Lens covers

[BeauZ4]

Afternoon all,
I’ve got a 2003 Z4 E-85 and have a cloudy lens on the drivers side light. Are the after market lens covers any good / any that people would recommend / do the lenses even come off ? I really don’t want to buy a whole new unit just for a cloudy lens.
I’ve tried cleaning it and I’m fed up products that don’t work very well !
Thanks for reading !

 

[blunderthumbs]

Afternoon all,
I’ve got a 2003 Z4 E-85 and have a cloudy lens on the drivers side light. Are the after market lens covers any good / any that people would recommend / do the lenses even come off ? I really don’t want to buy a whole new unit just for a cloudy lens.
I’ve tried cleaning it and I’m fed up products that don’t work very well !
Thanks for reading !

 

[blunderthumbs]

Afternoon all,
I’ve got a 2003 Z4 E-85 and have a cloudy lens on the drivers side light. Are the after market lens covers any good / any that people would recommend / do the lenses even come off ? I really don’t want to buy a whole new unit just for a cloudy lens.
I’ve tried cleaning it and I’m fed up products that don’t work very well !
Thanks for reading !

 

[blunderthumbs]

Afternoon all,
I’ve got a 2003 Z4 E-85 and have a cloudy lens on the drivers side light. Are the after market lens covers any good / any that people would recommend / do the lenses even come off ? I really don’t want to buy a whole new unit just for a cloudy lens.
I’ve tried cleaning it and I’m fed up products that don’t work very well !
Thanks for reading !

There are a number of headlight renovation kits available on Amazon and other retail outlets that really do work. There is also footage on You tube that will guide you through it. My headlights had already been restored just before I bought my Zed last May but don't know what the previous owner used. It did work though. There are numerous forum members who will recommend which ones to use. You don't need to purchase new headlamp units. Just a bit of graft will bring them up like new.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vx1Xif5_pZ0

 

[davidmudley12]

Afternoon all,
I’ve got a 2003 Z4 E-85 and have a cloudy lens on the drivers side light. Are the after market lens covers any good / any that people would recommend / do the lenses even come off ? I really don’t want to buy a whole new unit just for a cloudy lens.
I’ve tried cleaning it and I’m fed up products that don’t work very well !
Thanks for reading !

Is it just the cloudiness on the outside or are there marks on the inside from where moisture and things and leaked in?

I solved the outer cloudiness but it make it clear that I had a murkiness inside the lens too! Doh

 

[BeauZ4]

Just the outside of the lens. I’ve had it fairly clear using Turtle Wax but it doesn’t last as long as I’d like. I had to have a whole new unit in the passenger side light a couple of years ago and it makes the other one look coven worse !

 

[BeauZ4]

Just the outside of the lens. I’ve had it fairly clear using Turtle Wax but it doesn’t last as long as I’d like. I had to have a whole new unit in the passenger side light a couple of years ago and it makes the other one look coven worse !

 

[Zedebee]

The kits tend to have 2 or more grades of wet and dry, some polish and some sealant. I’ve done it once and had a good result. The sealant is important for longevity compared to Turtle Wax. You might struggle to match a “new” lens, but you should be able to get close.

 

[Chris_D]

I used the 3M headlight resto kit to great effect no long ago and would highly recommend any of the kits tbh.
You don’t need to remove the headlights as I did, just mask off the area around the lights.

I used an expensive clear laquer with a hardener component as a sealant and they look fantastic 5 months on.
I’ll be doing an update to the thread I made at the end of summer to see how they fared.

Maybe helpful to you:
https://z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=125218

 

[davidmudley12]

Has anyone had any experience cleaning up the inside of the lens? As in removing smudges and giving it a general clean? I’m trying to think of the options for getting something inside the headlight.

 

[Chris_D]

Has anyone had any experience cleaning up the inside of the lens? As in removing smudges and giving it a general clean? I’m trying to think of the options for getting something inside the headlight.

Yeah, when I refurbed mine. See above post for the link.
Bumper off job to remove the headlights and you’ll need to remove the projectors to get access to the inside of the headlight covers.
Don’t use anything apart from a clean dry microfibre cloth to wipe around. You’ll have to fashion something to place the cloth over to get into the corners. I used some pliable but stiff wire making sure there were no sharp edges that could cause scratches.
Take the opportunity to clean your projector lenses too.

 

[davidmudley12]

Has anyone had any experience cleaning up the inside of the lens? As in removing smudges and giving it a general clean? I’m trying to think of the options for getting something inside the headlight.

Yeah, when I refurbed mine. See above post for the link.
Bumper off job to remove the headlights and you’ll need to remove the projectors to get access to the inside of the headlight covers.
Don’t use anything apart from a clean dry microfibre cloth to wipe around. You’ll have to fashion something to place the cloth over to get into the corners. I used some pliable but stiff wire making sure there were no sharp edges that could cause scratches.
Take the opportunity to clean your projector lenses too.

Thanks for pointing me to your post. I had the bumper and headlight off before Christmas and with hindsight I should have persisted with my approach hand just found something that I could have used to get the microfibre cloth into the corners and around the inside of the lens. I gave the projector lenses a clean too which was easy enough.

Now that it is all back together I may wait until I have another job or two to do that tie into removing the bumper. Alternatively, I am curious whether it is possible to get in there through the wheel arch. The lazy part of me says give it a go but my head tells me it is likely to be very challenging given the lack of space and angles you'd need to wipe around the lens, and at the end of the day it would be easier and take the same amount of time just to remove the bumper (and take my chances with the bumper clips).

Thanks again for the advice.

 

[BeauZ4]

Really helpful thank you for your replies. I’ll let you know how i get on !