E53: Headlight Restoration
 

Through the years I've been facing the issues of hazy and discolored headlights. I've taken it to a couple local shops to restore them but was told that the haziness from condensation and is located on the inside of the lenses. Man I wished it was easy to replace just like my E46, but i attempted to grab some different grit sand paper and was not successful. I left it alone for a couple years looking for a cheap replacement or some euros.

Recently my friend recommended the 3M restoration kit and mentioned he had much success with his VW. At 25 bucks from my local AutoZone, I figured I'd try it...

Here are the results...

Huge difference. I also replaced my HID bulbs with the D2S Osram Xenarc 66240 Nightbreaker. WOW!
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That 3M kit works good. Used it last summer on my Moms 2005 MB E300. That car is parked outside at the NJ shore, and they came back like new. She drove it a few nights later and called to tell me the difference is night and day.

Good to hear. Did you apply any coating after? Just worried that now the UV coat is gone that it'll have to be polished more frequently.

They look pretty damn good, you can get them even clearer with a few more passes of a finishing polish and a foam pad as well.

Nighbreaker bulbs are amazing, such an underrated thing to restore light output by replacing with fresh OEM bulbs. Our cars are 10 years old, these bulbs dim with age but very slowly so its not noticeable!

Yea.. my bulbs where tired... started to look yellow... barely any intensity... swapped them out and what a huge difference. Forgot what it was like to see that intense blue on start up and bright white light after it's warmed up. My high beams actually work now! LoL

Good job, Jay. I did the same thing last weekend, using the basic 3m kit that you use with a low rpm power drill. Nice Pix. My 'before and after' are almost exactly like yours'. I added protective urethane covers, which custom fit E53 headlights, from weathertech. Thick clear urethane with adhesive backing, you use a hair dryer to heat and work out the corners. My kit did not come with the liquid 3m protective sealer, which is an alternative to the expensive weathertech covers. I have used it before and it seemed to protect fairly well, though we only had that car [a benz diesel sedan] for another year or so. The weathertech covers are around $50.

Just use the sealant that you use on your paint, apply a coat once every few months to protect them.

Good to hear. I had thick protection type film on my 3 series but later took it off since it didn't look as clear.

Yea, i'm going to try the sealant this time around and see what happens over time.

FYI - I ordered my HID bulbs from Lightwerkz... They respond and ship fast!!

OEM HID Projector Retrofit Parts & Service Specialists I Lightwerkz.net

Info...
D2S: Osram Xenarc 66240 Nightbreaker - HID Bulbs - Components

http://www.ilovexenon.co.uk/330-larg...enon-bulbs.jpg

Caesar is definitely the man over there, real cool dude. Responds to my emails quick, I am due to visit him next month to finish up my wife's retrofit actually.

+1

My OE headlights get a good application of paint sealing wax every 2 months, never refinished and look new...........avoid automatic car washes and wand-wash DIYs too, the PH and recycled water balance is wacked at most locations.

Jay, RB, on the headlights; my 2006 build sheet shows Xenon/adaptive headlights, and my service history shows one xenon headlight replaced in early '13. As I read it, the D2S bulb is for the 'low beam'. My other headlight might be an original, no history to indicate otherwise, so I may be installing these soon. What is the high beam replacement and is that a DIY job? Thx

You most likely have Bi-Xenons... both low/highs are the same D2S bulb... Your inner bulbs are halogen used for "flash to pass" and/or DRLs

D2S is for your low and high beam, facelift E53 utilize E55 bi-xenon projectors, like Jay said below the inner halogen bulb is a flash to pass bulb, but it can be enabled via coding through NCS as an additional high beam bulb.

Along with the fog light enabled with high beam feature, you could thusly enable the "6 gun salute" for high beam lol!

That inner bulb I believe is an H1 or H7, but don't quote me as I have an '03, we have 9005 for high beam halogen.


I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND replacing the D2S bulbs in pairs, stupid shortcut the dealer took to only replace one.

I can send you a link to genuine Philips 85122 bulbs for $74 shipped should you wish to get a pair, TiagX5 bought a pair from the link I sent him about 2 months ago and was very happy, absolute cheapest genuine set of bulbs I can find via a legit Philips seller.

Thanks, the intel suggests the inside 'pass' bulbs are H1s. RB, do PM me the link to the Phillips source; I might go that way instead of the $190 for the nightbreakers when the time comes, though they sound great and I'm old enough to benefit from top-quality lighting when dodging deer in rural Georgia .....

Trust me even a fresh set of Philips 85122's will make a difference.

I'm not ashamed to post the website as he is legitamite, I got his info from HIDPlanet, as his father is a sponsor there. Basically the bulbs are the son's operation, the dad has aviation contracts with Philips and does business with them which gives the son access to Philips wholesale so he buys pallets of unboxed bulbs on trays weekly, and repacks/resells them at wholesale pricing. $74 shipped, unbeatable.

If you want a bit extra for deer dodging Riggo I highly recommend finding someone local to code your LCM so that your fog lights can be enabled with the high beams, as well as activate the 6-gun salute. Very useful on rural roads, if you were in my area I could do it for you, but shouldn't be hard to find someone down there who codes with NCS Expert.

Philips D2S (85122) - HIDbulbsRus

RB gave me that link last year, bought from them. Fast shipping and HUGE difference.

Installed 4150k 65w PIAA H9s in the fogs, expected them to be slightly lower color temp then the HIDs, they were much brighter. Philips D2S swap made the HIDs slightly higher, around 4250k.

Good job, JaySpec7. I put on a pair of 3M clear protectors after doing that.

Tam you don't by chance happen to have your halogen lights from your old pre-facelift '01 do you? If so I may have a use for them for my retrofit project

You inspired me to go for the Valeo HID fogs! What are you running for your halos? I understand the halos limit that amount of light due to it's construction.

I have generic halos from ebay since I have an '03 and didn't have stock angel eyes, mine are entire ring assemblies.

Just get the generic $60 halo LED bulbs from ebay, they don't allow for additional brightness just better color. For your facelift you are lucky you can just add a set of bulbs and have the look, I have to find a set of lights to bake open lol!

Enjoy those Valeo fogs, a TON of light on the road isn't it?

I dunno... baking the pre-face is much easier... plus you can get crazy bright LED halos...

Yea, saw your posts along w/ X5SNDs... saved me from going DEPOs

....If you can find post 10/02 build headlights to bake, they are NOT easy to find.

I would recommend a urethane sealant. For details see this thread:

http://www.xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-foru...s-re-do-1.html

For pics see this post:

http://www.xoutpost.com/955168-post42.html

The top picture is what the lens looked like when I bought the car. The second one is what the lens looked like after I completed the polishing. The third is the drivers lens after the sanding / polishing but before the application of the urethane sealant. The fourth is the lens after the application of the urethane sealant. In person it looks brand new. And it continues to look that way today...almost a year later.

Sold them not long after the replacement.

WOW!! Can't believe how bad your lenses were! But thanks. Going to rebuff then seal.

Activate the 6 gun salute? Low beams, high beams, and fogs?

You got it!

Thanks Sunny! Attempted on my Honda before I committed to do the UV on the X. Came out awesome!!

Paint brush didn't work out that well and redid it with cloth.

Headlight restoration
 

I have had the same experience. It sure looks like the haziness is on the inside. I've noticed that when the lenses are wet though, there is no appearance of haziness. So you're saying that they can be restored from the outside, and all that crap is NOT on the inside? Can it be true?:dunno:

So, any update on the quality of the lenses now?
I just did mine with a Turtle Wax headlight restoration kit, and its OK looking (seems there is a bit of orange peel affect after wiping on the Base and then sealant cloths). As long as the orange peel does not distort the light output I'm fine with how it will look.
BUT I'm looking to see if I need to put on another Coating to avoid having to re-do the lights again in 6 months... I read that once you use sanding paper on the plastic, you're constantly having to wax/re-seal your plastic light covers...
I've seen people use a 60/40 mix of MinWax and mineral spirits (thinner) and some use Opti-Lens sealant... just looking for long term updates...

^Mike if you have sanded your lenses down you have gotten rid of or compromised the factory clear coat UV protection on the lenses. You will need to either wax/seal the lenses constantly to slow the return of the yellowing, or you need to apply a coating. I've seen the urethane/min spirits method, but for the price, I would recommend applying Opti-Lens coating. Just polish the lenses up again, wipe them down with IPA, and apply the coating. One syringe can do a few coats on 1 set of lenses, or a few different sets of lights.

:iagree:

Thanks Jason
I will be removing the bumper again to install a new PDC in a few weeks, so I may as well remove the headlamps again and add this opti-lens coating.
cheers guys.

I'm only doing this because about 2 years ago a detailer was doing my x5 and he ran his rotary over my headlamps and it made them hazy so I decided to try to remedy this by sanding adn applying a restoration kit.... not successful. Anyhow, my light output from that one headlamp he put the rotary buffer on is slightly distorted compared to the other now. Even with my new Xenarc bulbs the cutoff pattern is fuzzy on the wall. dang. I was hoping the restoration kit would make the distortion less... guess not. anyhow, I'll cover over with opti-lens. thanks guys.


PS: eshine.ca has this for $79 CDN, so if anyone in Canada is looking to buy it... much cheaper than buying from US at the moment...

So adding the finishing polish will be ok to have on the lenses before applying the Opti-Lens coating? Shouldnt the Opti-Lens coating stick directly to the plastic? I'm Gonna read up a bit more...

I used the 3m kit, the one using a rotary attachment to a hand drill, very successfully. For coating/protection, I used the more expensive, stick on clear covers, I believe sold via weathertech? They have held up well.

Linky for the weathertech stick on covers -
2006 BMW X5 | Headlamp Headlight Protection, LampGard by WeatherTech | WeatherTech.com

After you run a pass of polish (presumably to get rid of any haze and make sure the lenses are perfect before coating them) - you would want to wipe them down with a 15% IPA wipe, then apply the coating

Alternatively Riggo just mentioned, you could get Xpel clear film on the lenses as well for protection

thanks Jay. I will be buying the 3M kit to go along with the 2 turtle wax kits I have. so I have PLENTY of clarifying compound and lubricant spray for the drill pads.
And after buying that large 10ml syringe of Opti-Lens I should be able to do multiple lights (though I only have to do two now). I'm actually looking forward to re-doing this now cause I wasn't impressed with the clarity of the lend before I coated them (with turtle wax sealant) and now I realize it was just cause I did not spend enough time with the clarifying compound on the lenses after sanding. I should have made sure they were crystal clear before sealing.
I have to remove bumper for PDC replacement again anyhow, so no big deal to remove headlighs... I just hate realigning them. I wish someone around Calgary had a beam setter machine...

I had used one of the other kits likely a turtle wax or similar] before on very scratched/yellowed Benz E300 covers. The 3M kit, with drill-driven pad, was far superior. Be patient, take your time, and good results you will have!

Rig, glad to hear as I was not too impressed with the turtle wax and it was NO better than before so I figured not only did I waste time I removed the factory coatings and now have to worry about that...ugh.
But after reading a bit more about coatings here, and some input from Jay about Opti-Lens I'm confident I'lll get it correct this next time.. I really love seeing the defined cut-off pattern from fresh HID's and since only one headlamp is showing me that I knew I had to take a second crack at the headlight NOT showing the defined HID pattern cause its a bit fuzzy still. I'll get it this time.