had my headlights detangoed by a so called subaru specialist... now they looked cr@p when he did them but he was going to replace them at some point but the weeks went from months to now years, so Im going to have to do something about them now.

This is the worst



The peeling you can see is on the inside of the glass.

The corner of the light has what looks like a mist inside the glass and the other headlight has like a spiders web nearly all over the inside of the glass.

Are they past saving?

What do I do to have the repaired?

thanks

Claire

 

split them open and do it yourself, its not hard really.

how much did he charge, for curiosity?

 

Must be a right cack-handed git. I've done a few of these and not foofed up one.

 

What's actually peeling, it's not easy to see on my rubbish works monitor. The chrome reflector or something on the inside of the front glass ?

If it's the glass then he must have sprayed something on them, because they should be clear.

 

lol Dave

 

Cant remember how much I paid.. are they easy to split?

 

It appears to be like a skin on the inside of the glass, not on the chrome, actually on the glass itself

 

I did mine at the weekend, (2nd attempt,bottled it 1st time) and as Allan says above,there is something peeling off that shouldnt be there. I suggest that you crack into them yourself and clean off whats "peeling". It looks like its coming off quite easily anyway in you picture.

 

here you go: How to clear MY04 headlights - photo instructions - NASIOC

I've had mine out and apart twice now, once to detango and once to do the black light mod. Once you have the headlight out I put mine in the oven for around 10-15minutes at 100degrees and they come apart nice and easy

 

Thanks everyone.... I wil see if I can pluck up courage to do them lol

Just shows all 'specialists' arnt lol

 

Yep definately get whatever is on the glass cleaned off. I suggest you buy some disposable latex gloves for handling the reflector with, you don't want to touch it or you'll leave finger prints. As it's been apart before you may also need some more sealent, depending on how it was done the first time.

I can't even guess why he sprayed something on the glass.

 

Nor me, thanks everyone

 

If any gap is present, each time you switch them off, the unit cools and sucks in damp air. This condensation carries dirt and chemicals into the headlight which you then bake on. Don't dig at the reflector, try and find some thing to repair the damage, MOT fail is imminent.

Good luck

Dunx

P.S. Just 'cos you tell them to do it, doesn't always make it a good idea !

 

MOT man says they fine.... was suggested to me by a subaru specialist... who said he knew what he was doing

 

Damaged reflector was a no-no in my day !

dunx

 

You have a couple of problems because the headlamp has not been resealed properly.
The first will be the effect of condensation in the unit drying and leaving a residue. This can be dealt with by cleaning the glass with a non smearing glass cleaner and polishing to the point of perfection

The second is the dirty/peeling reflective surface and there is not a lot you can do with this. Cleaning it will damage the reflective surface and leave marks that will cause shadows etc in the beam as will trying to repair the bit that is peeling - painting over etc will also leave shadows.

You can try to get new reflectors from a dealer or a replacement headlamp unit.
If you have been thinking of doing the Morette conversion, now is a good time!

Edited to add. Do not use latex gloves when handling reflectors as they leave a residue. Reflectors (or lamps) should only be handled using white cotton gloves - preferably straight out of the bag.

 

There is nothing wrong with the reflector as I said Ive had an MOT guy look at it... <does nobody listen to me lol>

The only problem is the film on the glass, sounds like Im going to have to split them and clean the glass.

 

There are two reflective parts inside the headlight, one is just cosmetic to give that all over chrome look, and it's this bit people often spray black, hence no MOT fail. The main bulb reflector looks undamaged in Clare's pic so she should be OK. Might be worth keeping an eye out in the FS section for anyone selling headlights or breaking an 03-05 car. There was one a few days back getting broken

 

Thanks Dave

 

Dave,

You can see that through all that misting up !



dunx

 

An update... I boughta light off Ebay for a tenner and our Baz detangoed it today ... Said it was a doddle lol. Had a go at splitting the other one and it was so gunked up it was impossible.

So all I need now is a drivers side light to replace the one which the 'specialist' did because we arnt going to risk splitting it without a back up after seeing the state the other one was in

 

get those spiders out .... lol !

 

Scared to split the other one Ian, the one we did splt which had been done originally was a right mess and pulled all the reflector off as the sealant was all inside the light..

 

sounds like a right mess

 

Sure is lol.. Glad I dont have any other work done there anymore