Hairline cracking in headlights

Pondrew · Post by **Pondrew** » Tue Dec 06, 2022 11:40 am

From the pictures, it looks like it's been raining inside the headlight!

TOMGREEN413 · Post by **TOMGREEN413** » Tue Dec 06, 2022 1:05 pm

Chippie wrote: ↑Tue Dec 06, 2022 11:02 am Mine look very similar on a 2011,
It appears to be inside the light on mine so no chance of polishing out, I thought it could have been heat from the bulbs of possibly damage from the sun, although they don’t seem to have discoloured just small cracks.
The YouTube video was good to watch and possibly a future job to do.

Is there a link to the video you've mentioned please?

TOMGREEN413 · Post by **TOMGREEN413** » Tue Dec 06, 2022 1:20 pm

: 20221206_121455.jpg (144.31 KiB) Viewed 329 times

Chippie wrote: ↑Tue Dec 06, 2022 11:02 am Mine look very similar on a 2011,
It appears to be inside the light on mine so no chance of polishing out, I thought it could have been heat from the bulbs of possibly damage from the sun, although they don’t seem to have discoloured just small cracks.
The YouTube video was good to watch and possibly a future job to do.

Is there a link to the video you've mentioned please? But I'll probably just live with it .

mcbutler · Post by **mcbutler** » Tue Dec 06, 2022 1:29 pm

if you run a finger nail over them can you actually feel that a crack is there? If you can then they are on the outside and its worth a try at polishing them out. Maybe try googling for a headlamp refurb company??

Pondrew · Post by **Pondrew** » Tue Dec 06, 2022 1:29 pm

Much better picture.

Mine are the same just not as bad. As said, unless you want to pay a fortune for new clusters, live with it.

Chippie · Post by **Chippie** » Tue Dec 06, 2022 1:48 pm

[quote=TOMGREEN413 post_id=<a href="tel:1970953">1970953</a> time=<a href="tel:1670329220">1670329220</a> user_id=40993]
20221206_121455.jpg[quote=Chippie post_id=<a href="tel:1970926">1970926</a> time=<a href="tel:1670320948">1670320948</a> user_id=31275]
Mine look very similar on a 2011,
It appears to be inside the light on mine so no chance of polishing out, I thought it could have been heat from the bulbs of possibly damage from the sun, although they don’t seem to have discoloured just small cracks.
The YouTube video was good to watch and possibly a future job to do.
[/quote]

Is there a link to the video you've mentioned please? But I'll probably just live with it .
[/quote]

It’s at the bottom of the 2nd post on page 1 by Busterboo

TOMGREEN413 · Post by **TOMGREEN413** » Tue Dec 06, 2022 1:56 pm

Pyranha · Post by **Pyranha** » Wed Dec 07, 2022 4:44 pm

I had exactly the same issue with mine a few years ago when I got my car. Car was 5 years old at the time and bought as a approved used.

Mine was caused by overspray from the Tar remover I used on the vehicle. I noticed it happen while cleaning my car for the first time - lights where fine, then not fine. I went to the vendor of the Tar remover first, they said if the headlight has been polished/mopped and then exposed to their product this would happen to the plastic. They had previous complaints and had done some experiments - they had a one pager on the issue, not limited to BMW, seems to be an issue with strong cleaners on plastic headlights that have have the top layer buffed off.

So I went back to BMW and complained and they changed both front headlights under the approved used warranty. No issues and been using the same tar remover since with no issues.

I have noticed my Mums Polo has exactly the same issue - its is really bad. Bought used and taken to the local handcar wash its whole life where they rinse then put a strong traffic film remover on.

TOMGREEN413 · Post by **TOMGREEN413** » Thu Dec 08, 2022 10:11 am

That's very interesting to hear......thanks for sharing this.

spitfun · Post by **spitfun** » Tue Dec 27, 2022 5:43 am

This may be a temporary cheap fix,why don't you lightly tint them with film? I don't think you will see the cracks thru the film and it looks good... The headlights throw plenty of light to overcome the tint I believe.

TOMGREEN413 · Post by **TOMGREEN413** » Tue Dec 27, 2022 9:17 am

Thanks for your idea but to be honest it's not noticeable unless you get up close with the lights on.

Allan280 · Post by **Allan280** » Wed Dec 28, 2022 4:41 pm

Hi
With regard to cracking - crazing to the headlight lenses it appears to be a common issue with polycabonate lenses covers when looking at buying a 2014 F 31 estate from BMW dealer noted the same effect the lines you can see are stress relief cracks in the polycarbonate they will not polish out .
We got the dealer to replace with new items said to be £800.00 for the pair !

The lights should not leak and don't think it would be an MOT issue.

Regards

Allan

flybobbie · Post by **flybobbie** » Wed Dec 28, 2022 6:43 pm

Looks like water staining, grazing on my cars head lights was just below the "eyebrow" and someone put a gritted foot on a lens and scratched it..
I fitted some aftermarket lens with some mods to the angel eyes. The halos weren't glued in and one fell out.
In fact i have just resealed them with black gutter sealant.
Silicone sealant won't stick to the black body so pulls away allowing water in.
But factory seal should seal it..

Just looked again at last picture, can see the grazing, polycarbonate can develop the find cracks inside the plastic.
Like stress cracks develop.

Just had a thought, paint stripper fumes can cause this, quite common on aircraft plexiglass when airframes are resprayed at cheap paint shops..

TOMGREEN413 · Post by **TOMGREEN413** » Wed Dec 28, 2022 11:01 pm

It's unclear what caused then to do this but thankfully over the last 3 years they haven't got any worse

Z4-forum.com

Z4-forum.com