Headlights

It depends on how much and whether it clears. A light mist that appears in cold damp weather and disappears once the lamp has been on for a while is often normal, since housings breathe through vents and a temperature change condenses moisture. Standing water, droplets running down the lens or a mist that never clears means the seal has failed, and that matters because the driver electronics sit at the bottom of the housing where the water collects. Replace it before the module corrodes.

Not necessarily. On many vehicles the light emitting diodes are supplied by a separate driver module that can fail on its own, and this catalogue lists driver modules as their own parts. Check the connector and the supply first, then the module. If the module is proven and the lamp is still dead, the assembly is the answer, since sealed units generally cannot be opened to replace individual emitters without compromising the seal.

Always. The beam has a sharp cut off designed to light the road without dazzling oncoming drivers, and a lamp that is fractionally high does exactly what everyone complains about. Aiming is done against a screen or with an optical aimer to the manufacturer's figures, and on adaptive units an electronic calibration is required as well so the system knows where its segments are pointing. Incorrect aim is also a straightforward inspection failure in most markets.

Polishing restores clarity on a polycarbonate lens whose protective coating has degraded, and it is a genuine improvement when the haze is on the outside. What it also does is remove what remains of the ultraviolet coating, so unless a new protective coating is applied afterwards the haze returns faster each time. Where the crazing is within the plastic rather than on the surface, or where the internal reflector has dulled, polishing achieves nothing and the assembly is the answer.

It is a system that divides the high beam into many individually controlled segments, so a camera can identify other road users and the lamp switches off only the segments that would dazzle them, leaving the rest of the road fully lit. It gives far more usable light than a conventional dipped beam. What matters when ordering is that these units are separate references with their own controllers and connectors, and that what the system is permitted to do differs by market.

Cushion pads and trim strips sit right at the bottom of the range. Fog lamps are modest. Complete headlamp assemblies cost the most in this category, and adaptive or matrix units are among the more expensive body parts on any vehicle, since each contains electronics, cooling and motors. The live minimum and maximum are shown in the band at the top of this page, and aiming or calibration is an additional workshop charge.

Mechanically it is often straightforward, with the bumper cover or a wheel arch liner giving access to three or four bolts and one connector. What you cannot do at home is aim it accurately, and on adaptive units you cannot calibrate it at all without the correct tooling. A sensible approach is to fit the lamp, set the adjusters approximately using the manufacturer's screen method, and book the vehicle for proper aiming immediately rather than driving on an untested beam.

Because the cause was outside the lamp. Water reaching the housing usually arrives from a blocked drain in the front panel area, a damaged or missing wheel arch liner directing spray upwards, or a gap left by a bumper cover that no longer sits correctly after a repair. Fitting a new lamp into that environment gives the same result within a season. Find and fix the water path before, or at least at the same time as, fitting the replacement.

It may bolt in and it will rarely work. A vehicle built with halogen or basic LED lamps does not have the wiring, the control module or the sensors that an adaptive unit expects, so fitting one gives a lamp with reduced or no function and usually a fault code. Even within one lamp type, connectors and driver arrangements differ between build years. Match the OE number, and use the quote form where the reference brings back nothing.

In a housing designed for a halogen bulb, no. The reflector or projector is shaped around the position and geometry of a filament, and an emitter that does not reproduce it scatters light outside the intended pattern, which dazzles oncoming drivers while often lighting the road no better. Most markets also require the lamp to be approved as a unit, so the conversion is not road legal. If you want better light, fit the correct factory lamp for your vehicle.

They sit between the lamp and the body, setting how it beds against the panel, damping vibration and keeping the gap even. They are small rubber or foam parts that harden and tear with age, and they rarely survive removal of the lamp intact. A lamp refitted without them rattles, sits fractionally out of line and loses its aim more easily. They are listed here for left and right and cost very little, so order them with any lamp.

Yes. Headlamps carry more variants than almost any external part, since the same body accepts halogen, projector and matrix units with different driver modules behind them, and the slower selling combinations are the ones without a figure. Give the number from the lamp body and say which side you need. Where the housing is sound and only the levelling motor, the driver module or a trim strip has failed, ask about that item separately. Those are listed on their own references and cost a small fraction of a complete lamp, which changes the arithmetic on an older car.