Replacing headlight lenses

[outnumbered]

Mine had got pretty opaque, so I bought replacements from GSF. Bosch made, GSF numbers 948BM0090 and 948BM0100, £21 each.

There's some good reference material on the web for how to do it, unfortunately none of it seems to cover Xenons with integrated washers, which makes it a lot harder to get the headlight unit off the car to change the lens, so I found I had to do it in place.

This vid is very helpful, as it shows you exactly how it all fits together off the car, and also how to get the tricky clip off that attaches the trim under the light to the wing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRcsD2UZkhE

I ended up doing the following - took ages on the first one to work it out, then easier for the second:

• Indicator off
• Remove 4 headlight fixing screws (magnet on stick very useful for getting the bottom one out, big risk of it disappearing into the bumper)
• Release inner end of lower trim
• Release tricky outer end of trim with small screwdriver
• Ease the lower trim forward - the washer pipe is spring loaded and will let it to come forward for several cm.
• Pull headlight out a bit - protect the bumper from scratches
• Unclip weather seal
• Unclip old lens (bit fiddly as the lower trim keeps pinging back and gets in the way)
• Fit new lens & clip in - take care as it's surprisingly fragile
• Put weather seal back
• Push headlight back in
• Gently push lower trim back into place and clip in
• Fixing Screws in
• Indicator in
• Done

DSCN5100 by tw_tvam, on Flickr


DSCN5099 by tw_tvam, on Flickr
DSCN5100 by tw_tvam, on Flickr