enigma243
New member
...and a place for me to get the 10 posts I need for the parts-subforum :wave:
Allow me to share the sad tale of my Tuesday:
I woke up this morning, feeling inspired & with my hands itching to do something constructive. My E39's headlights had long looked rather dim, what with 10 years' worth of sun & pitting & whatnot. To add to my woes, it had become evident that at least 1 adjustment screw on each headlight had broken at some point. This had both lights pitching down to such an extent that they were quite effective at illuminating Jo'burg potholes 5 seconds too late, but not much else, so the car painted a rather sorry picture at night
So, with a spring in my step I proceeded to yank both headlights & merrily started stripping them into their constituent parts. I could already picture the vast improvement I was going to have, for nothing more than a bit of elbow grease, as the insides had really become quite filthy. One couldn't even see through the projector lenses! :shocked:
All went well. The front lenses were scrubbed inside and out. The half-round gems of glass were polished to a fine sheen. Heck, even the various connectors were positively glistening. All that was left to do was to give the 4 reflectors a rubdown.
And so we come to the lesson of today's story: Mr Muscle Surface cleaner is not to be used on silverised plastic reflectors. It does an exemplary job of stripping the reflective surface from the black plastic below.:banghead: I felt nauseous for a good few hours afterwards and honestly, I still do a little...
So here's my plight: If anyone has a busted pre-facelift E39 headlight rotting away on a shelf somewhere, I'd love to hear from you. Anything that I can salvage an outside reflector from would be just dandy. I know the chances aren't great, but there's no harm in asking... right?
Please feel free to look disapprovingly in my direction / jeer me / laugh at me / do whatever else you want. I deserve it.
Allow me to share the sad tale of my Tuesday:
I woke up this morning, feeling inspired & with my hands itching to do something constructive. My E39's headlights had long looked rather dim, what with 10 years' worth of sun & pitting & whatnot. To add to my woes, it had become evident that at least 1 adjustment screw on each headlight had broken at some point. This had both lights pitching down to such an extent that they were quite effective at illuminating Jo'burg potholes 5 seconds too late, but not much else, so the car painted a rather sorry picture at night
So, with a spring in my step I proceeded to yank both headlights & merrily started stripping them into their constituent parts. I could already picture the vast improvement I was going to have, for nothing more than a bit of elbow grease, as the insides had really become quite filthy. One couldn't even see through the projector lenses! :shocked:
All went well. The front lenses were scrubbed inside and out. The half-round gems of glass were polished to a fine sheen. Heck, even the various connectors were positively glistening. All that was left to do was to give the 4 reflectors a rubdown.
And so we come to the lesson of today's story: Mr Muscle Surface cleaner is not to be used on silverised plastic reflectors. It does an exemplary job of stripping the reflective surface from the black plastic below.:banghead: I felt nauseous for a good few hours afterwards and honestly, I still do a little...
So here's my plight: If anyone has a busted pre-facelift E39 headlight rotting away on a shelf somewhere, I'd love to hear from you. Anything that I can salvage an outside reflector from would be just dandy. I know the chances aren't great, but there's no harm in asking... right?
Please feel free to look disapprovingly in my direction / jeer me / laugh at me / do whatever else you want. I deserve it.
