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MG MGF Technical - MGF Headlights

Returning from the 10th. Birthday last Sunday evening I realised how dim these lights are when on dip. Are there any better lamps i.e. 55watt halogen that can be used without melting the whole unit?
g.w. smart

Hi there

A well known problem , lots in the Archives about this. I am currently suffering the same problem.

I assume you are driving an F not a TF !

The problem in most cases is the inner lense on the dip beam going "milky" basically reducing the amount of light passing through it, but in some cases if the lense is ok, the inner reflector has been known to dis-colour and that also causes reduced light output.

The reflector can be re-coated, I know Rob has had his done , I'm sure he'll post where and how much , but if its the lense itself has gone milky its really complete new headlamp units unfortunately.

I am just about to bite the bullet and replace mine too.

I have tried using brighter bulbs but to be honest it makes very little difference.

TF headlamp cant be used as they are a completely different shape, unless of course you go for a TF front bumper replacement as well.

Stu

Stu Dickens

Yep, degradation of the silver coating on the reflector is the usual culprit. The deposits on the lenses scrubs off with just detergent, but the reflectors can only be professionally re-silvered. This can be done by sending just the reflector unit to Reflector Restorations, but there's a minimum 7-10 day turnaround.

I've been discussing with Rob & Reflector Restorations about organising an exchange scheme so it can be done as one swift exercise, but the difficulty is the disassembly/reassembly procedure - one of the mounting points and one of the adjusters are quite fragile and snap off very easily, effectively scrapping the whole unit. I'll post here as & when there is an exchange scheme up & running, but if you need some urgently it may be best to purchase complete replacements.

If you go for outright replacements, we'd be very grateful for any serviceable units for re-silvering, of the pile of units currently cluttering my kitchen only half of them have no damage...
Mike Hankin

I suspect that the scheme could only work based on a surcharge system whereby a quantity of cash is re-imbursed on return of re-usuable reflector units - but I guess that it will take a while before we can get a scheme like this off the ground.

Re-silvering costs 60 quid for the pair of reflectors - but as Mike mentions, you have to disassemble the units first. More detail here: http://www.mgf.ultimatemg.com/group2/lighting/misty_headlights.htm
Rob Bell

This thread was discussed between 21/10/2005 and 22/10/2005

MG MGF Technical index

This thread is from the archive. The Live MG MGF Technical BBS is active now.