Headlight Melting

So I've had osram rallye 65w's from daniel stern in for about 4 months so far without any problems. After clearing my headlights, my friend put the bulbs back in and it never looked as bright as before. So on wednesday I just relatched them to make sure they were in correctly. No problems, and they're back to original brightness.

 

Last night I washed the car quickly, and drove home with headlights on full. And this morning as I pull into my parking spot downtown I see this.

 

http://imgur.com/Cp3bK.jpg

 

So it looks like it melted, and then hardened overnight after it was soft. I'm guessing it didn't like the sudden change from warm water, then close to sub zero outside, then heat fromt he light and it was weakened from that.

 

I cant really tell how much of the plastic is white, as I just got home and its gotten dark out already, but I dont know if it would buff out.

 

Anyone have any thoughts? I'd hope it would buff out if I brought it to a shop

 

I've put back in my stock bulb for now, as I dont want any more heat on it, and I guess I'll be getting HID's soon because of the lower heat, but any advice? or is the only solution to get a new headlight?

wow, i've done quite a bit of in-depth HL work on this car, and i don't think i could get what's going on in that picture to happen under any conceivable circumstances...

 

it's hard to tell, but i assume since you mentioned a buff-out that the marring is on the outer lens, not the projector lens inside? very weird -- have you used any odd chemicals on the plastic lately; what did you use to seal them after the blackout?

I don't think it's melted. It looks like dirty moisture got through the seal and the evaporation caused by the headlight left all the dirt in that area. Your friend might have not sealed the headlight correctly.

Yea it is on the outside, and its a physical bump.

 

I used automotive silicone to seal it, I forget which brand, but I haven't had any condensation issues in the whole time.

 

And no not really, I didn't use any strange chemicals. I just used a pressure washer with soap, and then a rinse afterwards. Maybe there was like a little bit of soap left on the lens that caused the problem after it heated up?

^that shouldn't ever happen though on a sound lens. i'm pretty sure that my 55w boosted d2s hid bulbs are throwing off about as much or more heat as anyone else's setup, and we run the gamut of weather here in the NE.

Perhaps they were weakened at some point, but I really wouldn't suspect the bulbs as culprit. What was your method for clearing; oven/temp/time?

A headlight restoration kit would definitely help reduce the burn. There's a lot of DIY tutorials on Google or you can buy a kit.

 

http://my.is/forums/f171/yet-another-review-3m-headlight-restoration-kit-395018/

Did you let the silicone fully cure before reassembling the lamp housing?

My hypothesis: The silicone outgasses, leaving condensaion in the locations affected. Turning the lights on bakes the condensation on, and then captiures heat, melting the plastic.

I'm using the same bulbs, BTW, but no other lighting mods (other than DRL disconnect).

This exact happened on my car, and it happened when it was cold out, but I covered one of the lamps with a cloth to block the light while I aimed the other. I was also using Osram 65W Ralleye bulbs. The lamp will overheat VERY quickly this way.

 

I dunno why this happened on YOUR car though, unless you had the lamp covered up with something like I did.

 

Only solution is to replace the housing... about $170-$230 depending on if you get aftermarket or OEM.

Yea OhBe1 the clearing proccess went fine. there wern't any problems at the time. The exact proccess I don't remember the details, but I followed the guide that was on here.

 

The thing is, I had no problems at all, even after they were running at full brightness, until right after I washed the car. And the bulbs really do get hot, very fast. So I'm kinda leaning towards soap residue being left on the lights.

 

Right now, I'll probably just live with it until I get an hid kit. If its still causing problems then, then I'll look into fixing it. Or shortly after I get my wheels. Cause atm it's just cosmetic, and I'm just running a less bright bulb, not too bad.

see? someone's selling one:

http://www.legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php?t=129310

aftermarket

see? someone's selling one:

http://www.legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php?t=129310

aftermarket

 

haha, mines on the drivers side :<

oops my bad