Has anyone ever had moisture in their 550/575 headlights? I can only see the effect at night when the lights are on. Looks kinda hazy inside the glass where the light hits. Anyone know where they can be serviced/cleaned inside the plexi type cover? Anyone have pics of headlights on at night for comparison? TIA!
If it's moisture, then you can just pop open the two oval shaped grey colored bulb covers behind the headlight assembly, then use a hair dryer. However, I doubt it's moisture. More than likely it's a haze built up of grunge and dust. No way to clean that unless you remove the whole assembly from car and then try to use a bent wire with a cloth tip through the bulb hole to reach the inside of lens. Not recommended! It took me 3 days to do that and can still see some marks AND can not reach all corners. I only tried out of curiosity as I had already bought new headlight assemblies. It was definitely NOT fun work. Some people have cut open the lens to clean then glue back, but that's too radical a route I think.
I had the same problem with a 993 Pcar, and some european e36 M3. My solution at the time was simple, I removed the headlight housing, removed the bulbs and basically half filled the headllight with rubbing alcohol, afterwards do it as James Bond, shaken, not stirred, just keep on doing the procedure until the haziness is almost gone, you wont get a 100% result, but it does clean up the lens and removes that film that covers the inside. Just my 2 cents, David
I would think the problem is caused by faulty seals around the headlight.There shouldn't be any moisture inside.
Bring it to a glass shop that works with plexiglass. I had my reconditioned by a local shop and they look brand new.
I had a similar problem with my 3rd center eye tail light. It seems to be the plastic inside the light that breaks down under direct sunlight. Something in the plastic seal breaks down into a fog/haze. Cool. Will try that if the alcohol trick doesn't work. P.S. Thx for the alcohol idea djimenez/David!
Excellent tip. I prefer alcohol based cleaners on critical parts because it does not leave a residue like petroleum base cleaners. I'll be the lenses are made of something like Lexan that alcohol won't disturb.
Alcohol tricks seems to have worked to clean them (while off car). My detailer was able to fit a micro-fibre cloth inside and move it around with a small spatula. Seemed to be easy for them to remove the headlights and took 2 hours to clean both. Detailer noted there are some vented holes on the bottom(?) that seem to allow engine fumes to get inside the lense. Will try to cover those up before re-installing. No reason to spend $2000 x2 to replace it seems. That was the dealer recommended fix.
