Headlight Cracked...ARHHH

[Herr Bauhaus]

Response from my service rep:

The best is to ask the dealer there to contact their area BMW Factory Representative as our Representative had some information available to him that we did not have access to.

Our representative told me that it was a temperature issue that was specific to the Southwest.

By the way, this is still the only vehicle that we have seen this condition on so far.

[paulyz]

Ok, looks like I am going to have to do a lot of back and forth calling and arguing with my local dealer before anything happens with this. Thanks for the quick follow up! I'll let you know if I found out anything else helpful for others having this problem.

[paulyz]

What bothers me the most is that I just bought the car last week. Its a CPO so I dont get how it got certified. Arent the headlights on the CPO checklist? If so, who do you file a complaint with/contact when your certified pre-owned vehicle turns out to have headlights that are not even covered under your original factory warranty...

[jamesboags]

Originally Posted by paulyz

I just bought a 2007 4.8 out of state. I didnt notice until after I took delivery that the headlights appeared to be scratched/cracked from the inside. Its not that bad when the lights are off other than the visible cracks, but the lights seem fogged from the inside when they are turned on.

I brought it to a local dealership who said that this was not covered under warranty. I have the clear protective coat on my front end, and they claim that its possible that some sort of heat was applied to the hood when the clear coat was installed and it was the heat that cracked the headlight.

IS this even possible? I thought the clear coat was installed with an adhesive, and dont the headlights produce a ton of heat themselves.

Any info you have would be greatly appreciated.

Herr Bauhaus, did they tell you why yours were covered?

I had fogging on the inside of mine and got one replaced (It affected the beam and caused a dark edge around the beam .... the other was replaced due to an accident and now both are the newer part #... My claim was that a contaminant had entered a supposedly sealed headlight enclosure .. although there is a type of small pipe on the back of the light which seems to provide some sort of venting... dealer declined so I wrote a letter to BMW asking under what terms of the warranty such a fault is not a manufacturing defect...they agreed to replace.

[HHR]

Originally Posted by Herr Bauhaus

Although my headlights cracked differently, I got them replaced under warranty from BMW on my 08 X5 (built February 08) as there seemed to be a manufacturing error with them. A BMW factory rep came by my dealer and confirmed this although it was the first time the dealer heard of it. Given the outrageous cost for parts + labour ($2-3k easily) I say it is worth trying to get this replaced under warranty. It should be noted that mine cracked from the inside (you could see but feel no cracking from the outside) which meant it could not have been caused by road debris. Pics attached. Good luck.

I have similar cracks (little smaller) on my 08 X5 too. And water inside taillight. Serious fun. We have now -25C and maybe the temperature difference have something to do with cracks.
Let see what dealer says about it.

[ABMW]

Clear Bras over the headlight can sometimes prevent this. They do absorb quite a bit of impact, and some companies even offer guarantees saying as such.

For the $100.00 it would cost to have your lights "coated" with the material, it's worth a shot. Go with a good company that uses 3M clear bra material. It's strong quality stuff. It was invented to be used on the leading edges of airplane props to protect them against stone, bird, and debris chips.

In my experience it's worked great. I did have a rock hit my bra once, in AZ, and tear a small hole into the surface (which was replace free under the bra installer's warranty) but the surface beneath was 100% protected! It's worth every penny..

It "probably," "maybe" could have prevented this. $550.00 is not worth an insurance claim, in most cases, so it sucks. Check e-bay! There's got to be one floating around.

[The Big Easy]

I have had a clearbra (3M) installed on the headlights in both cars, and although the lights do produce heat, no problem with the product's longevity has been seen. In this country, the clearbra is now standard on all BMW's demo cars that are on loan to dealerships in order to try to prevent the costly headlight replacements.

Cheers,

Originally Posted by Herr Bauhaus

The headlights do produce a ton of heat, that's why they should not be covered themselves with clearcoat/film. I find it hard to believe a clearcoat applied to the hood would cause the damage.

Regarding my headlights:
- they cracked from the INSIDE
- they were replaced under warranty because it was a manufacturing defect. My dealer was not aware of this but a BMW factory rep that happened to visit looked at them and okay-ed replacement under warranty for this reason. It could be very true that your dealer is simply not aware either if the existence of this manufacturing defect