2004 e500
I replaced one of my headlamp housing. What a pain to do and labor intensive for first timer. Anyhow I now have a clear lens on the left side and a fogged lens on the right side.

Will the new lens turn cloudy like the old one? Or do I have to drive with one brighter light on one side (which is the old lens). For some reason the new lens has less light output or uneven light distribution.

 

You can polish the old lens so it is not so obvious. If you have the old bulb you can reinstall in the new headlight. The bulbs change in output and color over time and that maybe what you are seeing.

 

The problem has nothing to do with the bulbs or lens outside. The xenon lens itself is what I'm reffering to. One of them is like a frosted glass optical lens.The new one is a clear optical lens. My question is will the new one turn frosted like over time. The reason I ask is because the older side gives out a better and more evenly spread light output.

If I get a chance I will post pics.

 

On my car, I also noticed the cloud on the lens. It looks almost like dust & dirt or dirty air trapped inside gets vaporized by the heat & the vapor settles and bakes onto the lens. It should happen in time to the new one too.

Almost makes you want to take it apart & spray the lens with Windex... because it does affect the light being emitted and its diffusion somewhat.

 

Some pics

 

ok, here they are. The right side is clear and the left side is frosted like. The left side shoots out more light.

 

I mean the right side.

 

The new light has an arch at the bottom too. It makes the light ouitput spread I believe and not straight forward.

 

There are USA and rest-of-world versions of these units--perhaps you now have one of each.

 

that 'arch' looks like a chipped wedge removed from the glass. ??

 

To me it looks like the inside may have a film on it or is dirty. Being brighter I think maybe how you look at it. When the lens is clouded like that I percieve it as having glare or what I call dirty light. Like a high beam, more glare, could be considered brighter but also makes it harder to see. Not sure how to explain it. Like a halogen compared to a HID. To me HID is a cleaner light but not really a brighter light you see less glare with it.

 

The lens is not chipped and also the headlamp was purchased at the dealer here in california.

 

get a life

 

I think your new lamp housing is for a 2005 or 2006 model, and is different than your original 2004 headlamps. The housings have been changed again for 2007. I think your dealer sold you the wrong part.