Replacing front light unit

[Jonny B]

Just driving round the m25 in heavy traffic huge bits of what I assume to be the steel belt from a blown truck tyre appeared from no where getting thrown into my front end by the vehicle in adjacent lane .By some miracle upon inspection didn’t hit any of the paintwork or grill , but hit the offside front light unit , big scores in it so now needs replacing . It’s a normal ( non matrix light ) 2017 saloon . My question is has anyone replaced one of these how difficult is it to put a new unit in without affecting the alignment or will it need to be completely realigned post fitting. If anyone has the part number that would be extremely useful.
Thanks in advance.

 

[DJAlix]

Just driving round the m25 in heavy traffic huge bits of what I assume to be the steel belt from a blown truck tyre appeared from no where getting thrown into my front end by the vehicle in adjacent lane .By some miracle upon inspection didn’t hit any of the paintwork or grill , but hit the offside front light unit , big scores in it so now needs replacing . It’s a normal ( non matrix light ) 2017 saloon . My question is has anyone replaced one of these how difficult is it to put a new unit in without affecting the alignment or will it need to be completely realigned post fitting. If anyone has the part number that would be extremely useful.
Thanks in advance.

Pretty easy to change the physical unit but front bumper needs to come off, which is only like 9 bolts. Alignment is easy to sort out also, and if the light unit is LED then it will need coding.

 

[Jonny B]

Pretty easy to change the physical unit but front bumper needs to come off, which is only like 9 bolts. Alignment is easy to sort out also, and if the light unit is LED then it will need coding.

Thanks for the reply .Ive subsequently been put onto a detailing outfit that restores headlights, I’m not sure of the
Results in machining out scratches in Perspex but can’t be any worse, will give that a try first then it’s raid the piggy bank for a new unit.

 

[DJAlix]

Thanks for the reply .Ive subsequently been put onto a detailing outfit that restores headlights, I’m not sure of the
Results in machining out scratches in Perspex but can’t be any worse, will give that a try first then it’s raid the piggy bank for a new unit.

Could be similar to repairing a cracked windscreen I guess, filling the damaged area and then smoothing out. Just need to make sure that any repair will not distort the beam pattern once complete.

 

[Jonny B]

Could be similar to repairing a cracked windscreen I guess, filling the damaged area and then smoothing out. Just need to make sure that any repair will not distort the beam pattern once complete.

Yes it’s unavoidable in my mind if you change the depth of some of the surface the beam will be distorted but only way to tell is to try , new units as you know are expensive so I think it’s worth a try . Will post the results .