When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Since I bought my W204 (1 year ago), there is a matte round(ish) spot inside of the headlight cover, front of the bulb. It is a Xenon headlight.
However, it doesnt affect the lighting itself, but it doesn't look good, it rieally ruins the car.
Is there any way, to remove this matte spot? Can this even be removed / polished? It is inside of the plastic. If I am correct, disassembling of the whole headlight housing is quite difficult. Is this true? For removing the plastic, I saw some heat techniques... Is it worth a try? Or is it a time wasting?
Yea, I guess you have tried it from outside. Actually we have polished it as well, so we can be sure, it is inside.
Most likely comes from the Xenon light itself. Somehow it "burns" the inner surface of the plastic ouseing, or water / vapor dries there, and leaves a mark... Or something like that.
There is an another W204 in the family, also with Xenon lights, and have the same issue. Not that big as mine, but same problem type.
This is a known issue with these cars. Removing and dissecting the headlight assembly will not be easy. Alternatively you could replace the units, but this will happen again.
This is a known issue with these cars. Removing and dissecting the headlight assembly will not be easy. Alternatively you could replace the units, but this will happen again.
What exactly is it though? Hard to believe the inside is "burned" from an LED headlight. Is it water vapour? Is it actually the inside?
These are not LED headlights in the W204. They are HID which are cooler than halogen but still quite hot.
Perhaps I didn't explain myself properly. I switched my headlights from Halogen to LEDs about a year ago. This "matte" problem only started happening in the last month.
I'm skeptical about it being from the inside. First of all, LEDs are super cool. Second, when rubbing your finger on the matte area, it feels different than the rest of the headlight... from the outside.
I'm not saying it's impossible it's from the inside, but it would be nice to hear from someone who dealt with this/fixed it. Any other threads about this?
Perhaps I didn't explain myself properly. I switched my headlights from Halogen to LEDs about a year ago. This "matte" problem only started happening in the last month.
I'm skeptical about it being from the inside. First of all, LEDs are super cool. Second, when rubbing your finger on the matte area, it feels different than the rest of the headlight... from the outside.
I'm not saying it's impossible it's from the inside, but it would be nice to hear from someone who dealt with this/fixed it. Any other threads about this?
Sorry, I am not familiar with this happening in reflector housings, only on the projector ones. But yes, lots of threads on this:
We have tried to polish it from outside, and nothing happened --> So I guess it is inside
I looked a little bit after the headlight disassembling, and yea... It is quite complicated. Heat (owen / heatgun / anything) is needed to remove the plastic housing. I am a little bit afraid, that I can do bigger damage on the headlight, than the actual issue.
Even if I open the headlight, I am not sure, that this burned (or whatever) surface can be polished, or cleaned.
Or as option B, I'm thinking about to remove the headlight, and reach somehow this area from outside, from back of the lamp. Trough the blinker, or trough the bulbs after removing.
The linked threads are useful, thank you for them!. I haven't read all of them yet, but unfortunately I haven't seen a proper DIY solution so far.
04-09-2020, 07:59 AM
