Forum bmwbike.com

I am trying to install the big black rubber band that waterproofs the headlight. I think it is supposed to envelope the mated edges of both the lens and the reflector. With my repro parts, there is no lip or edge to mate them together, so I gave up trying. Next I put the rubber around the edge of the reflector only, but the sharp edge cut the band into two bands. Then I tried to put another new band around the lens only, and the band broke into a strip. This is a tricky operation! Questions: Does the band go around both the lens and the reflector, or just the lens? If the lens and reflector are proper parts, do they mate or nest into each other?

Allan,

The band fits over the lens only with the two parallel perimeter lines outward. The lens with band nests in the reflector shell. Good luck with your next rubber band.

Pierre,

Yes, I will get several rubber bands next time! Can you also tell me if the glass lens should fit inside the lip of the metal reflector? My new lens does not fit inside the lip of my new reflector, but slides around on top of it.

Actually, when I took the headlight apart many months ago, I seem to recall that the lens fitted in the lip of the reflector and the rubber went aorund both of them and bound them together. But I could be wrong.

If anyone is interested, I got my parts from Bob's BMW in the US, and the part numbers are:
Headlight lens 63 12 8 050 154
Bosch 1 305 603 004
Headlight reflector 63 12 8 050 181
Bosch 1 305 303 012

The reflector matches my old one. My old lens broke, so I cannot compare it.

Hi Allan,
Pierres description is quite accurate. The rubber ring is very thin and folds over the rim of the headlamp glass only. The glass with rubber "frame" is then placed "in" the reflector (the reflector lip covers the sides of the the glass with rubber ring).

The pressure of the 6 spring clips then seal the space between the reflector and glass.

If the parts that you bought at Bobs were original BOSCH (the part nos. are correct!) then the glass should fit inside the reflector.

Regards,

Mark
Mark Huggett GmbH

After struggling to make the headlight lens fit in the R27 reflector so I could get the rubber around both, I finally returned both the lens and the reflector to Bobs BMW. A week later, Bobs returned the assembled headlight with no charge.

I month later, I was ordering some parts and the parts man recognized me. I thanked him for the headlight work, and asked how he did it. He said Bosch had put a lot of autmobile lenses in the motorcycle lens boxes. The part numbers were right, but the lens was too big to fit in the motorcycle reflector. He said they had to replace a lot of lenses for free.