I have both been told, and have read, differing opinions on covering the C6 headlight assembly in any type of clear-film.
Does doing so increase the chance of damage (heat-stress) or accelerate bulb burn-out ?

thx G

 

To cover or not cover the lens usually turns into a raging debate. Me personally I believe exposure and conditions dictate a lot of the problems. I hear mostly from people out West but also have a fair share of Northerners that have the same issues.

Here's an extreme case...

 

PM this person. He seems to have a lot of experience with these lights. I never used his service (knocking on wood). I have clear bra on my lens and it is not a daily driver. 30k miles in 3 years is not a garage queen though.

If they were caused by road damage then your insurance should cover it like a cracked windshield. Your rates shouldn't increase. I heard you have to remove the front bumper to get to them. I've seen the seal damaged by a regular bra tab before which costs the same to repair.

 

I had mine covered for a couple months, the Vette dealer I go to saw them and said I will get the stress marks if I leave it on. Before I got to take them off, I had the marks. Never replaced them, and unless you look from a certain angle, you won't see them.

The plastic bakes the lens covers, and can damage the lights I'm told.

Anyway, I still enjoy the ride!

 

I do not see how this is possible, considering the film is perfectly clear. It should not be absorbing any heat.

 

Be that as it may,it would behoove you to remove anything you may have over the lenses before taking the car in for warranty replacement if the need arises.

Or they will deny coverage.....

 

I had the same issue....had clear bra installed on the lenses also. They both "crazed" after a couple years. It's an issue with the lenses..not anything more. Dealer would not replace once he saw the film. I have a document the dealer gave me in response to this. It's Document bulletin ID 2018533. It reads as follows: Condition/Concern: Some customers may comment of fine cracks or crazing noticed on the headlamp lens. This may occur if the customer or dealer installs covers over the headlamp assemblies. These covers may not allow the headlamp to maintain proper temperature and will distort the OEM headlamp lens assembly. Recommendation/Instructions: General Motors DOES NOT recommend the use of aftermarket headlamp lens covers. If a customer chooses to install these covers,any distortion caused by the covers will be the responsibility of the customer and will not be covered under warranty.

I still believe it's a mtg defect as it has happened to people with the film on them...without the film...garage queens...daily drivers etc.

 

HID bulbs use an electric arc. Electric arcs generate a lot of UV. (welders flash / burns) Add this to UV from sunlight. Plastic, including your perfectly clear film and the lenses themselves absorb UV light and react with it = heat / breakdown. Perhaps a quartz glass would work, but it would be expensive and fragile.

 

thanks for all the responses and very helpful comments, folks...

this is exactly both sides of the debate

considering the existence of the aforementioned GM service bulletin on the matter, I likely will not cover my headlight assemblies with film.

...will just have to hope no foreign-object damage occurs, and if so, use my "comprehensive" insurance coverage to rectify.

 

Clear bras do not absorb uv or they would cause uneven paint fade. I think GM made that blanket statement to cover tint type films that very well could cause heat issues.

 

The crazing is a network of small cracks on the inside of the lens from what I have read here, correct? I work with medical devices and have found that several high performance plastics that survive heat and stress do craze, crack, or just crinkle when exposed to certain everyday chemicals such as alcohol or glass cleaners. Sometimes hospital personell wipe down epuipment with alcohol and they then get upset when their mega-buck equipment cracks and crazes in front of their eyes.

Could there be something inside of the lights that outgases and causes this?

 

I have been saying for eyars that Vette headlights due to using alchohol based cleaners. It has a reaction to the headlight material and causes it to crack over time. GM blamed paint protection film for the longest time even though there was no proof. Now they are saying soap and water??? LMAO! Just shows you GM has no idea what is really causing it... and dealers are a bunch of car salesmen so they are not going to know. I will say this that I have seen brand new Corvettes on the lot with crazed headlights. So that prooved my point that it was not paint protection film.

 

The uniform crazing seen in this photo seems to rule rule out impact as the cause, as the stress from impact would not be uniform, and secondly, the impact would be momentary and cause instant crazing, not likely something that happens over time. The fact that the crazing takes place on the interior of the lens rules out chemical attack from anything applied to the lens exteriors such as soap or alcohol. This would seem to leave ultraviolet light, ozone attack and/or heat from the high intensity discharge lighting as the cause of crazing from the inside out. A clear plastic film applied to the exterior of the lens would accelerate the heat crazing by acting as a thermal barrier to the cooling effect of normal air flow. But one is still faced with the cause of one light crazing before the other. Hmmmm. Some sort of electrical leakage generating ozone just as occures with the brushes on an electrical motor? General Motors could easily test such theories by flowing high ozone content air thru the interior of the bulb and observing the results. They need to be all over this problem to find a resolution far it.

 

East Coast Performance offers headlight lens replacement service. Here is the link:

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c6-c...t-service.html

 

I tried finding their web page to put in my favorites. Could not find it or I looked over it several times. How about a link to them please.

 

Sorry. That is simply wrong. I have installed film on well over 100+ Corvettes in 8 years and never had a single car come back with crazed headlights. film will not cause heat build up in the lights. Period. it is only 6 mil thick and does breath. I have however seen numerous Corvettes, still on the lot without any film on them, and they have crazed lights. Now why would a brand new Vette without having been driven have crazed lights if film is the cause of the heat build up??? Does not make any sense at all. The only other car I have seen this issue with are the 350Zs. I have seen those come off the lot with the same issues. Now alchohol WILL absorb into the lense material. I beleive it has a chemical reaction with whatever material they are using on the lenses. That is what is causing the lights to craze. Just like the above post with hospital medical equipment, alchohol will damage the lenses. I am pretty sure some of the dealerships use alchohol based cleaners when they detail the car. Evidently it doesnt take too many uses to start the crazing process.

 

Mike Yeager, tell him I sent you

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/memb...rformance.html

I can swap the HL's out here in CT or Orlando FL area with units from Mike's shop

I will be working on HL repair in-house soon

The individual lens can be had for 100-140, there are a few Corvette shops in FL that have been selling them, also Mike in Carolina

 

[QUOTE=Texas_Venom;1577430356]Sorry. That is simply wrong. I have installed film on well over 100+ Corvettes in 8 years and never had a single car come back with crazed headlights. film will not cause heat build up in the lights. Period. it is only 6 mil thick and does breath. I have however seen numerous Corvettes, still on the lot without any film on them, and they have crazed lights. Now why would a brand new Vette without having been driven have crazed lights if film is the cause of the heat build up??? Does not make any sense at all. The only other car I have seen this issue with are the 350Zs. I have seen those come off the lot with the same issues. Now alchohol WILL absorb into the lense material. I beleive it has a chemical reaction with whatever material they are using on the lenses. That is what is causing the lights to craze. Just like the above post with hospital medical equipment, alchohol will damage the lenses. I am pretty sure some of the dealerships use alchohol based cleaners when they detail the car. Evidently it doesnt take too many uses to start the crazing process.

It must be great to be so certain of something based on only suppositions. You have seen numerous brand new Corvettes on dealers lots with crazed headlights. I haven't seen any. But then I don't live in Dallas/Ft. Worth Texas where it can get up to 100 degrees F. or higher in any of eight months of the year, and I would imagine heat inside the greenhouse of a headlight lens can reach very extreme temperatures, especially on darker vehicles, just sitting on a dealers lot at high noon.

Just saying the plastic film you put over the headlights sure doesn't help cooling of the lenses, and all chemical attacks are accelerated by heat. Period. Secondly, their have been reports here on the Forum of headlights crazing after installation of plastic film. So either their is more than one type film being used, which may be, or someone is mistaken or misrepresenting the facts. Period.

 

i've also seen lenses that never had film on them crack.

 

Come on guys... These lens are plastic, surely there can be more than one source that enables them to crack. All of the above, none of the above.

I've seen them crack from the outside, inside and within the lens. Surfaces be perfectly smooth inside and out but with cracks within the lens.