Headlamp removal

[john.newland]

Am I the only the only one that finds removing the headlamp units a right pain. Just been to France so switched the lights over for driving on the right. The tool for releasing the catch on the light units seems to be very fiddly to get to engage, and involves emptying the luggage compartment. On the way back yesterday this caused some puzzled looks in the ferry queue! Also try as I might I wasn't able to get the driver's side lamp unit out yesterday; so I now have the passenger side lights set for driving on the left and the driver's side set for driving on the right! As the adjustment to the lights just involves flicking a switch inside the lamp unit could this not be motorised and a switch put somewhere on the dashboard. Would make life a lot easier.

 

[snarf]

I agree, I have most difficulty with the driver side for some reason and have trouble aligning the units on both sides before sliding them back in. I think it gets easier each time I do it but Porsche should have been able to engineer a better solution. I suspect their priorities are on the LHD market and few visitors to this country take the trouble to change their lights over so there is little or no pressure from them to improve matters.

 

[garyw]

[&:] I felt quite lucky to be able to even swap the headlamp direction over...
Plenty of cars out there with harder solutions or having to place stickers over the glass...

True its easier the more you do it, but thats life in general..
Porsche could also of made it happen via a switch... for a rather large fee !![]

Failing that, You could do it the same way as the French lorry drivers when they come over here....[]

garyw

 

[Geoff_Fields]

I have swapped mine over on two occasions without problem. But I would agree that it is a bit of a fiddle. Having to remove the 4 self tapping screws to gain access to the switch is not well thought out. A removable rubber bung located in the side of the light unit would be a better solution.

 

[yan]

Have to say I have seen better solutions on earlier incarnations of BMW, for example but as indicated I don't think manufacturers give much priority to this since later versions were much harder to use.

When using the spanner it's quite easy to miss the nut and wedge it in between the nut and the bodywork - since this wedge is a tight fit it can feel like the hex spanner is on but to no avail. What I tend to do is get a torch and check that the spanner is in squarely before exerting any turning force.

The other unhelpful thing is that the instructions are somewhat ambiguous: it doesn't say which switch setting is for dip versus not. What I found strange was that the switch moves the same way for both headlights. Since you are moving a shutter or such-like as I understand it I would have guessed that you moved them in opposite directions, i.e. you want the left headlight down and the right one up on the continent. Can anyone concur or contradict my understanding?