You Won't Believe This (side marker switcheroo)

[MrAl]

Hello there,

I am posting a picture of the passenger side front taken back in year 2019 and another pic of the same taken just an hour ago in year 2023.
I also include a picture of the drivers side front also taken about an hour ago, year 2023. The two passenger side photos are marked with the years 2019 and 2023 respectively.

Yes, back in 2019 the smaller portion of the lens is amber, and now in 2023 it is clear.
This means that one of the garages i had brought it to must have switched lenses and never told me, and what's more never told me why.

Any ideas why they would have done this?
Is there any advantage or disadvantage to having either clear of amber colored side lights in the front?

This goes to show what kind of jackasses we have around this area.

[scot850]

Most likely reason is they removed it to replace a bulb and broke the mounting tab(s), so replaced it with what they could get easily, or did not identify that it actually had an orange turn section.

Neil.

[MoVolvos]

Most likely reason is they removed it to replace a bulb and broke the mounting tab(s), so replaced it with what they could get easily, or did not identify that it actually had an orange turn section.

Neil.

.
Agree. It could be what the parts house had available and they didn't bother or nor know better that both styles are available. When going through the paces of working on a car, it could be to them just another broken bolt to deal with. Feeling the customer just got a new freebie they probably don't care to or perhaps want to spend the time...
.

[abscate]

Most garages would just replace a part they broke and not tell you. Pull it off and see if it’s a Dorman replacement.

Another possibility is the orange dye in the bezel bleached out

In the grand scheme of things to fret over, it’s a 0.5/10

[MrAl]

Hi,

Yes and the reason they didnt say anything was because they didnt want me to know it was a different color right away.

Maybe they did not follow my instructions which i told them not to close that side all the way or the hood might get stuck, and they closed it and couldnt get it open so had to dig into the side to get the hood up.

The really strange part is that the clear ones seem to be more rare and more expensive.
The only strange thing now is that the two sides are not matched anymore. One side is amber the other side is clear. I guess most people wont notice it because you dont usually see both sides of the car at the same time. I almost didnt notice it either until i was talking to a neighbor outside the other day and happened to look at the front in that area and saw that the lens was not amber as i had remembered it to be. We talked for a while and i forgot about it then later remembered and decided to look into it. I looked at older photos of the car and saw that both sides were amber back in 2015 and 2019 and now one side was clear. I also knew that a lens like that can not change color due to the sun fading it because the entire lens thickness is the same color and fading usually is not that complete there is usually some tell tale signs such as part of it not faded, and there is no indication that it faded between 2015 and 2019 either as it was always the same color.

Hey maybe i can get an orange magic marker and color it back to amber (ha ha).

[454cid]

I believe clear is Euro spec.

[Clemens]

I believe clear is Euro spec.

yes and no: Euro spec was clear, but had a different shape of the reflecting side area.