I noticed today whilst cleaning my beast that the lenses / covers for the headlights are becoming pitted with stone chips.

So I looked further it seems that the headlight lenses are plastic and very soft at that. Never had this on a car before has anyone else noticed this ?

I've got pitting to some extent on all my cars that have plastic lenses, but not bad enough to be of concern. My S3 ones are OK (so far at least) after 11,000 miles.

Faulty batch? Worth raising with a Dealer though - especially if there are other cars around with near pristine lenses.

My headlights (halogen) are also stone chipped, no worse than the bumper though.

I have noticed, mine look a mess already, so many stone chips as well

My headlights (halogen) are also stone chipped, no worse than the bumper though.

Yea the bumpers appear to be a bit soft too on the paint work.

Mine look ok at the moment, but i expect in time they will get pitted and cloud over.

Par for the course with polycarbonate lenses these days. I'm guessing it's all to do with pedestrian safety. Chance are the polycarbonate is better at absorbing the impact of small stones than glass lenses would be. 

 

There are all sorts of protective films out there that apparently stick over your headlights to protect from various detritus. I don't have any experience of the film though. In fact, the last time I protected my headlights was with some clear plastic guards for my Mk3 Astra  Circa 1998.......

 

Does anyone have any experiences of these films? good or bad?