Sooty torques
23-08-2003, 19:38
Aaargh!!!:yikes:
Had my Leon for 10 months/11K; just got back from hols in France, remove tape masks off headlights to find a mass of what appear to be shallow cracks in the plastic surface of the lens. Each lens has an area about 40mm wide by 25mm high with a network of shallow cracks that you can feel with your fingernail and most definitely see. The damaged areas are where the masks fitted in front of the dip lamps. It looks as if the lens plastic has decomposed due to either melting 'cos of the focused heat of the light behind the mask or has reacted with the adhesive used on the mask.
1. Followed the Owner's manual instructions very carefully ("Headlight covering" 3.25 - 3.27 in my book).
2. Used 50mm wide bog-standard black insulating tape to make the mask.
3. The manual gives no warnings/hints/tips about the colour or type of masking material or nature of adhesives that can/can't be used.
4. The max time that the headlights were on was for about 5 hours for the drag down to Dover and 3 for the blast back to Calais - the rest of the driving was done in daylight.
5. The tape was in place for 3 weeks and 1 day exactly.
Any one else come across this? Car is obviously very much under warranty so I'm off down the dealers for a chat next week. Watch this space! And be warned!
See more stuff about this in the Leon forum, including photo's.
http://www.seatcupra.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=22311
Had my Leon for 10 months/11K; just got back from hols in France, remove tape masks off headlights to find a mass of what appear to be shallow cracks in the plastic surface of the lens. Each lens has an area about 40mm wide by 25mm high with a network of shallow cracks that you can feel with your fingernail and most definitely see. The damaged areas are where the masks fitted in front of the dip lamps. It looks as if the lens plastic has decomposed due to either melting 'cos of the focused heat of the light behind the mask or has reacted with the adhesive used on the mask.
1. Followed the Owner's manual instructions very carefully ("Headlight covering" 3.25 - 3.27 in my book).
2. Used 50mm wide bog-standard black insulating tape to make the mask.
3. The manual gives no warnings/hints/tips about the colour or type of masking material or nature of adhesives that can/can't be used.
4. The max time that the headlights were on was for about 5 hours for the drag down to Dover and 3 for the blast back to Calais - the rest of the driving was done in daylight.
5. The tape was in place for 3 weeks and 1 day exactly.
Any one else come across this? Car is obviously very much under warranty so I'm off down the dealers for a chat next week. Watch this space! And be warned!
See more stuff about this in the Leon forum, including photo's.
http://www.seatcupra.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=22311