SLK55 Fog Lamp Defect
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Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 107
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From: canada
Originally Posted by bloflin
Fred, mine are intact (so far), but only have 1000 miles. But it seems almost inevitable, so I'm very interested in the reason.
It might help to narrow the potential causes if people could comment on 3 things.
1. How much they are using the fogs (if at all) and for how long at a time.
2. Crawl under the front bumper to see if ANY indication of "curb rash", even if they think they haven't (perhaps a significant other that occasionally drives).
3. Look closely at and around fog light lens and chrome surround, to see if any indication of rock impact.
It might help to narrow the potential causes if people could comment on 3 things.
1. How much they are using the fogs (if at all) and for how long at a time.
2. Crawl under the front bumper to see if ANY indication of "curb rash", even if they think they haven't (perhaps a significant other that occasionally drives).
3. Look closely at and around fog light lens and chrome surround, to see if any indication of rock impact.
2)i have scraped a couple of times
3)no rock chips or debris damage what so ever
it would be interesting to see more feedback on these points.
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Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 151
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From: Spring, in the Republic of Texas
SLK 55 AMG
I bought two plastic measuring cups (about 3.5" in diameter) at WalMart for 94 cents each. I cut the bottom off and used JB Weld to epoxy the piece of plastic directly onto the chrome bezel of the foglight. You have to look closely to see that they didn't come with the car.
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Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 165
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'05 SLK55, Obsidian, black/red, light and premium pkg., COMAND with nav, airscarf, Sirius
Originally Posted by CP1
I bought two plastic measuring cups (about 3.5" in diameter) at WalMart for 94 cents each. I cut the bottom off and used JB Weld to epoxy the piece of plastic directly onto the chrome bezel of the foglight. You have to look closely to see that they didn't come with the car.
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Joined: Nov 2004
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From: Spring, in the Republic of Texas
SLK 55 AMG
Originally Posted by Shark
CP1, was the functionality of the lights (when it's foggy) affected at all?
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Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 165
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'05 SLK55, Obsidian, black/red, light and premium pkg., COMAND with nav, airscarf, Sirius
Looks like there has been no further discussion regarding this in about 3 months. Have people with more recently delivered cars not been experiencing this? If yes, perhaps there was a "bad batch" of lights on cars delivered earlier this year (or perhaps MB quietly corrected the problem?). To those that have replaced their broken lights...did the replacement unit break also? I never replaced my broken light, because I was assuming the replacement would break also, and I very rarely use the fog lights anyway. Perhaps it now makes sense to go ahead and replace the broken light if the replacements seem to be problem free.
Last edited by Shark; Sep 5, 2005 at 10:41 PM.
Super Member
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 761
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From: Lausanne, Switzerland
SLK 55 AMG
My fog lamps are still intact...
This reminds me of a friends Miata. He had the Miata fog lamps which resemble the AMG's lamps. I think they too are made of glass, and once while washing our cars, we realised that one of the lamps was broken.
At the time, we thought it might have been someone trying to vandalise his car...
On hindsight, I think it might have been a rock that did it.
Those lamps as well were very low to the ground and seemed quite vulnerable.
This reminds me of a friends Miata. He had the Miata fog lamps which resemble the AMG's lamps. I think they too are made of glass, and once while washing our cars, we realised that one of the lamps was broken.
At the time, we thought it might have been someone trying to vandalise his car...
On hindsight, I think it might have been a rock that did it.
Those lamps as well were very low to the ground and seemed quite vulnerable.
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Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 165
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'05 SLK55, Obsidian, black/red, light and premium pkg., COMAND with nav, airscarf, Sirius
Repeated Broken Fog Lamp Lenses
CP1/Blkslk55/FredfromNY/SLK55er/05slkmadmax/SLKK55NEWB/PocketRrocket/AMGgirl: Each one of you had a broken fog lamp lense (or two). Did you replace the light(s)? Did they ever break again? Did you install anything to protect the lense? I have yet to replace my broken lense as I didn't want to spend the $ only to have it break again. Thanks in advance for your response.
Almost a Member!
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 60
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From: Calgary
2006 SLK55 AMG
I had the same issue on my M3 as they both broke within a few weeks. I put some 3M plastic coating on them that the dealer had, and they are still in tact 2 years later. The nice part of the 3M plastic is it doesn't color due to weather. This peice of plastic is about 1/4 inch thick and seems to do the job. Unfortunatley, my front bumper shows the result of how much debris is on our roads...
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Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 123
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From: Los Angeles
SLK55, Murcielago
Originally Posted by bloflin
2. Crawl under the front bumper to see if ANY indication of "curb rash", even if they think they haven't (perhaps a significant other that occasionally drives).
Member
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 165
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'05 SLK55, Obsidian, black/red, light and premium pkg., COMAND with nav, airscarf, Sirius
I ordered a new fog light from my dealer today. They quoted only $125.05, seems too inexpensive compared to what everyone else here paid, wonder if it's the correct part. Also, the parts guy said the microfiche showed a different part number for a Xenon versus non-Xenon equipped car. This makes no sense, and he agreed with me. Guess we will see next week if he got it right :-)
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Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 165
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'05 SLK55, Obsidian, black/red, light and premium pkg., COMAND with nav, airscarf, Sirius
The lense on my other fog light has broken, and given that I have not used the fog lights in a long time I assume a rock or other debris was the cause, rather than a defect in the light such as a heat problem. I'm ready to install something over the glass to keep this from happening again, and as I recall last year several members offered potential solutions, but I can no longer find that thread. What have you done to protect your fog lights from breaking, and have you been successful? Thanks.
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Joined: Dec 2002
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From: Lausanne, Switzerland
SLK 55 AMG
32,000km's (20,000miles) and still intact over here. I've scraped my front bumper underbelly a few times. I don't think scraping the bumper is the cause of this "fault". Must be a bad batch of lenses.
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Joined: Jan 2005
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From: Texas
2005 SLK55 AMG
Originally Posted by Shark
The lense on my other fog light has broken, and given that I have not used the fog lights in a long time I assume a rock or other debris was the cause, rather than a defect in the light such as a heat problem. I'm ready to install something over the glass to keep this from happening again, and as I recall last year several members offered potential solutions, but I can no longer find that thread. What have you done to protect your fog lights from breaking, and have you been successful? Thanks.
CP1 cut the bottom out of $0.99 plastic measuring cups from Walmart (or somewhere) and glued them on.
Thread Starter
Senior Member
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 265
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SLK55
Originally Posted by Shark
The lense on my other fog light has broken, and given that I have not used the fog lights in a long time I assume a rock or other debris was the cause, rather than a defect in the light such as a heat problem. I'm ready to install something over the glass to keep this from happening again, and as I recall last year several members offered potential solutions, but I can no longer find that thread. What have you done to protect your fog lights from breaking, and have you been successful? Thanks.
http://www.autopaintguard.com/bulk.asp
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Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 83
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From: FT Worth at the moment
SLK 55 AMG
Guys get on http://www.mercedes-amg.com/privatelounge/ and fill in my poll on this.. It seemed so many slk55 had this problem yet on the AMG forum, where the AMG guys are listening only 10 have people bothered posting.. Get on there show the figures and something may happen as this is only a AMG car specific part.
Member
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 83
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From: FT Worth at the moment
SLK 55 AMG
Originally Posted by Easty
Guys get on http://www.mercedes-amg.com/privatelounge/ and fill in my poll on this.. It seemed so many slk55 had this problem yet on the AMG forum, where the AMG guys are listening only 10 have people bothered posting.. Get on there show the figures and something may happen as this is only a AMG car specific part.
