My friend has a '06 Camry with extremely aged lamps that are in dire need of replacement not only because of the aged lens, but also because of extreme internal damage. Forgive me for being so thick, but I don't see any signs of the chipped reflector inside the headlamp. I doubt that anyone at Jiffy Lube (the only place my friend takes his Camry for maintenance) bothered to fish out the debris...and I doubt that NAL assembled the headlamp as pictured. So, what could have happened to the broken piece? I've actually taken the headlamp off the car already and shaken it, listening for any sort of internal clattering, but found none. What do you think happened to the part of the reflector that snapped, and why would such internal damage occur? There are no signs of external physical damage--no broken mounting tabs, for example, which would be indicative of a fender bender. And the lens is perfectly intact and the headlamp has no fogging issues.
https://imgur.com/a/eM8bq7y
Second question: what's better for a '06 Camry: the '05-06 OEM headlamps, or the earlier '02-04 OEM headlamps? Both will physically fit onto the Camry. The difference is that the '02-04 lamps have an outboard turn signal. The post-facelift headlamps, on the other hand, have in-board mounted turn signals which are all but invisible from the side given their design and location. However, the '02-04 headlamps also have squared off reflectors, unlike the post-facelift lamps, and the '02-04 lamps have not only a squared off high-beam compartment but also a "slashed-off" high-beam compartment. I can't help but wonder if the extra geometric flourishes impact low and high-beam performance. The post-facelift lamps have no such geometric flourishes and instead seem to have near perfectly rounded low and high-beam compartments.
The '02-04 lamps will require some slight wiring modification to make the turn signal work correctly on the post-facelift Camry, but nothing too crazy. My friend is willing and enthusiastic about upgrading to the best possible set of lamps, be it the pre-facelift version or the post-facelift version.
https://imgur.com/a/eM8bq7y
Second question: what's better for a '06 Camry: the '05-06 OEM headlamps, or the earlier '02-04 OEM headlamps? Both will physically fit onto the Camry. The difference is that the '02-04 lamps have an outboard turn signal. The post-facelift headlamps, on the other hand, have in-board mounted turn signals which are all but invisible from the side given their design and location. However, the '02-04 headlamps also have squared off reflectors, unlike the post-facelift lamps, and the '02-04 lamps have not only a squared off high-beam compartment but also a "slashed-off" high-beam compartment. I can't help but wonder if the extra geometric flourishes impact low and high-beam performance. The post-facelift lamps have no such geometric flourishes and instead seem to have near perfectly rounded low and high-beam compartments.
The '02-04 lamps will require some slight wiring modification to make the turn signal work correctly on the post-facelift Camry, but nothing too crazy. My friend is willing and enthusiastic about upgrading to the best possible set of lamps, be it the pre-facelift version or the post-facelift version.