I drive tens of thousands of miles per year in other cars with no incidents. I drive my beloved XJR just a couple thousand miles per year and crap happens! I just don't get it.

 

Your other vehicles probably have the plastic headlight lenses, road debris just bounces off them. The glass headlight lenses.....not so much!

 

It was me...I hate your car Jeff...j/k brother, that sucks, ...those glass lenses aren't cheap if your getting new out of the box. Thank goodness for The Marketplace and recycle yards.

 

That entire headlight assembly is new! I bought it and installed it less than a year ago.

If if anyone wants to sell me a new lens I’ll try to epoxy it in place. Otherwise I’ll be surfing eBay this weekend. Sheesh...

 

The plastic also gets hazy from sun exposure. I prefer glass any day.

 

The lens (glass) is not available separately. You can buy a new inner light unit (~$180) or buy a used one at much less. Or buy a complete used assembly of two lamps so you will have one spare. If the used light unit is hazy on the inside, you can wash it. I use the white creamy kitchen washing liquid, squeeze quite a bit into the lamp, add a bit of water and then shake the lamp (in circular motions) so that the liquid moves rapidly over the inside of the glass and removes the haze. I then, while still rotating the lamp, turn it the other way to get the liquid moving over the reflector. If necessary, I repeat the process. Then, holding the lamp with the glass up, I hose the liquid out, drain the water as much as it will go and put the lamp in the oven at about 100C for an hour or so. It comes out as good as new (except for any tiny chips on the outside of the glass.

I also did swapping of the glass from a used lamp onto my (broken like yours) lamp. The used one had a good glass bat bad reflector. Removing the glass from the used unit is not easy but it can be done. I cut the reflector (hack saw) into a number of segments right to the glass outer edges and carefully removed them one by one. The glass is actually glued with silicone. After removing all silicone from the reflector of my lamp and from the glass of the used lamp, I glued the two parts together with white silicone (you can use clear also), put a number of strong rubber bands over the glued lamp and left it for a week.

 

I can relate, 5 months sub 1000 miles out of paint, I've already replaced a rear taillight & noticed a couple scratches on the bumper. I do enjoy doing all the washing etc. myself but the thing about new paint is that it doesn't stay "new" for long & you see the degradation up close & personal weekly lol.

 

I was looking through some parts boxes even though I was pretty sure I'd sold all my headlights. I was wrong; I found one! It decidedly did NOT look new like the one that broke however. I thoroughly cleaned the outer lens with metal polish and swished glass cleaner on the inside of the lens (blowing it out with the air compressor) and then put the shiny new chrome ring off the new one on it... voila! Still looks older than the others but my net cost for the repair is zero dollars and zero cents. What do you think? Does it look passable or should I spring for another new high beam?

 

For future reference, a search using carparts.com ...Search Results ...the Carguts place in Blacksburg is where I got my Penta Wheel (excellent condition) for $75 including shipping.

 

I had to replace broken headlights on my X300/XJR so often that I'd buy up good used extras just to have on hand. I did lots of highway travel back then and thrown-up rocks and debris were common.

Did the same for the lousy Alpine/Jaguar radios . Kept a supply of used replacements. I'll bet I had 6 different radios in that car over the years.

Cheers
DD