Ok, I tried searching but still came up with unanswered questions.

I know of a few members that had stress cracks from within their headlights when they had overlays on them. My question is, if I used the 3M clear protection film for the headlight, will this cause the same problem? I am concerned because the 3M material is ~40mil thick whereas the overlays are several mil thick... big issue? not sure.

If I can get some of the members who had their headlight film for more than a couple years to chime in, i.e. Scott Webb & EnthuZ.

Cracks are similar to the ones found in these posts...

https://my350z.com/forum/showpost.ph...8&postcount=11

https://my350z.com/forum/showpost.ph...84&postcount=1

 

i have bats overlays, and my headlights are all kinds of ruined. im not blaming it on the overlays, cause i didnt even know this happend to other people, but now after seeing this, im thinking otherwise. My headlights are about 100x's WORSE those those two ppls posts. ill try to get some pix in the daylight. Im afraid to take the overlays off cause i dont have to get condensation inside my headlights. so im just gonna buy new headlights.

 

Yup went to Performance Nissan many months ago and wanted to get the blue overlays for my headlights. Good thing I didn't cause after taking a look at the kit and some other kits, you have to literally stretch those things to all craziness to get them to fit and then squeegee them on to lock it in. So imagine how much bend the plastic under the overlay is taking. Cracks dont really surprise me. I'd stay away from em.

 

I know this has happened to people that dont even have Overlays or Cleargaurd, Clear Bra protection. The stuff I use id inly 3 mil thick compared to the 3m stuff which is about 17 mil thick. I personally have never had any issues on my Z and I sporterd them for a couple years, removed them prior to selling my headlights and found nothing of the sort. It hasn't been an issue for other cars I make the headlight Overlays for.

Bat™

 

There is no way the film is causing the cracks in the headlights. That is a total myth. The headlights are doing that on thier own (road debris, expansion/contraction, heat/cold). Mine have all sorts of stress cracks in them and I don't have any and have never had any film on them. It would be the same as saying you put a sticker on your windsheild and it caused it to crack.

I know some of you have to have some clear plastic cups at home. Take a look at them. If you've run them through the dishwasher, they are garanteed to have cracks in them. It's just what happens.

 

The PMMA lens is MUCH stronger than that "flexible" vinyl. The only thing that is stretching is the vinyl itself...not the headlight lens. C'mon everyone...let's look at this logically. The vinyl is a "flexible" "film" with adhesive on it (like tape). It is not going to cause any damage by putting it on a piece of acrylic (PMMA).

 

I highly doubt overlays are causing the problem, but they should be replaced under warranty for sure! NNA is pretty reluctant to replace headlight though as they are so expensive...you've gotta keep persisting to get them replaced.

 

Clearbra in the first post. Doesn't appear to have any Headlight Protection in the 2nd post. I have 3 buddies that have had the same issue with the stress cracks, none of them had any headlight protection or overlays on them. All 3 were replaced under warranty.

 

Didnt mean to ruffle any feathers, nor did I mean to knock anybody's product out there. Was just saying that it could be a factor. True, plastic is plastic and will crack over time, circumstances, etc... And true, the vinyl overlay itself is being stretched and not the plastic. But, I'm thinking that when you need to stretch something so hard and so far the surface underneath it must be getting some unnecessary stress as well (i.e. vinyl stretched to the corners of the headlights must be compressing the plastic underneath it when held in place). Kinda like when you wrap a rubber band around your finger, the rubber is getting stretched ultimately, but there is some pressure being put on your finger now, and the harder you stretch/wrap the rubber band around the finger, the more pressure your finger is gonna get.

Just my 2 cents on the matter, hell if I really know, just my theory.

 

My post/thread didn't mean to bash anyone's product. I just wanted to know if anyone has experienced this issue and if it was either from the overlays or protection film. Maybe I should have left out the part where I mentioned that I know people who had overlays also had cracks in them. Basically before putting on the 3M film, I want to know how others headlights been holding up... it's pretty ironic to have the 3M headlight protection but have cracks on it later on.

I've also been trying to figure out why people are having issues with stress cracks, it seems like it's only a handful that have come out and expressed it.

 

I'm in the same boat as Z33Benny...had Bat's overlays on for a couple days and noticed a whole bunch of little lines. I thought it was just the adhesive underneath, but when I removed them I realized it was actually the "stress cracks" or whatever they are. If this phenomenon is something that just kinda happens on its own anyway, the timing was impecable. And myself included am not trying to knock Bat or say that he sold a bad product, but that was just my experience. And as Z33Benny also said the headlights are beyond any repair, so I'm just going to buy the 06's (when they go down in price!)

 

Yeah...after I brushed my teeth this morning, I noticed there was bird crap on my car. So, I called Colgate up and demanded they pay for my car to be repainted.

 

thisn issue dates back to when the car was released in 2003:

https://my350z.com/forum/showthread....adlight+cracks

 

like i said, im not trying to put the blame on your overlays, but my headlights were perfect until a few days after i put the overlays on, and they have just steadily gotten worse (my car is an 03). Like stepucky said, it may be a factory defect, but the timing on them messing up was impeccable.

 

I have headlight overlays and have no signs of cracking at all. In fact, I've had mine for 2 years now and no stress cracks. A couple of my buddies have them too and no cracks .

 

could this be happening from people applying too much pressure when applying the overlays?

 

i doubt it dont you put pressure on your headlights when you wash them to scrub them clean..

 

The dudes toes in that picture are freakin loooonnnnnggggg

 

FWIW-I have 1 rather long "crack" in my headlight and Ive never run overlays. Mothers headlights/plastic polish 1X a month or so helps a lot.

 

don't know about overlays, but i do know that some different window films tends to stretch as it cures. on some windshields with minor cracks, the tint would make the cracks much larger. on another note, one of my headlights are cracking with no overlays on them.