Vlad-II

Hello Everyone,

This is actually my first post here on these forums, but I've been a silent lurker for the past 4 years, reading everyone elses issues and dilemnas, lol, and I really thank a lot of you guys because some of your issues really helped me solve mine haha. Anyway here is my first dilemna that I'd like to share with you all.

I own a 2002 Mercedes Benz C240, its not souped up or anything like that I'm barely making it with my $7.15 job as a sales associate, lol so everything is pretty much stock, haha. Anyway I was looking to restore my passenger headlights, I looked at various forums, does anyone know a lost cost solution that will work to restore the passenger headlights on my 2002 C240 W203 to a slightly brand new condition?. My car was hit and run last year (February 09) while parked and the insurance covered the cost of the repairs (thank goodness for full coverage). So they replaced the driver's side headlamp unit that was damaged along with the marker light and bumper total cost of the repair was over $7,000, which was all covered by the insurance company, haha. So anyway few months go by and I decided today I decided to put some aftermarket HID lights in the car, the ones that come with the error cancelor relay. And it wasn't untill after I put the brighter lights on, I noticed the nasty look of the Passenger Side headlamp housing. Its all gritty and faded, in fact it actually affects the performance of the HIDs because it produces more glare. I would take pictures but my cell phone camera sucks at night shots.

Anyway since the Passenger side headlamp is pretty old about 8 years old now, it needs to be either replaced or restored, is there anyway I can restore the headlamps without paying the hefty stealership cost of getting a new one? I did buy some polish kit made by Turtle Wax from my local AutoZone. Its a polish and a spray with a few sanding pads. I did try sanding it down a bit, its excruciatingly cold out there, so I doubt it'll work well and unfortunately it also looks as if the oxidation occured inside the lens though rather than outside from the heat of the halogen bulbs that were in there before. I also prefer the 01-04 headlamps as opposed to the 05-07 versions, they have a nicer cleaner look to it and look great with the HIDs that I installed. Thanks again!

Nice to meet you all btw!, What a large community, lol.
-Vlad

mystery905

If you're in Toronto, Canada, I could sell you one or both of my OEM 2004 headlamps.

Glyn M Ruck

If you like the old style frosted headlight lens you should have no trouble getting a good condition secondhand unit for a very reasonable amount. People can't give them away - Everybody wants clears or BiX.

If you search the internet you can find new clear lenses very cheaply. You then have to unglue your existing lens with a hot air gun & glue the new one on. I've never seen a frosted (fresnel type) lens separate but they may exist.

What are your reflectors like?



Good luck

Vlad-II

Wow that looks beautiful!, I wish I could put those on both of them but mine are not clear like that, mine are frosted or blurry ones that came with the first generation W203 prior to the facelift that occurred in 2005. It's the 01-04 styled lenses. I'll take a picture later and post it. Thanks for the replies! You guys are very hekpful!

laneshift

I've yet to have to deal with mine, yet.. my frosties are still very clean.

But! I'm sure that any auto-store has an applicant to put on the lens to buff away the foggy-ness/residue. Don't get it on your paint!

P.S. How do HID's look behind frosty headlights instead of clears? I'm putting my HID's in today!

Vlad-II

I did buy one of those self DIY restoration kits from AutoZone (made by TurtleWax). It comes with a polish wax thing and a spray to put on the 4 sanding pads that it comes with. But the problem is that the oxidation occurred inside the lens. So I would have to remove the entire headlamp housing and unassemble the lens and HID kit for the passenger side which would be a heck of a lot of work, and it would negate the professional HID installation.

Lanshift, the HIDs actually look incredible on the frosty 01-04 lens especially on the driver side lens, (the one the insurance company replaced after the hit and run). The passenger side is a bit glary and the lighting is uneven because of the oxidation and the heat stains. The lighting appears as if I have high beams on the right rather than the left because of the oxidation, lol.

Glyn, are the lenses easy to install? I probably haveto remove the entire HID kit and headlamp assembly to put them on...

samaritrey

I think it is time for another hit and run i kid but i am sure someone could give you a headlight for shipping costs if yours is really that bad.

:Cough: :Cough:
https://mbworld.org/forums/c-class-w...ight-clip.html

SheryarYO

i have 2 frosty headlights if you're interested. i'll take whatever i can get for them.

Glyn M Ruck

No - it's quite a tedious job. Nick (C24owner) did a whole DIY thread on it. I would buy a good secondhand set. They should be really cheap. You got an offer above. You have to remove the assembly.

Vlad-II

Ok here are some pictures:





















So basically when you analyze all of the pics, you see that the passenger side headlamps are blurry than the right now if you look at the ones with the lights on, you'll notice that the passenger side headlamps have glared, so therefore at night, the light appears excruciatingly brighter than it has to be and that can blind oncoming traffic. So I'm wondering what the solution could be, or perhaps if I can just replace the clear portion as some mentioned, its clearly not the clear one obviously when looking at the picture, I'm wondering if there are lens frames exactly like the one I have and how much it would cost to get it professionally installed, because I'm no mechanic nor body expert, lol. So I don't want to mess up anything at all, lol.

Glyn M Ruck

See from post 53 - page 3

https://mbworld.org/forums/c-class-w...diy-guide.html

Vlad-II

pm'ed

and thanks for linking me to the DIY Glyn! Really doesn't seem that bad, I'll probably need to find a DIY for removig the actual assembly as well lol.

Vlad-II

Ok so I took the car to a few people who know a lot about vehicular lighting, they told me that the aiming of the bulbs is erroneous and uneven. And I did notice that tonight when I was driving with the new HIDs, the lights are incredibly bright, so bright that its blinding to oncoming traffic and I'm getting flashed back like crazy, sometimes its so bad that people ahead of me literally pullover to the right just to let me pass.

And to me that is unacceptable, I'm almost considering returning the HIDs and going back to stock, they look nice but they are just too bright its as if I have beam lights on, lol. Is there anything I can do to properly adjust the aim and angle of the HIDs or are they just not suitable for the Frosty Light housing and the 02 C240? I'm also worried that I may get ticketed by the cops for having such bright lights. I know that HIDs are naturally 3x brighter than the standard Halogens, but I know many people who have them installed and they are no where near as bright, as mine, there must be a way to adjust the positioning and the lighting angle of the bulbs.

laneshift

The height adjustment screw on the headlight assembly is for that purpose. Lower your beams, fool!

I believe turn the screw left is to lower, and right is to raise. Not super sure, search around for "adjusting headlight height" or the like.

Sorry, have to leave!

Vlad-II

Yeah since its pretty dark now and most places are closed, I'll take it to the place where I got the HIDs installed and have them lower it, or perhaps have the dealers adjust it, since i don't have the tools to do so :/ ...

acr2001

Not to sound like any more of a grouch than usual, but the shop that installed your HIDs is negligent and deserves a good lawsuit for putting cars on the road that blind other drivers. Your car should not have left their shop without the cutoff being properly adjusted. MORONS.

Please have the idiots adjust it before you blind anyone else - and I would not pay them a penny to do the adjustment.

WaveyKat

i have a pair of these was going to installed them since my BIX started turning yellowish color but i use Mcguire's Plastic Polish and helped! i did removed the lens so i can sand and polish the inside!

Kar don

u turn clockwise (tighten) to lower the beam... had to adjust my BIX tonight. Dealer installed a new headlamp and did a terrible job aiming it.

Kar don

BTW, it looks like your car came from the factory with Xenon lights. It has the headlamp washers which is only present if your car has factory xenons.

LILBENZ230

That's what I thought, too, but it's not correct. On early W203s, the headlamp washers were part of a package that didn't include HIDs.. it could, but it wasn't a necessity.

samaritrey

yeah my car has them and a lot of the new vw's have the headlight washers without bix. my dads 2010 gti he is getting later today has halogen's but headlight washers.

Cintoman

That is correct LILBENZ...In the US, the earlier year vehicles (2001,2002,2003) the headlamp washers were part of a "winter package" which included the washers, heated seats, but no Xenons.

Vlad-II, I do see a decent difference in your new driver's side lense versus your older/original passenger side lense. This is typical on many cars, as after several years on the road, road debris and especially the sunlight degrade the UV coating that's on the lense. Once this coating is compromised, you'll start getting the yellowing/fading you're seeing on your passenger headlamp.

In most cases though, the damage is on the outside. Very rarely is there any damage on the inside, so I question you having to unglue your lense from your headlamp assembly. If you do, you'll probably find the inside of your lense is fine.

I actually have a car detailing side business and headlamp restoration is something that I offer to my clients. You would be amazed at the difference the products I use can do to a set of old/faded headlamps.

I do this by abrading the polycarbonate with several levels of SIS microfinishing paper. Think of microfinishing paper as exceptionally fine sandpaper. Typical sandpaper fineness is measured in the paper's grit, with most consumer sandpaper being anywhere from 20 grit (very coarse) to perhaps as high as 300 grit (very fine). The SIS microfinishing paper I use runs from as low as 120 grit to as high as 12,000 grit. 12,000 grit feels about as rough as your glass monitor (it's much finer than typical copy machine paper!).

My process does not require removal of the headlamp assembly. Depending on the level of correction needed, I'll start with a low level microfinish paper to start abrading (sanding down) the surface of the lense. At the beginning, the lense will look much foggier and opaque than when I started. I then work my way up to about a 3,600 level. Each level up makes the lense clearer and clearer. I then apply a polish to remove any scratches that haven't been removed by going up level by level to where I am now. Once I'm satisfied with the results, I'll then continue until the 12,000 level.

At this point the lense looks phenomenal and optically clear. However, if I were to leave it at this point, within 3 or 4 months, the headlamp would revert back to its' foggy state, because there is no UV protectant. My final step is to apply this UV protectant. This coats the plastic with a protective layer that's just like the coating applied at the factory when manufactured. This takes care of any other minor imperfection in the plastic and will also protect the lense from any fading for many years.

My process, as you can tell, is quite involved. And as such, I charge the clients about $90 USD for a pair of headlamps.

However...the are some products available to consumers that can do a really good job. Meguiar's has a product called PlastX, which works pretty good, but does require some decent rubbing and elbow grease. This would be my recommendation for you to try out.

To give you an example, I've attached some before, during, and after pictures of a set of headlamps I did recently for a client on her 2001 VW Cabrio. I think the results speak for themselves.

Cintoman

kylec240

wow cintosman, you do a great job at that. I was wondering what UV coating do you use? Is it something I could go pick up at an autostore or even order it over the internet? I would like to do this to my headlight lenses this summer, if I could find that coating. Thanks

Cintoman

The coating I use is extremely expensive and not something that can be purchased at a local autostore. What I use is something called TMPDE, which is trimethyl propane di-allyl ether, I believe. It's an Acrylic Polyester Urethane Clear Coat which has great U.V. resistance built into the chemical formula and makes the coating extremely resistant to weather and the Sun's harsh effects. Basically, it's very similar to the clearcoats put on most modern vehicles paint finishes. So it's a very hard clearcoating.

I have heard people using a mixture of mineral spirits and spar urethane (both available at you local hardware store or local Walmart paint department) in a 1 to 1 mixture. From what I've seen, it seems to work pretty well, and it has some built-in UV protection. But you need to take your time to apply it, so you don't get any streaks when it dries.

Hope this helps.

Cintoman

Vlad-II

Sorry for not responding in a while the disaster in Haiti, kept me quite glued to CNN, haha, but I did see those screenshots Cintoman, and that is quite an amazing recovery for those lamps, now according to your location, it says you are located in Rhode Island, I'm in New York, are there any similar services offered at that price? Because it seems like a decent price and its hella cheaper than spending money for new headlight housings.