Headlight fog/haze/condensation

[acoleman]

My 2012 Q7 prestige headlights started to haze moderately around 95k miles. At 115k now and one has major condensation in it. Are there any solutions outside of replacement? They are insanely expensive and I have no interest in that. I will sell the thing before I spend $4k+ on headlights. It would be awesome if the exterior plastic could be replaced. But based on my research it isn’t possible. Any help would be appreciated!

[justinperkins]

My 2012 Q7 prestige headlights started to haze moderately around 95k miles. At 115k now and one has major condensation in it. Are there any solutions outside of replacement? They are insanely expensive and I have no interest in that. I will sell the thing before I spend $4k+ on headlights. It would be awesome if the exterior plastic could be replaced. But based on my research it isn’t possible. Any help would be appreciated!

Common problem on all vehicles of that age. I don't know if there's a DIY for our headlight assembly but there's plenty for other VAG vehicles. Some lenses are available, need to search around. A new lens won't solve condensation issues, you have leaking o-rings or maybe a leaking main seal. All these things can be fixed with some DIY love, or just going out and buying a new or lightly used headlight assembly.

[allbizns]

I just went thru looking for the same thing for my 14 Q7 mine were crazed fairly good. I did find a guy on ebay that sells just the lenses. He is out of Prague and he gets like $400.00 for the pair. His ebay name is
Bmw_eu
I decided after finding this as an option I had nothing to loose to remove the head lights and try to sand out and polish them. I started with 320 grit and worked my way up to 20 micron paper. Then polished them with a high quality compound and polish. To finish it off I coated them with some Car-pros Dlux coating I think they came out pretty good. Trust me this is not a fast process but in the end i had about $60.00 tied up in the coating and the finer micron sand paper. I already had the compound and polish at the house.
This should repair the hazing. As far as the moisture as stated by the ladt guy you should be able to fix that with some new gaskets and possibly running some sealant around the lense and the housing where the factory glue is.
Here are some before and after pics of mine hope this helps.

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[acoleman]

Thanks guys. I tried the sanding technique and most of the hazing is in the inside so it didn’t fix it. I will take them out of the car when I get a chance and see if I can fix the seal.

[VroomVroom]

Allbizns, really nice job on the restoration. Coatings offer pretty good protection, but FWIW I recommend a good PPF rated for with excellent UV protection. You've likely sanded through whatever UV resistance was built into the lenses, so good protection is critical. XPEL makes pre-cut templates, and I've also heard good things about the Weathertech kits, although I'm not sure what film they're using. If you're so inclined PPF can be ceramic coated for an extra layer of protection.

Odd to hear that the hazing is on the inside - are you sure you sanded "deep" enough? 320 is pretty mean stuff - I usually start with 500, and sometimes make two sanding passes in perpendicular directions. From there I go 800, 1000, and then 1500 and 2000 wet before polishing. It's definitely a bit time consuming.

For the condensation, drilling one or two small holes in the rear of the housing for ventilation will usually help prevent the moisture from recurring.

[allbizns]

VroomVroom, you are correct I did have to sand thru the UV coating. Thanks for the advice on Xpel film. That is definitely something I will look into. I believe Acloeman the OP might think the crazing is on the inside and just not cutting thru the UV coating enough. The only reason I ended up using 320 to start is because i had originally tried 500 but it wanted to load up badly when trying to cut thru the UV coating. The 320 helped me cut thru the UV coating quicker and easier still not a simple walk in the park. Once you cut thru the coating the lense sands sooo much easier. Like VroomVroom stated with each sand paper grit make sure you sand 90 deg to each other. This will allow you to see when you have successfully sanded out the coarser grit scratches. Hope this makes sense.

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[jadedj]

BUMP

I thought I fixed the condensation in the drivers side headlight by expoying a crack in the slot where the headlight slides in but alas, after a week or two of zero condensation, it's back again in full force. Does anyone think it's the bulbs I'm using? Maybe they're too hot? This is what I bought: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Thinking of just buying another headlight but after reading this thread, not sure. Thoughts? Ideas? Maybe try different replacement bulbs? I'm at a loss...

[Pothole]

A hotter bulb should burn off the condensation sooner, right?