2015 melting headlamp lens

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ash1977

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Winters here i think to myself so i get my bike on stands and clean it to within an inch of its life. Roads are dirty so i thought i would leave it to run on the stands and dry it off. I watch the temp go up then fans cut in and off and back on. I smell something funny but put it down to the gt85 i sprayed on. Smell gets worse. I turn off the bike and have a proper look round. Nothing . . . Except a bubbled mess in the middle of my dip beam headlight unit. Standard bulbs, fitted when the bike was new from the factory. No worries i thought its less than a year old so warrentee job. I phoned local dealer who said bring it down. They had a look and said they could do the gear linkage recall too if i waited. Fairplay the gear recall was done but according to their head technician the wiring plug to the bulb was the wrong way round ??????? And a security tag had been disturbed ????? I was told that catagorically a different bulb had been put in and it was my fault . . . Nice
Bulletin from bmw was on desk regarging a +10 deg c operating temp would melt lens. Needless to say i wont be going back there again. Nice to have someone call you a liar in front of a showroom of people when i had done nothing!
 
So even after reading the bulletin on the desk from BMW which is warning of the potential for a lens melting they are refusing to budge and blaming you for having tampered with the light????

Plenty of bikes with plastic lenses suffer with this, I remember the early Aprilia RS125's doing it and plenty of other bikes doing it when they have been fitted with acrylic lens covers that effectively keep the lens from cooling when moving.

Shocking service that!
 
So the bikes used the dip beam for about a year without any problems. Has the bike been into the dealer recently?
If it's been changed at the dealership, would they not have a record of it?
All seems very odd.
 
Only done 2500 miles as its not my only bike. They had stacks of paperwork printed out they showed me about different bulbs and hid kits destroying the lens all i presume trying to get me to say it was my fault. Shit really. I would nt have minded if it was my fault putting in a higher wattage bulb but i didnt as i know it would knacker up the plastic lens. I had a look after and have no idea how they came to the conclusion. Ive been in the motor trade for 20 years and have never been fobbed off so intently. All i can think of is that it was because it was sat still for about 15 mins running with the light on. If the dealer was so adamant it was my fault there is no point trying to persue for the sake of 180 quid. Not looking forward to the prospect of making a claim in the future over anything else if they quibble over something so small.
 
Odd never had issues so far
i pt hids in mine and done 8k so far and no probs
but this has me worried now
 
Mine has done it as well, with the standard bulbs, BMW technician noticed it when I last took it to them for another fault, and promised to report it, but it's gone strangely quiet since....

I must call them and remind them.
 
Ive just sent customer services a mail with loads of photos. Headlight is easy to change but set me back 160 quid. According to the dealer im the only one ever with a dodgey headlight but they still have a pile of printed off reports to say they could melt.
 
At least you are not returning it for a replacement gearbox like the new R1
 
Sorry to revisit this old thread but I found this, when trying to research a problem I had with my own 2015 S1000RR a month or so ago, when I too, noticed that my dipped beam lens had melted! I had gone for a short run out after fitting new tyres, only to get caught up in a terrible traffic jam at the top of my street. I was stuck behind a bus for about 15 minutes or so, unable to squeeze past and only moving a few inches at a time. When I finally got home again, I put the bike back in the garage and noticed what I thought was condensation on the largest lens (dipped beam) I ran my hand over the front of the lens, only to find that the lens had a 25x5mm blister in the centre!

I gave Allan Jefferies, the selling dealer, a ring and told them of the problem. I was a little worried that I too would be fobbed off, as ash1977 had been, in his first post, about a year ago! AJ couldn't have been more helpful. They collected the bike, replaced the headlamp and delivered it back to me, all within three days! It turned out that I had no need to worry as the job was done under warranty, as they had submitted the claim to BMW as a "faulty headlamp unit". Not quite sure how that could be, but I'm not going to argue about it. I asked if it was a common fault but was told they had never come across the problem before, infact Garry, the Collection and delivery driver said he had not come across the problem himself either.

Obviously, I'm a little concerned that this may happen again in the future but Dan in the service dept assured me that the issue has been logged, and should the problem arise again in the future it would be "dealt with".
I just wondered how wide spread this problem was? I think the headlight needs air running over the lens to keep the plastic cool. I was stuck behind a bus, hardly moving, so I suppose I got little, or no air over the lamp? In my case the bulb was the original BMW fitted one and not a more powerful type seemingly favoured by some members on the forum.
 
tolerance is tight. usually happens if you tape up the lens for a trackday and don't pull the fuse (yes i've done that). dirt also can stop the heat getting out. Happerned to me before... so if its wet (after being washed) and no air flow... then yeah... green house bubble central
 
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