BenzVince

Hey everyone, Just wanted some good advice on headlight assembly replacement, since my headlight were pretty badly hazed and when I did headlight restoration, came out good however it has pretty bad sratches and pitted, so I am gonna replace with a brand new headlight. However question I have since I was looking to get OEM from Hella, they are pretty expensive for 600 each. I see TYC headlight, which runs about 160 a pop. Anyone have replaced with TYC? I am just concern about the quality of the lighting and how well it held up. As much as I want to get the Hella but I don't want to shell out that much for the money. Any input appreciated

Roop94

how about just new lens? they're about what $40-60 a pair

BenzVince

The lens wouldn't work because I tried that, since I have to "bake" the headlight hot enough in order to pry off the seal from the lens, ended up bad, which the back of the housing got melted.

Roop94

lol i used heat gun to soften up the glue and used a flat head scredriver with all my strength to take the lends off. Just a minor bending of plastic due to the screwdriver but ntn else. Even though everyone suggested me to bake it, i just didnt wanted to risk that or the oven itself lol

Yea HELLA is gona cost you..curious, what's the diff between HELLA headlights n 07-09 headlights? appear to be the same?


$250 ^^^



HELLA $280 a piece

gafitanu

I am in favor of the baking. As I explained in other threads you bake it to 185F not more (BenzVince you probably heated it too much). The advantage of baking over heat gun is that the oven heats the entire assembly and the seal all around the lens is hot not only localized by the heat gun. As you are pulling from one end you are breaking the seal all around and having the entire seal soft makes this easier. Also if you are fast enough you insert the new lens while the seal is still soft, the entire body of the headlight retains the heat so it will harden with the new lens in and you clip it easier.
I have a very good heat gun and I know that works too but so far I did my daughter's W203 and my W211 twice withe great results. Search on eBay for W211 headlight lenses and you will find a pair for $50 from China. They may not last too long but I'll do it again.
Hella is a traditional european high end manufacturer of headlights.

btv94

Hella is oem and i replaced them last November. 100% exact fit as original.


http://www.rmeuropean.com/Products/2...461-MFG44.aspx

and

http://www.rmeuropean.com/Products/2...361-MFG44.aspx

Roop94

True, i totally do agree with the point you made but i used heat gun just for my own "safety" sake lol i might miss one little thing and melt it and bamm, i might be in need of a whole new headlight. It was the first time i did it so i just didn't wanted to take any kind of risk u know. i used the heat gun over an area for few seconds and let the glue melt a little and stick in the screwdriver and break the glue.

Baking is easier and requires less strength when taking lens off than heat gun, but in my opinion, heat gun might be a little safe. In this case, ^^^^ he had some meltdown with baking, most likely i would've been in the same boat lol . of course most of us are inexperienced in these kind of things.

Stuttgarten

Since you've done this more than once, may I ask how long do you keep the unit inside the oven? Also, what do you remove from HL assembly before placing it inside oven, e.g. bulbs? Mine is bi-xenon and I have everything ready, except the courage to do it.

gafitanu

I keep it in the oven for 15 minutes. My thought was that 185F is not an unusual temperature in a very well insulated engine bay while stopped in traffic in 105F in Houston (I only visited Houston, don't live there), 2 inches away from a hot engine. I work in lighting and I made an educated guess considering that all the lighting equipment that I know must maintain its warranty at 185F or higher. That's why I only removed the bulbs, I didn't mess with anything else. The first time I wasn't sure that 185F would be enough but it was.