Yikes! Just noticed in the German Swedish & French parts catalogue that a replacement headlamp for my 406 is £95+VAT and you don't appear to be able to buy the lens separately! My giddy aunt that's a helluva price. Anybody tried those clip on plastic guards to protect against stones? Do they work and how do they 'clip on'?
Thanks in anticipation
Rich Mixture
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Yes. Soon after moving out into the country I suffered a stone through a headlamp lens on my Rover. Fortunately the lens was replaceable, but still cost £45. So I went to Halfords and bought a pair of protectors for my car and the wifes. For my 800 they were £18 and the wifes Metro £12. A couple of months later when washing my car I noticed that there had been a stone strike on the same headlamp as before. There was a bullet type impact point with radial cracks.
So, in my view they look ugly but do work well. If they didn't overcharge for them so much I'd go for the dealer types. They usually fit much better and don't stick out like a sore thumb. They also usually piggy back on the original headlamp fixings so in theory are more robust in the long term. I go through the car wash about once a fortnight and do not remove the guards - so far no probs in 2yrs.
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I've got them (OE, I think) on my 405. No signs of strikes that I can see but both my son's and my daughter's cars (without guards)have a headlamp with a chip, so I would definitely recommend them.
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A slightly opposing view ...
My son has guards on his Renault Clio and my daughter on her Peugeot 106. In both cases the headlight efficiency is significantly reduced for most of the time. It is very fiddly to remove, clean and replace the guards but this really needs doing every time the car is washed because road dirt collects between the headlight and the guard.
So far as I can remember, I have suffered only two or three cracked headlights in 40 years and I replaced the expensive one of these from a breaker's yard.
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Haven't noticed any loss of headlamp efficiency, but do agree that they can be awkward to remove and clean. However, overall I think they are a good investment.
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I used these guards on all my BXs after a broken light. IIRC they cost £11. They more "hung on" than clipped on but I certainly never had any breakages. BX lights were so bright I suspect any loss of illumination was insignificant.
Now if only they did clip-on windscreen shields.....
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I put some Pug genuine ones on my 405 around six years ago (I took out finance to cover the cost...)
Quite a bit of impact damage to date which has proved their worth in protecting the lenses.
However...
I was in Holland with daytime lights in a hot summer pootling around gloriously quiet roads at 50mph(meaning that the lenses got really hot)and one of the lenses cracked with the heat. Not helped by a "beam bender" headlamp adjuster glue-on thingie. All these factors probably reduced the heat convection off the lens to next to nothing. Crack! There was probably some prior unseen impact damage which caused a weakness, but I was still well miffed at the damage. Not just a chip, but a huge crack across the face of the lens. Ho-hum.
Apart from that, who could tell how many cracked lenses there might have been if I hadn't had them on. Most of the Pug's miles have been at 75mph+. Lenses looking a bit scratched now.
HTH
rg
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I used 'Albion headlight' guards for some years on a Pug. 305, they clipped over the headlamp glass and seemed to prevent any damage, but I noticed that they deflect the light beam quite noticeably - might be worth checking the adjustment if you fit any.
P.
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Thanks for the responses folks. Think I'll find out how much a set of pukka Pug ones will set me back from a dealer. I'll let you know.
RM
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After shelling out over £250 to have the shattered headlamp unit on my Golf Mk4 repaired by our local VW dealer I didn't waste any time in getting a pair of headlamp guards (£28) fitted to prevent a recurrence!
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