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Because polycarbonate is lighter, cheaper, and tougher than glass, as well as being easier to manufacture in the complex headlight shapes on modern cars.
The only problem with polycarbonate is it's not very UV resistant at all, so it needs a UV protective coating added when manufactured. If they do start to haze, though, you can pretty easily wet sand off the old coating/haze and recoat them. The only trick is finding a good replacement coating that will provide ongoing UV protection.
The microcracks seem to be unique to the 981 and are probably a manufacturing issue: I haven't seen that on my 987.2 or on any other cars with any frequency.
I don’t need lighter, cheaper, or tougher. I need a lens that will look good for 20 years if some outside violence does not visit. The plastic doesn’t hold up and you can see evidence of that all around you in every parking lot in the United States. It’s all crap.
Time, engineering, and car design have all left you behind, I'm afraid.
If you park indoors plastic headlights will last a very long time. And even if you park outdoors it's not very much work to refresh them every five years or whatever. When mine started going (the Cayman was about seven years old) it took me like two hours total to restore them: it's a pretty easy DIY job if you're at all handy.
I don’t need lighter, cheaper, or tougher. I need a lens that will look good for 20 years if some outside violence does not visit. The plastic doesn’t hold up and you can see evidence of that all around you in every parking lot in the United States. It’s all crap.
That's actually rather simple - have PPF installed on the lens (10-mil works well). If it's done right you'll never know it's there except your lens will stay clear and not yellow. If the PPF yellows a bit - replace it (mine on my Boxster is going on 12 years now - and looks like new, my Cayenne 11 years and looks like new..)
WAY cheaper than replacing the lights and much better clarity then even the best repolish of the existing lens can achieve. I wrote an article back about 15+ years ago for the BMW Car Club magazine Rondel on polishing headlight lenses. I think I was one of the first - if not the first - to do it. No kits were available at the time, but I explained how to do it with what was available - successive grits of sandpaper then 3M Mirror Glaze polish. At the time I installed some heavy-duty protective plastic film on the headlights after polishing them, the film was sold as rock protection. It worked like a charm.. headlights continued looking good until I sold the car - '98 M3 convertible.
If you park indoors plastic headlights will last a very long time. And even if you park outdoors it's not very much work to refresh them every five years or whatever. When mine started going (the Cayman was about seven years old) it took me like two hours total to restore them: it's a pretty easy DIY job if you're at all handy.
Well, I wish this were true. My car gets driven 7-8 months out of the year tops, and only on the nice days. Severe weather days it stays in. And yet, mine started this last year, juuust after warranty expired. You can read more here Micro-cracks on headlights . I went the sand and polish route and will have Xpel applied soon. This is clearly (pardon the pun) a manufacturing defect that Porsche is unwilling to accept.
Interesting to see this on a Porsche, because it also happened to my MINI (apparently a lot of BMW products are prone to this as well). Seems like thousands of micro-cracks that start from inside the plastic itself...I wonder if it has to do with the temperature given off by the bulb within the housing on certain headlight designs, and the constant temperature fluctuations?
Well, I ordered a new set of lenses and will see how it goes. From the looks of it, baking is not an option due to much higher temperature needed to soften the RV sealant, thinking of using a mwteal wire to cut the sealant. Others used a dremeal and brute force, I will try this method first before heading that route.
Hi everyone...I just went through this with my '15 Cayman S. The headlights had micro-cracks and hazing very similar to what the OP posted. I had a local detailing shop in the Chicago burbs sand them down, polish them and put a PPF wrap on them (Suntek). They came out really well. It took them almost a day to do both of them, but the $$ was much better spent refurbishing them vs buying new ones. I also didn't want to cut into them and replace the lenses like some have... Here are some before and after shots and side by side comparisons. Untouched - before passenger side Driver side - after correction Passenger side before, driver side after Close up - before on left and after on right Before - left, After - right Passenger - before Driver - after
Hi everyone...I just went through this with my '15 Cayman S. The headlights had micro-cracks and hazing very similar to what the OP posted. I had a local detailing shop in the Chicago burbs sand them down, polish them and put a PPF wrap on them (Suntek). They came out really well. It took them almost a day to do both of them, but the $$ was much better spent refurbishing them vs buying new ones. I also didn't want to cut into them and replace the lenses like some have... Here are some before and after shots and side by side comparisons.
Looks great, unfortunately, mine were so severe that even after all that work, at night they still sparkle like a Christmas tree. The shop did not want to sand further down as it seemed the cracks would go almost all the way and it would have gotten too thin. Either way, I will try my luck with new lenses and report back how it goes.
An update after sanding the cracks from the surface of the acrylic. I had Xpel applied today.
There are a few spots on the edges that are still sort of seen, but it’s drastically better than it was. Overall very happy.
Hope that is the thin expel and not the thicker headlight protection they sell. I used to be an expel dealer, had lot of problems with the expel retaining too much heat which causes the lens to develop micro cracks
Hope that is the thin expel and not the thicker headlight protection they sell. I used to be an expel dealer, had lot of problems with the expel retaining too much heat which causes the lens to develop micro cracks
Which is the entire point of this thread and the hundred others just like it. The factory Porsche lenses and film protection do the exact same thing so you can be screwed either way
My new to me cayman also has this crazing effect.... This might be region specific, but does any know of a sf bay area shop who has tackled this before?
I've asked some detailers already, and doesn't seem like they want to touch it and just recommend getting new headlights.
My new to me cayman also has this crazing effect.... This might be region specific, but does any know of a sf bay area shop who has tackled this before?
I've asked some detailers already, and doesn't seem like they want to touch it and just recommend getting new headlights.
Thanks in advance for recommendation
Looks like tiny ants inside
This is the exact same issue I just dealt with. Three options, Leave it, replace them with new or completely remove enough top cost to remove 98% of the issue and have a UV protection of your choice applied.
Hope that is the thin expel and not the thicker headlight protection they sell. I used to be an expel dealer, had lot of problems with the expel retaining too much heat which causes the lens to develop micro cracks
Well the thicker film is not and more than likely never was the cause. This is a manufacturing defect, period. My car had less than 30k miles when I discovered it, had never had anything applied on the lights nor sat outside in the sun. It also has never been on the road more than 8-9 months a year, on only the non-severe weather days.
04-01-2021, 12:52 PM
Great info. in this thread.
