlights. I chopped the channel while taking apart the first set. One was a struggle to remove the lens without the dremel, the second I dremeled through the channel.


I still have fresh lenses and completed lens swapped projectors sitting in a box . I've been replacing other things as I hit 175,000.

[Attacking Mid]

Sanding and clearcoating is pretty easy to do and works great. Use a sanding progression of something like 200/400/800/1500, clean thoroughly with alcohol, then a few coats of SprayMax 2K clearcoat and your lights will be beautiful and stay that way for years. I've even just used cheap Rustoleum clear and it works well - just a little more vulnerable since it's a softer paint.

AM.

[Homerlovesbeer]

Originally Posted by miloh

I don't actually know - I was thinking ppf/headlight lens covers would be thick and alter it more than clear coat. I haven't looked into this really at all - if I sounded authoritative on the subject my apologies. If you find some stuff that works well let us/me know. The bottle you posted just makes me think of the different waxes I used to buy over the years that were super generic and looked like that bottle, so I judged it by its cover.

Yep I didn't know either but it makes sense.

[nextelbuddy]

I made a video for this showing how to cut the lens off and install everything

https://youtu.be/DUxKwmAcq68

Did nobody see it in search results in YouTube?

[Homerlovesbeer]

Originally Posted by nextelbuddy

I made a video for this showing how to cut the lens off and install everything

https://youtu.be/DUxKwmAcq68

Did nobody see it in search results in YouTube?

I looked at I didn't see your results in search.

I'll check it out!

Thanks!

[Homerlovesbeer]

Originally Posted by nextelbuddy

I made a video for this showing how to cut the lens off and install everything

https://youtu.be/DUxKwmAcq68

Did nobody see it in search results in YouTube?

I just watched 1:51 of an EXCELLENT DIY video! Well done, I feel a bit better about having a crack at what you did. The new Xenon lens looked great but it's a shame the kit needed so much Dremel work. God knows what happened to the high beam Angel eye ring, wow, not even a close fit. I'd nearly be tempted just to fit the smaller ring in the chrome housing and leave the larger ring altogether.

Really like the way you resealed the lens in the oven also. I was hoping you didn't have any ooze out and you accidentally got some on your gloves and then touched your new lens!

My lights are identical to yours however my adaptive lights have a fault as indicated by the flashing green led when you turn the lights on. Any idea what they may be? Motor or the controller? What's more common? Can you fix that?

Thanks again, really really helpful!

[nextelbuddy]

Originally Posted by Homerlovesbeer

I just watched 1:51 of an EXCELLENT DIY video! Well done, I feel a bit better about having a crack at what you did. The new Xenon lens looked great but it's a shame the kit needed so much Dremel work. God knows what happened to the high beam Angel eye ring, wow, not even a close fit. I'd nearly be tempted just to fit the smaller ring in the chrome housing and leave the larger ring altogether.

Really like the way you resealed the lens in the oven also. I was hoping you didn't have any ooze out and you accidentally got some on your gloves and then touched your new lens!

My lights are identical to yours however my adaptive lights have a fault as indicated by the flashing green led when you turn the lights on. Any idea what they may be? Motor or the controller? What's more common? Can you fix that?

Thanks again, really really helpful!

i'm so glad you got some benefit out off that and that here was useable info in there.

the butyl rope is really easy to work with. if it gets on the lens, just use another piece of butyl and it will remove the other one off.

did you have the adaptive fault before the lens swap?

i also have a fault now that i didnt have before. the fault only happens when on the AUTO setting in my case and when the fault occurs it happens when im taking a turn usually a left turn.

i used bmw scanner aka PASoft to read the codes and the fault is in the passenger headlight for me. the fault takes a while to occur and several left turns. the fault is isolated to the adaptive motor.

i know in my case what the issue was.

in my passenger light i had to remove some wiring to extend (i think i covered that in the video) well what i believe has happened is that all the wiring is brittle in the headlight. some people replace all the internal wiring for the main harness but the wiring in the adaptive motors never gets touched and when i disturbed mine to reroute them for some added length, i believe some of the sheathing has come apart internally and thats were the fault is.

i can put my headlights on normal mode and have no issues with the auto leveling.

eventually i'm going to pull it back apart to take a look at that wiring. another video for another day.

[Homerlovesbeer]

I've now ordered all the parts required from Lightworx so not pulled anything apart yet.


I have the fault with the factory lights. Annoying!