| Author | Message | ||
     Saintly |
I have here a high beam housing from fellow badwebber GaryL. He converted to an "R" fairing on his lightning and instantly noticed that he could no longer see at night.  He made the mistake of trying to wipe it with a cloth thinking it was hazy. The powder which once was a reflector, came off like dust.  | ||
| Saintly |
Here's Bdabuell's Low beam on his 03' bolt. He came by my place tonight and joined in on the photoshoot.   His is currently dust also. You can see where he touched the dust with his finger on the left. The "burned" patch directly above the bulb is 100% natural. MikeXLR is next, look for his photos soon! | ||
| Ducxl |
Keep 'em coming.Hay! You guys' going to be in Laconia this weekend? I'd like to say hello.I'm staying in Freedom NH. | ||
| Bertman |
05 XB12R with about 19,000 miles on it.  I just now opened up the high beam light and it looks absolutely perfect. I run my high beams probably 80% of the time I ride so I don't get why it does not look worse. | ||
| Ridrx |
So far...that's 20 burned-7 not burned. I see a trend, no? Yes, this is a tiny little group of all the Buell's...but, almost a 3 to 1 ratio? I thought defects in mass produced parts was supposed to be the small number in that ratio? (Message edited by RidrX on June 07, 2007) | ||
| Unibear12r |
Bertman- the spoon maybe? Ridrx- most of the people without a problem will not post, but most who do - will. Just human nature if you stop and think about it. A person is far more compelled to take part in something like this if they actually have something to gain through it. Waste of time for most others. Most will likely never even look at this thread. You guys snagged me out of techie curiosity. UNscientific remember? You don't know, and will NEVER know way too many variables to this poll to ever answer the one question you really want answered. Not busting your chops, just being truthful. Still a worthwhile thread for other reasons I still wish everybody would post what lamp they used, oem or whatever. | ||
| Saintly |
Unibear, you said: "most of the people without a problem will not post" The thing is, I'd bet that of those people without a problem, or who say: "mine are fine", actually DO have a problem. They just haven't opened their housings to confirm it. You notice all the pictures of bad ones right? That's cause they belong to people who DID open theirs. Where's all the photos of the "mine are fine" segment? If they truly are fine, then lets see them. I'll bet that upon opening them, they are indeed NOT fine. Actually, I'd love to see a photo of a perfect one, because I've NEVER seen a perfect one. I swear, I NEVER have! EVERY one I've ever seen has been deteriorated, melted, heat cracked, etc. | ||
| Saintly |
Case & point: I did a search, and found an interesting post. In this post a guy posted a photo of his firebolt lamp housing which he described as: "no longer "chrome" looking but no melting or anything." Here's one of the housings that he was referring to:  Now, I would describe that as completely deteriorated and as having heat cracks. So, it is possible that some firebolt owners don't know what their housings are supposed to look like. Therefore, someone who is not aware, might call a bad housing: "perfectly fine" edit: the above post was not intended to imply that the author of the quote in blue didn't know what a good one looks like, but that "some" owners might not. (Message edited by Saintly on June 07, 2007) | ||
| Doz |
I just got a hella 90mm low beam, took it apart to find a plate much like the spoon in the oem unit but what I noticed is that the hella unit is vented, not down low like a drain but up high as if to vent any heated water vapor. I'm tempted to buy a new stock housing and vent it before I carve up the fairing to fit the hella units. | ||
| Midknyte |
I'm tempted to buy a new stock housing and vent it before I carve up the fairing to fit the hella units. me too. if you drilled a hole(s) at the top front to vent hot air, and front bottom to drain any water that got in, should it not help? I rarely ride in the rain, and even if I did, the housings are in and under the fairing. they shouldn't ge able to get [very] wet anyway... | ||
| Aldaytona |
Chrome coating came off of the inside of the headlight housings on my 03 XB9R and my 04 XB12R, reported both vehicles to NHTSA. You would think the least BMC would do is to take back my XB12R and replace it with a new TT so I can ride safely at NIGHT............................................. .................................... | ||
| Cereal |
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| Ducxl |
Sorry to see you're affected too Cereal.I originally started this thread to try and see reflectors with miles on them BUT NOT affected by this defect.It certainly seems at this point that "a large" percentage of "R" models are affected.In the Quality Control world where defects are measured in Parts Per Million that this is a serious "Quality Spill" as we call it in the machining industry. | ||
| Mikethebike72 |
I have 49578 on my 04. I had first set replaced at 23870. I need to have them replace again. I have used stock bulbs all the time. I burn my high beams all the time. I have now ideal why Buell is letting this go on for so long. | ||
| Ridrx |
I've noticed that in many of the pics you can see the tips of what appear to be the socket assembly mounting screws protruding into the housing. Possible contributing factor? My original '06 housing had no visible sign of this, but it could have been just thousandths below the surface. | ||
| Bertman |
Here is my 19,000 mile high beam light that looks great.  The chrome coating is not burned or discolored at all, but I will say the texture looks like a new car paint job that needs to be buffed out. It has a lot of orange peel to the finish, not mirror smooth. | ||
| Dapope |
2003 XBS. 13,000 miles. Had mine open to replaced another bulb about 2 months ago and mine were fine. | ||
| Unibear12r |
Saint, stop and think of what you are saying and what the "defective" reflectors look like by even 5 to 10k miles. If that many of these things go bad there would have been hords of people howling out about it back about 2005! Not just a hand full. By the end of 05 most of the 03 owners and a large number of 04 owners would have HAD to look at their lights because they wouldn't be able to see anymore!!! Sense that didn't happen....your logic is...well, a bit weak. | ||
| Xbs_pilot |
Gentlemen, Are the housings made of a reinforced polymer? If so, I offer this..... The temps run very high in the small area that houses the bulb and while the chrome may fare well the substrate it is deposited on isn't. It seems likely that the chrome, after so many fatigue cycles, is coming off at the bond point of the substrate. Perhaps the substrate is embrittled causing this. | ||
| Tork |
Around 5K miles on my '04 XB. Pulled the low beam apart yesterday to check the reflector. It had some spotting, what looked like a heat blister, and two holes poking through from the lamp retaining clip screws. It looked dirty so I wiped it gently with a soft cloth and the reflective coating wiped completely off. FYI- There are updated part numbers for the high and low beam assemblies. Y0427.02A8 (High) Y0400.02A8 (Low) Each assembly runs about $55. Not sure what the updates are, but these used to be $35-ish a couple of years ago. -Tork | ||
| Maddiemsu |
I did my HID swap this weekend and checked the low beam housing while I was at it. Sure enough it is blistered. 07 with 800 miles!  | ||
| Court |
I keep having a fantasy (I know it'd be tough and pricey) to have Steve Mackay machine a set. How cool would it be to have the entire thing made of a mirror polished non-corrosive metal. Wonder if that could even be done? | ||
| Ducxl |
Sure it could be done.But Economics 101.Prohibitively expensive.Could probably buy 6 sets of the current part for the price of one set of billet machined stuff.Unless we can get them chump Chinese to machine them. | ||
| Court |
>>.them chump Chinese to machine them. Uhh . . which Chinese? The one's making the Chevy or the Ferrari units? I'm sure it'd be pricey, but look . . we got guys paying the better part of $6,000 for wheels. . . Court be cool! | ||
| Ducxl |
Great comeback!!!!!  Ok,a machined part WOULD be cool(no pun intended).But a diecast or investment cast,or even powdered metal would seem more cost effective.With a polished inner surface. my ongoing rant with the Chinese: We were once(around 1980)the worlds biggest creditor with a 3 trillion surplus.We're NOW the biggest DEBTOR with 3 trillion(with interest).What happened? we were sold out by our(so called) representative government.American style Communism baby! The wave of the future.But now i digress  | ||
| Midknyte |
wouldn't an all metal unit just hold and transmit the heat to the plastic head unit and cause/transfer a new problem? I dunno - maybe the opposite would happen (it'd wick away and radiate the heat instead of trapping it...?) whaazzabout a polished metal insert? | ||
| Ducxl |
wouldn't an all metal unit just hold and transmit the heat to the plastic head unit and cause/transfer a new problem? cast in cooling fins? | ||
| Midknyte |
Okay, most recent comments have me thinking...There has GOT to be some metal object out there, whether it be a large measuring spoon or even a cupcake tin, that is of a coincidental size that would make for a homegrown/garage solution. Something concave that could be easily polished and used as an insert... ya'll have permission to giggle. but think about it.      | ||
| Ducxl |
Really,i think something diecast could easily contain the bosses for the adjustment/mounting screw holes.Court was onto something with the Billet suggestion. It just wasn't cost effective. | ||
| Gowindward |
I keep having a fantasy (I know it'd be tough and pricey) to have Steve Mackay machine a set. How cool would it be to have the entire thing made of a mirror polished non-corrosive metal. Wonder if that could even be done? I keep having a fantasy that the UPS man delivers a set of High Performance replacement lamps from Buell to my front door. With a nice letter saying thanks for waiting, while we fixed our problem head lamps. Now, how cool would that be?? Oh well back to my pipe! |
