Hi all,

It seems that the only established DIY option for fixing heat cracks on the headlight glass/polycarbonate is replacing the entire headlight assembly as of now, and unfortunately good condition examples of the whole assembly are quite pricey. I think if I recall correctly that the cited reason being that the headlight assemblies are sealed to prolong the life of the bulb. Is this true?

Has anyone seen these aftermarket lenses or shells that seem to have appeared on eBay recently? Last time I searched for headlight replacements I didn't see these. I reached out to the seller to see what the recommended installation process is like, hopefully it's something that is actually DIY possible and also hopefully not just an adhesive layer over the existing lens.

 

this may help.
getting out the angle grinder is scary

 

ANY UPDATES? I am in the same boat...

 

Kind of confusing?
He calls it glass but the description says it's PC (Poly-carbonate)?
He also states it replaces aftermarket lens covers? What about stock head lights?
Just not clear how these are installed either?

As the posted video above shows I have only seen people saw the clear covers off. So do these glue in place after you remove the stock ones?
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Agreed. Did a search here, most of the advise is, “It’s expensive” and “It’s covered under warranty mate.”

I'm the third owner of a 2016 S, so it’s not under warranty. I should just roll over for it’s expensive? That’s not like this forum. What are others doing?

 

No real update on my end. The eBay and AliExpress sellers I reached out to all said either “have a professional install them” or “no installation instruction provided” lol

looks like the above video is the recommended way with removing the existing shell with a heat gun and reapplying adhesive and installing the new ones. Looks very involved but might give it a shot eventually.

 

The heat gun method is the old way and I thought that video showed you had to actually saw the head light open?
Jaguar changed the adhesive and on my old S-Type you could bake them and take it all apart but the newer cars this does not seem to work anymore?
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I have donor headlight that I just replaced otherwise I would try this. IF anyone wants it to try I would let them go for a reasonable price. One has a shattered lens and one broke tab
Matching one the lens is showing it's age but highly usable. I upgraded to auto leveling versions.
2017 chrome bezel non adaptive all tab's intact on good one, missing one tab on shattered lens.

 

I did these lenses once for a BMW Z4 and it was a hell of a DIY job.
the complete headlight should be warmed up in a oven/stove for the seal to get soft. The proces of dismounting the original lens was a **** Job because there is a lot of force invalved. I ended up to dremel/saw the lens in pieces so I could remove it piece by piece.This was excellent sealent that BMW used 💪.
Once the base and inserts where clean, the new lenses are easy to mount/seal and the headlights looked new again.

 

I had another project where I am going to need to take apart and reseal a headlight so I decided to try it on the uber hard to do F type assembly first of course.
Oven at 220 for 20 minutes and then a lot of force. The adhesive wasn't really flimsy like most videos I have seen, but it was able to be removed. You have to be careful with prying as the headlight shell plastic gets softer than the lens and adhesive. Once apart it looks like the reinstall wouldn't be too bad. I have one of my replacement lights that is starting to microfracture so this might be back on the table.

 

Thanks for the instructions as we have not seen anyone get this done successfully.
I would interested in hearing how the re-assembly goes too?
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Best tool is a dremel tool.

 

I've baked headlights in the past to open and paint them. It wasn't as bad as it sounds. But note since you are applying the lens back on manually it will not be 100% perfect fitment.. expect a mm or two shift in some direction which will then affect your panel gap.

Also there is the question of the aftermarket lens fitment. If it's not perfect, it would be a huge pain.

Glad to see it can be done on the F, my headlights have always had micro cracks which bothers me. If it gets worse I will be doing this.

 

I have ordered and received a new lens/glass for my MY2014 F-type. I haven’t installed it yet. The quality looks good.

There are a lot of youtube postings regarding this subject. The oven/heating methods seems to be the way to go.

Adam

 

Any update on these?? I also have micro cracking on both my 2015 ftype headlights.

 

This has been on the back burner for me as am working on the other project cars and haven't really needed to order the lenses yet. Sorry

 

@Adam Deermann Did you get the lens swapped?

 

Yes I did.
The material is different, it is thinner.

I also see a mismatch of the curvature of the hood. Maybe I have not propperly set it right. I want to take it out this winter again. I also polishing the some old lenses, which come out quite nice.

 

FWIW, on my older C6 which has some nice Morimoto aftermarket headlamps that were there when I got it, the lenses were fading/cracking from the sun, my body guy sanded and re-cleared them for me and they look brand new. Much cheaper than new lamps, will hold up well compared to just polishing them or cheaper aftermarket plastics, and does not run the risk of damaging the light baking it apart. Just something to consider, might be cheaper than the set of lenses listed.