D3 headlight clarity & Bi-Xenon globes

[PeterOZ]

Morning folks,

my MY08 D3 is fitted with the adapative Bi-Xeon headlights. I have noticed they do not seem to be as bright / clar as they used to be.

Have read that the Xeon globes can fade.
I have noticed that teh headlights themselves appear to be losing clarity with a general milky dullness starting to show. I have read and think it was on the UK forum that they bake the headlight assembly in the oven at certain temp for a few minutes which cooks the impurities out of the glass.

Have also ready of other applying some sort of goop and polishing them.

Any thoughts as to the truth? L:ooking for some solid advice.

thanks in advance.
[bigwhistle]
cheers
P

[shanegtr]

I have a similar issue with my D3 where the headlight lens is starting to be UV affected. The common internet fix is to use an abrasive on the lens and then polish, however from what ive read using abrasives will remove the UV protetive layer in the plastic and it wont last nearly as long as originally before the UV fade comes back. I tried a meguirers product on one of my driving light clear covers and I wasnt impressed with the results. Tried a turtle wax headlight polish on my D3's lenses and it didnt really do anthing spectacular.

[inertia8]

A friend just went through this on his wife's car. Bought a kit from autobarn, took the headlights out and followed the instructions. They look brand new, amazing.

The kit's final step is to wipe on a self levelling uv stabilised coating.

Previously he has just cut and polished but they dulled fairly quickly again.

Time will tell on the longevity of the kit from autobarn, it was about $35 and was the dearer of the two on offer.

[discomatt69]

A friend just went through this on his wife's car. Bought a kit from autobarn, took the headlights out and followed the instructions. They look brand new, amazing.

The kit's final step is to wipe on a self levelling uv stabilised coating.

Previously he has just cut and polished but they dulled fairly quickly again.

Time will tell on the longevity of the kit from autobarn, it was about $35 and was the dearer of the two on offer.

It will last no more than 12 months and then be worse than before hr "fixed" them. Its a temporary solution for anyone wanting to sell a car, the only real fix is new lights

[BradC]

It will last no more than 12 months and then be worse than before hr "fixed" them. Its a temporary solution for anyone wanting to sell a car, the only real fix is new lights

Taking off the oxidation with wet and dry, then a couple of coats of UV stable acrylic lacquer works very well. Certainly lasts longer than the temporary "fix in a bottle", although I'm unsure as to how long as I've never had to redo it.

[PeterOZ]

Taking off the oxidation with wet and dry, then a couple of coats of UV stable acrylic lacquer works very well. Certainly lasts longer than the temporary "fix in a bottle", although I'm unsure as to how long as I've never had to redo it.

That sounds like the Philips product, a few grades of abrasive paper then a polishing compound with application of UV treatment.

Think I have found the D2S xenon globes I will be trying.

OSRAM Xenarc Night Breaker Laser D2S | Xenon Headlight Bulbs Twin Pack | PowerBulbs (https://www.powerbulbs.com/au/product/osram-xenarc-night-breaker-laser-d2s-twin)

Now for the H7 and H11

[BMKal]

A friend just went through this on his wife's car. Bought a kit from autobarn, took the headlights out and followed the instructions. They look brand new, amazing.

The kit's final step is to wipe on a self levelling uv stabilised coating.

Previously he has just cut and polished but they dulled fairly quickly again.

Time will tell on the longevity of the kit from autobarn, it was about $35 and was the dearer of the two on offer.


It will last no more than 12 months and then be worse than before hr "fixed" them. Its a temporary solution for anyone wanting to sell a car, the only real fix is new lights

When I started in my last job, I was given a hilux ute that had seen better days as my company vehicle. There was nothing wrong with it - just need a bit of TLC and a bloody good tidy up. One of the first things I attended to was the headlights - they were very yellowish and milky in appearance - so much so that you couldn't see the globe inside them. I purchased a kit like the one described by inertia8 from the local Supercheap Auto and followed the instructions. A bit of elbow grease was involved, but the headlights came up looking like new. At the same time, I purchased and installed a decent set of LED hi/lo beam globes which both significantly improved the light output and quality and reduced the temperature at the lens. This is a mine-site vehicle, and is wired so that at least Low Beam is ALWAYS ON when the engine is running - I cannot turn the headlights off.

That was over a year ago. I wash the vehicle regularly and occasionally give the headlights a wipe over with the same polish that I use on the paintwork. The headlights still look like new and perform as well as the day I gave them a birthday. Replacement of headlights is definitely not necessary - just find a decent product, use it properly and then keep on top of normal vehicle maintenance and you won't have a problem.

The kit I used ..............

144317

[PeterOZ]

thank m funny othes have rubbished that product. Mione are not that bad really, passenger side had the whole assembly replaced a few years back by LR under warranty.

Drivers one is I'd say maybe 85% as clear as the passenger side, maybe a bit better. I did try the tooth paste trick on the weekend, maybe a little better but I ran out of patience after 10 mins or rather my elblow did.

As you can see the drivers side one has quite a bit of murkiness through it compared to passenger side.

144318 144319

cheers
P

[shanegtr]

The kit I used ..............

144317Thats the kit I used on my spotlight cover to test before I did my D3's lights - I didn't like the results and so didn't use it any further

[BMKal]

Thats the kit I used on my spotlight cover to test before I did my D3's lights - I didn't like the results and so didn't use it any further

I've never bothered trying to clean / restore a spotlight cover. If they get that bad, I throw them out and buy new covers.

Headlights are generally not made from the same material as spotlight covers, so I would not be surprised to see different results.

[shanegtr]

I've never bothered trying to clean / restore a spotlight cover. If they get that bad, I throw them out and buy new covers.

Headlights are generally not made from the same material as spotlight covers, so I would not be surprised to see different results.End of the day, the surface finish didnt inspire me with any confidence to follow through on my D3s lights. Id be pretty ****ty if they ended up looking like my spotlight cover did - at least I can cheaply replace that - not so cheap for the D3 and in the end I decided it wasnt worth the risk

[shanegtr]

Of course it would have been a different story if the D3 light lenses where bad enough to be binned anyway - but they are not at that stage just yet

[Aussie Jeepster]

40 minute job this morning to replace old D2S globes with new ones.
Globes were $181 from Powerbulbs UK and arrived in 5 days.
Old ones looked OK until put next to the new ones so we will see how they go.
And to avoid confusion next time, I put the date on the cover (and did the same with the high beam).
144492144493144494144495144496

[PeterOZ]

Bi-Xeons?

keen to learn how the new ones compare. I'm about to place an order with power bulbs for a bunch of stuff, once I save some $$$

[Aussie Jeepster]

40 minute job this morning to replace old D2S globes with new ones.
Globes were $181 from Powerbulbs UK and arrived in 5 days.
Old ones looked OK until put next to the new ones so we will see how they go.
And to avoid confusion next time, I put the date on the cover (and did the same with the high beam).
144492144493144494144495144496

I did a decent night drive last night, and even my wife asked what I'd done to the headlights.
Distinct improvement after the change.
I suspect the globes were the originals from 2006.

[PeterOZ]

I did a decent night drive last night, and even my wife asked what I'd done to the headlights.
Distinct improvement after the change.
I suspect the globes were the originals from 2006.

Good to know. Curious to find out if it is the same D2S xenon globe for the normal xenon headlights compared to bi-xenons.

[BradC]

I did a decent night drive last night, and even my wife asked what I'd done to the headlights.
Distinct improvement after the change.
I suspect the globes were the originals from 2006.

Any HID (High Intensity Discharge) lamp will start degrading the moment you first strike it. Each strike will degrade it and it degrades progressively as it runs. That dark colour on the glass is electrode material. That gradually migrates as the lamp ages leaving less electrode available to excite the gas. A bit like a halogen that is under-run (dimmed) deposits filament on the inside of the glass making it look silver.

I did the figures years ago for HID lamps in stage lighting fixtures and power usage aside it was better for the lamps to leave them on for 4 hours between shows than it was to cool & re-strike them (not better for power, but at over a grand a lamp it was better on the figures). Not particularly relevant to headlamps, but an illustration of the peculiarities of the way discharge lamps degrade.

It's easy not to notice the degradation of HID headlamps as it is an incredibly gradual process. That makes it blindingly (excuse the pun) obvious when you replace the lamps as suddenly your light output ~doubles. Of course when you replace them with souped up lamps and the immediate reaction is "wow these Philips blind-o-matic 4000 lamps are awesome!", but in reality compared to what you just took out a new set of original lamps would be pretty much just as amazing.

Halogens dim over time also, but it's fractions of a fraction compared to the ageing process a HID lamp goes through.

[PeterOZ]

Well I bit the bullet and placed order for new xenon globes, LED high beam, cornering and fog as well as LED side lights plus all th canbus gadgets to suit.
$969 worth from powerbulbs.

They were a bit painful to deal with but got there with them in the end.:bat:[bigwhistle]

[Oztourer]

40 minute job this morning to replace old D2S globes with new ones.
Globes were $181 from Powerbulbs UK and arrived in 5 days.
Old ones looked OK until put next to the new ones so we will see how they go.
And to avoid confusion next time, I put the date on the cover (and did the same with the high beam).


Wish I'd ordered new globes when you did. They are $234 for a pair now [bigsad][bigsad]. I wonder why these can't be purchased locally?

[DiscoClax]

Just keep an eye on there. They do 25% off deals very regularly.

[PeterOZ]

I paid $188 for the D2S pair on this order. And free express DHL shipping.

[PeterOZ]

Got my box of goodies from powerbulbs and will fit them all over the weekend. The Philips CANBUS gadgets are quite bulky though very good quality, just hope I can fit them in ok.

[Oztourer]

Just received my D2S's from Metro Direct in the UK. $189 delivered and took just over a week to arrive. Pretty happy with that [smilebigeye].
I was a bit worried about the possibility of them not being genuine but they passed the OSRAM Authentication test with flying colours - OSRAM Trust Program | OSRAM Automotive (https://www.osram.com/am/the-trust-program/index.jsp)

Now to fit them.

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[PeterOZ]

Fitted globes on saturday.

D2S fairly straight forward.
H7 high beam LED globes was a bit harder as the Philips CANBUS module is bulky plus the H7 have a smaller controller with them. Managed to shoehorn everything in including a large loom - just.
LED side marker lights and the CANBUS resistor was easy.
H8 LED Fog lights was easy. Plenty of room for the bulky CANBUS module.

H8 cornering lights though could not get in without either cutting a large junk out of the casing or toally dismantling the lights by heating in the oven to soften the adhesive. I have watached youtube video of this but elected to not attempt it. They can stay as 555w halogen.

Assessment:

- D2S - much improved, are they 200% better as claimed? I doubt it
- High beam - some improvement but not a lot. Maybe 25%
- Fog lights - brighter yes but think the halogens give greater range. I may remove thse yet or look for a better option.
- side marker are while nice and white not overly bright so might get some other LED 5W5 globes

Overall was it worth the $$ and effort? For the D2S definitely but a bit dissapointed with the others.[bighmmm]

I have a pair of Philips H8 LED bulbs and the Philips CANBUS modules if anybody is interested.

cheers
P