Thx

 

Nope, That's exactly what my experience was.




You can only get them replaced under the original factory warranty, not the CPO or extended; same goes for faded wood trim. I think they categorize them as cosmetic defects.

 

You are correct sir. I had a long discussion with my service adviser about this very issue. I don't see it as fully cosmetic since it is a result of a the lights burning too hot, but whatever. My odometer is at 51k by the way. Damn!

 

Just for clarification, those are my photos and my car is Steel Blue, but yes that is metal flake in the paint.

 

I remember the days when car warranties were 1 year and that was it. For MB or any manufacturer to cover cosmetic defects like this after 4 years is actually pretty amazing to me. It really isn't a safety issue and you have to be pretty **** about your car to even notice this.

 

ELW “possibly”, but I disagree with CPO denial referencing “32 point appearance inspection” certification as explained here: http://www.mbusa.com/mercedes/cpo#!l...t=cpo-warranty

 

I'm so **** I use microfiber cloths purposed for fine china on my baby. I'll be the guy with the old Mercedes Wagon you see driving around in the year 2035. I plan on keeping her for as long as she'll drive. I just had my cigarette lighter light ring replaced at the dealership since it burned out, that's how much I care.

 

I agree... it is nice to have a 4 year warranty and it is much appreciated. I disagree about the safety issue. The "V"s cast a shadow in the light pattern and that is concerning.

 

Are you sure the "shadows in the light pattern" are caused by the etched Vs, or are they the result of the light bulb's actual pattern that causes the etching?

IOW, chicken or egg???

 

.

 

My 2012 W212 is a CPO car with remaining factory warranty. I've got the mysterious V on my bi-xenon headlights. The SA at my local stealer knew about the marks and said if they were "bad enough," they'd replace the lights. Once they started working on my car I suppose, the technician or someone else told him about the cleaning kit and it appears to have worked rather nicely on my lights (no-charge, warranty work). No more V. For how long, nobody knows! My guess is they'll re-appear sooner than later. Argh.

 

Heard back from my dealer, I am the first customer that has reported this to them! They has ordered the new kit to clean the highlights. The kit needs to be shipped from Germany and will take 2 weeks to arrive. They will call me when the kit gets here. From the feedback from others in this thread, this appears to be a temporary solution, let see how it goes.

 

I just had my car serviced at MB and I spoked to the service rep and he took some pics and sent it off to MB Canada and they said it is not covered under warranty. What's my next best step if I want to raise this issue to another level??

Anyone else have same issue with MB Canada??

 

Did you reference MB bulletin LI82.10-P-061580

 

Why oh why do stealers continue to use that line in the Internet age? It buys them no credibility.

 

Had my headlights completely replaced about 8 months ago and the V etching is already coming back. Have any of you had this issue return?

 

Argh! It's back. The "cleaning" didn't work and it sounds like new lenses doesn't work either.

 

These are my photos and yes the v haze in my headlights are causing the shadowing. Look the same with factory bulbs and osram cbi's. They actually look worse now since the "V" got more opaque. To add to it, my projector bowls are burnt and instead of white light and uniform beam pattern, I get yellow light with some green flares and crap beam. Have gone to dealership twice and called MB USA twice and they won't do anything since I'm out of warranty. It's obviously a design flaw... too small housing and too much heat generates. They have had at least 2 new revisions to the 2010 headlamps on my car... even adding vents. We need to start a petition or something.

 

And here is a pic from the C class loaner they gave me while I was waiting to see what dealer would do about headlights. What a freaking tease. And this is not even the lighting package... just stock option.

 

After the cleaning, the V is back, but not (yet?) visible with the lights off. SA says MB won't replace them unless the cleaning wasn't effective AND the V can be seen with the lights off. All in all, I call it progress - albeit very slowly.

From what I've read here and seen on my car, I anticipate the V becoming increasingly more visible as time passes. Even though they'll likely reappear, here's why I want them replaced in the future before my warranty expires. The V appears to reduce the lights' output thereby reducing their effectiveness. There will come a point where the reduction in output will be significant and by then I'll likely be responsible for paying for a replacement. I'd like to move that date further out on the calendar. Hope that makes sense!

 

Tell me more about the "burnt projector bowl." I just had one of my xenon / hid bulbs replaced under warranty and it's yellow - not bluish white like my other headlight. I'm half wondering if the bulb just needs more hours to "burn-in" OR the projector bowl was damaged when they attempted to clean off the V from the inside of the lens. SA says the bulb needs ~100hrs to settle-in, which has never been my experience with xenon / hid bulb.

Opinions?

 

Your SA is correct, per this DTB from 2009 :

 

Explain to the customer that in situations where only one bulb is replaced:
• There is a perceptible color difference for the first 100 hours when comparing new bulbs with those that have been in service for some time.
• Once this "breaking-in period" has passed, the color becomes bluer and resembles that of the older bulb.


Yup, that's exactly what my SA shared so I'm giving it the 100hrs he requested. Fingers crossed it'll match by then, but the recent comment about "burnt bowl" caught my attention.

 

There is a reflector behind the projector that pretty much looks like a regular halogen reflector. This fires the light into the projector and it then gets evenly distributed by projector. Mine have been burned by the heat the bulbs generate. I have a 2010 e550 with the first-Gen headlights. Newer revisions have vents to keep heat in check I guess. Google "burnt projector bowl" and you'll see. The part closest to the bulb gets darkest and everything further away discolors and distorts. This kills light output and beam pattern. I sent photos to Cesar from Lightworks in NJ. They are very skilled with hid projectors and headlights. He immediately told me the light output is way wrong for osram cbi bulbs and mercedes in general and said it looks like my bowls are burnt. I'm gonna try again with MB USA. The guy on the phone claimed that there is no known issues with this "hazing". Total BS.

 

I noticed this the other week on my non xenon equipped headlights. Mines way past the point of looking like a V and looks more like a full box shape.