Xenon Headlamp Assembly

I

Incitatus

Member
Wondering if anyone can help, unfortunately this morning when driving to work a pheasant decided it was an ideal time to leave the comfort and safety of the hedgerow and launch itself at my nearside headlamp, resulting in much feathers and one smashed headlamp lens :headbang: .

Rang BMW and their parts department are quoting £795 for a replacement! So after fitting it looks like this is going to be a £1000 pheasant.

I'm trying to decide if it's worth going down the insurance route, or pay up myself.

Does anyone have a nearside xeon headlamp available or know where to get one, or failing that some bright idea?
 
CJ's the headlight specialist. But my understanding is that the lenses for are the same for all headlights - the halogen lenses have the certification / stamp for xenon use. Sure that was confirmed in on of the many HID debates. You should be able to buy a donor light for a reasonable price and then cut and shut the lens - a few people have done this now and view seems to be that it just requires the right tool and a little patience.

ADD: should add, the headlight lenses are interchangeable, within the same country / possibly side hand drive.

Obviously confirm that the internals are all still working as they should.

Pheasants have a lot to answer for!
 
Inconsiderate pheasant :thumbsdown:

£795 sounds about right for a Xenon, assuming you can swap over all the internals such as bulb, ballast and controller.

Chances of finding a post facelift xenon at short notice are slim
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If it were me I'd source a cheap halogen and do as PawnSacrifice says and do a lens swap, however if any of the internals are damaged such as the silver inner then frankly it becomes an issue to do it all as those bits will need swapping too. It's a fair bit of work but a £100 ish bill Vs £1,000.

I may even have a spare clear NS lens if you want to go that route.
 
The lamp unit seems to be working fine, just the lens is damaged. The false inner light has come loose but there's no damage to the clips so I guess it should pop back ok.

I don't want to bodge it but it seems a lot of expense when only the plastic lens needs replacing rather than the whole thing.

I'm interested in the lens as theres' a local BMW specialist who would be willing to do the lens swap.
 
OK - so now you post more detail if the inner is loose it's almost certain the support post are damaged and I'd think that there may be scratches on the inner silver area which are hightly visible.

I do not think anyone would take on the lens swap for you as it requires cutting the original off, cleaning the channel and bonding the new in. I fear a new light is your route given the lens has actually been penetrated rather than just badly cracked/broken.
 
Arse.

So now to decide if it's going to be cheaper in the long run to get it on insurance or just pay up the cash myself.

I'm going to take up shooting....
 
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