Head light problem.

[S3-Oski]

Hi all,

I have a problem with my headlight it has discoloured and seems to have got worse, very cloudy/yellow inside and compared to my crystal clean other one, it is looking very scruffy,

I want to get it fixed asap as it has niggled me for a while,and to be honest i think its got worse,

I posted a while ago and someone said about taking it apart and trying to clean the lens, which involved splitting the bonding etc,

Would it be easier to buy a new lens? or do i have to buy a new headlight? thanks

 

[<tuffty/>]

You sure its on the inside? Its normally the UV coating on the outside that goes yellow with age... this can be sorted by polishing the lens (there is a mini tutorial in my build thread on this) otherwise its a case of buying a new one as lenses are not available separately... sadly quite expensive from a dealer (£500 mark IIRC for Xenon S3 ones) but Euro Car Parts do sell genuine Hella and copy versions of the A3 halogen lights for not too much money... talking around £140 for headlight which is cheap compared to a dealer and the copies are even cheaper... I was considering buying a couple myself then making a couple of good headlights out of the old/new ones... (hybrid headlight lol)

The headlight chassis and lens are essentially the same its the Xenon bit I think is different so I was going to use the lens and adjusters (as mine are a little brittle now and have fallen apart) and fit them to my Xenons thus making them 'new' for a fraction of the price... no idea if it will work as yet as I want to look at some A3 facelift lights first to see how plausible it would be to do but in principle it should work..

<tuffty/>

 

[S3-Oski]

Thanks to be fair the outside does feel very gritty? so it may be? i tried to clean it no joy though, so would the ones day fro eurocar parts be different to mine now? without sounding different what does the xenons bit mean? lol thanks

 

[<tuffty/>]

Define clean lol.... I used 1000 and 2000 grit sandpaper followed by a machine polish... now thats cleaning ;P

S3's come with Xenon (gas discharge) headlights whereas A3's come with more traditional halogen headlights.... use google to find out more....

The ones listed on ECP are halogen types and the 'chassis' and lens 'should' be the same but the inside bit (chrome bit with the actual lights in) will be different...
Here is a link to the left hand light on ECP as an example..
Hella version: Hella Audi - Euro Car Parts UK
Copy version:Audi - Euro Car Parts UK

I cannot say for sure that the parts are totally compatible as I have not looked at an A3 and S3 headlamp side by side as yet so I cannot categorically say the 'conversion' would work however I do believe that it should... The lenses at least should fit if nothing else...

Just buying those headlights and fitting won't work without modification either... I would assume that you would need to alter the wiring to be able to run halogens rather than the Xenons although you could get a Xenon conversion kit to work with them if you wanted Xenons of course but the wiring would still need changing I think, probably involving relays etc o be on the safe side...

I am sure there was someone on here that swapped his prefacelift S3 headlights for facelift A3 headlights and did a Xenon conversion...

Sorry, can't be any more specific than that.... Polishing the lights works ****** well and would probably be all you need to do to get your lights back up to scratch... beyond that its new ones from Audi (expensive) or maybe having a go at the conversion... I am going to do this myself at some point but not in a timescale that would help you out now I'm afraid..

Link to the headlight polishing in my build thread...
http://www.audi-sport.net/vb/a3-s3-...s-s3-minor-modding-thread-15.html#post1057193

<tuffty/>

 

[S3-Oski]

Define clean lol.... I used 1000 and 2000 grit sandpaper followed by a machine polish... now thats cleaning ;P

S3's come with Xenon (gas discharge) headlights whereas A3's come with more traditional halogen headlights.... use google to find out more....

The ones listed on ECP are halogen types and the 'chassis' and lens 'should' be the same but the inside bit (chrome bit with the actual lights in) will be different...
Here is a link to the left hand light on ECP as an example..
Hella version: Hella Audi - Euro Car Parts UK
Copy version:Audi - Euro Car Parts UK

I cannot say for sure that the parts are totally compatible as I have not looked at an A3 and S3 headlamp side by side as yet so I cannot categorically say the 'conversion' would work however I do believe that it should... The lenses at least should fit if nothing else...

Just buying those headlights and fitting won't work without modification either... I would assume that you would need to alter the wiring to be able to run halogens rather than the Xenons although you could get a Xenon conversion kit to work with them if you wanted Xenons of course but the wiring would still need changing I think, probably involving relays etc o be on the safe side...

I am sure there was someone on here that swapped his prefacelift S3 headlights for facelift A3 headlights and did a Xenon conversion...

Sorry, can't be any more specific than that.... Polishing the lights works ****** well and would probably be all you need to do to get your lights back up to scratch... beyond that its new ones from Audi (expensive) or maybe having a go at the conversion... I am going to do this myself at some point but not in a timescale that would help you out now I'm afraid..

Link to the headlight polishing in my build thread...
http://www.audi-sport.net/vb/a3-s3-...s-s3-minor-modding-thread-15.html#post1057193

<tuffty/>

Thanks mate for the reply very helpful indeed,

lol i cleaned it with some Autoglym shampoo then a quick srp my hand i don't think that worked to well, i will see if anyone near me has a machine polisher, as i saw your thread looks spot on, my headlight is slightly worse than yours was,if it comes up how yours has i will be a happy man, cheers.,