| Author | Message | ||
     Wbrisett |
Had my HID bulb go out on my 2007 Uly, while in the process of installing a new bulb, I noticed the inside (silver lining) of the housing was flaking off pretty bad. I ordered a new housing unit to have on-hand when it gets too bad. But I'm wondering if others have seen this problem with their Uly headlights. (Message edited by wbrisett on January 04, 2011) | ||
| Wolfridgerider |
My 06 looked nasty inside... kinda brown/black funky.... I just put new headlight on last month. I was happy to see it came with the bulbs. my plan is to use the old housing as a mounting bracket for some aftermarket lights. | ||
| Maximum |
If you really want it to flake off...try washing out the housing with hot soapy water! Don't ask me how I know that. I wonder if it can be recoated with some mirror colored spray paint. It is a little tricky taking the housing apart...but it is possible. | ||
| Electraglider_1997 |
Steve, I don't believe there is such a thing as mirror paint. I've had antique mirrors re-silvered and that is not particularly inexpensive because they use some type of liquid suspended silver to accomplish the act. I googled resilvering and apparently there are kits available. | ||
| Mbest |
"They" replaced mine on warranty about 13K miles into the factory warranty for the reflective surface flaking off. Was still on the oem bulbs at the time. HID's for the last 40K, no issues so far. My closest dealer laughed, but selling dealer considered it a safety issue and ran it thru warranty without issue, some service writers are actually there for the customer. No idea how the extended warranty thieves would handle it, but at least I've got a precedent if it does it again. Mine's an early '08 | ||
| Ronmold |
What watt HID's? | ||
| Mbest |
On my bike I ran 35 watt, 5000K hi and low till 27k miles then swapped 'em out for 50 watt'ers, also 5000K. Over 55K miles so far. very happy | ||
| Paul56 |
I have had the exact same experience with my 06 (85k miles). The silvering of the low beam is flaking off. I've had a 35w HID in there since the bike was about a year old. Time for a new housing- or completely new lights! | ||
| 7873jake |
For clarification, is it believed that the flaking occurs regardless of whether you run HIDs or because of the HIDs? I think I know the answer but wanted to be sure. | ||
| Paul56 |
I doubt HIDs cause it to flake off earlier/more than incandescents. Mine is 35w vs. 55w stock, so the heat should be less. Unless the characteristics of the HID light is different in some other way (they are definitely harder to look at up close!). Perhaps Dr. Greg or other learned person could help? | ||
| Wbrisett |
It's possible that with the HIDs and the modification to the housing boot that the unit is more susceptible to the elements, but I'm not 100% that's the case. To elaborate, when you install the HIDs, you have to make some modification to the rubber boot on the housing so they fit. However, I know when I did this, the hole I cut was perfect for the rubber grommet the HIDs come with, and so things interlocked pretty well. I never saw moisture or any other signs that the elements were getting into the housing. But part of my housing is yellowing and starting to flake off now. I also agree with Paul, the HIDs run cooler, so I don't think heat from the bulb is the problem. Although with our 100+ degree heat in the summer, every headlight here gets ultra hot. But I haven't see any signs of this occurring on my BMW, so I really don't think it's a universal issue based on geographical location and heat. I was shocked to learn that the housing unit was around $140. That is pretty expensive, but hopefully I won't have to replace it more than once (I'm going to wait until it really gets bad before I actually replace the housing). Wayne | ||
| Uly_dude |
I've seen someone out here on the internet, maybe this site, that had actually removed the OEM reflectors/bulbs and fitted two of the Baja Designs Soltek Fuego lights in there perfectly. It looked pretty good actually. You could hardly tell it wasn't stock. The Solteks are a completely sealed design I believe, however not HID. But I heard they're bright. | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
Yes! do a search for "Deathray" You will find them there. I think Treadmarks did it. | ||
| Dennis_c |
They do have them in HID 1 is a 100w halgon the other is hid. You do not need any more lights than this.     You do not need any more lights than this. |
