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Old 06-18-2026, 08:04 AM
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Headlight replacement confusion

The lenses of my headlight's are seriously hazed and cracked (beyond repairable) so I'm looking for replacements. I'd rather not go for just the lens replacement even thought I have understood it's possible even for facelift lights. Therefore I'm looking for used lights in good condition. Now I'm a bit confused about the different light variants and which one I should pick.

-The car is 09/23 (very early facelift)
-EU spec
-Facelift headlights
-Factory Xenons S522
-White direction indicator lights S785 (this most likely doesn't matter?)

There are more than enough options when looking online but it's sometimes difficult to compare the pictures and descriptions are sometimes pretty much non-existing. Is there a way to recognize halogen lights from xenons by comparing the housing? A ballast is an obvious one but sometimes they are not included. Not sure about the differences in US and EU cars, but are there any different variants for facelift xenon headlights or is it even possible to go wrong if I buy any facelift lights with xenons?

I attached pictures of two lights with annotations, am I correct with the assumptions of which one is halogen and which is xenon?

Also see the pictures with a red circle, in the left one there is a connector protruding from inside of the housing and in the right picture it looks like it's plugged and there is no opening in the housing at all. Anyone know what that connector is for?

I'd prefer not to take the current lights off the car before having the new ones because of the bumper removal so it's difficult to fully compare the lights.

I was also looking for new aftermarket options which I could get for around 500 euros but from my understanding they are most likely trash compared to the used OEM option?
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Old 06-18-2026, 08:29 PM
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Sorry I can't speak to the quality of aftermarket, or interchangeability. The headlight you have marked as halogen is correct; it is a halogen unit. Good luck!
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