Anybody get the spider web affect with their Oakley lenses?

I just got some brand new Ruby lenses for my Penny frames about a month ago off ebay. They looked spectacular when I got them and fit the frames perfectly so I didn't question their authenticity initially. But now they seem have developed these microsopic cracks all throughout the inside the lenses. It doesn't affect normal light vision conditions. But when the sun passes across yoru field of view, or glare from another vehicle, the star/halo effect is pretty severe.

You can only see the cracks when tilting the lenses at the right angle in the right lighting conditions. But as I said, the affect is severe when wearing them in bright light. My Ice lenses never did this over the 2 years I had them in whereas these Ruby lenses seem to be ruined after a month.

Anybody ever encounter this? Do I have any recourse or warranty claim?

It could possibly be the lenses being non-Oakley, as some suspect that such a consistent supply of red-purple Ruby lenses on eBay is something to be wary about.

You'll have to take it up with the seller; Oakley makes it a point that anything not bought from an Authorised Reseller will not have any warranty.

Yeah, no warranty there. Does sound like its non Oakley. Can over tightening a frame cause this?

that is an issue they had years ago, but I haven't seen anything like it recently. I had several pairs of original straight jackets have that problem in the past...Mine were all warrantied at walk in back in the day. Funny thing is, every pair of Arnettes I have ever owned have that problem...Not necessarily fakes at all...

stress cracks caused by being too hot (i.e. in a parked car under the sun)?

Didn't have a problem with my Oakley Zero 0.4s even though I had left it in the car. It did happen to one of my spectacles though. It was in the car on an extremely hot afternoon...

Sean is correct. The cracks you describe are typically caused by prolonged exposure to heat. I have a pair of beater e Wires that I have stored in my car for several years. The lenses are filled with tiny stress cracks, and they are ok unless the sun is directly in my line of sight, which causes the light to pick up every little crack.

I would not expect over-tightening of the frame to cause this, as the Torx recess or screw threads would probably strip before any lense damage could occur.

In rarer cases, the lenses may have been defective from the factory, perhaps due to thermal shock when the lens blanks were made. The first pair of Ruby Penny I received brand new from an eBay seller had one lens that was terribly stress cracked. I arranged an exchange directly with him, as Oakley will not honor warranty of items purchased through eBay or other non-authorized methods.

My first Ruby Juliet lenses did the same thing, but it was from being dropped, rather than heat exposure.

YES! my ruby penny did the exact same thing! i brought it in for the cold and looked throught the lenses which were pristine, then i put them on half an hour later and the lenses were totally ruined!

The stress cracks can be impossible to see when you're indoors, so they might have been cracked when you were inside but you didn't have enough light to see them.

My rubies were completely usable except when the sun was above and in front of you, when the cracks appeared across the entire surface of the lens.

Right on, Neil. The cracks only become evident when strong, direct light (like morning/evening sun or a halogen lamp) shines through and gets scattered by all the cracks. Under ambient light, you wouldn't even know they were there.

So this is a common problem with the ruby lenses then? That's pretty crappy for one of their most expensive products.

I did leave them in the car once for a couple hours. It was very overcast when I went inside - so I wasn't wearing them - and sunny when I came back out. I know I've done this with the ice lenses in them at least a couple times also and they are still pristine after 2 years of EVERY DAY wear. I've never even had this happen with a pair of cheap sunglasses. My wife leaves her Haylons in a hot car all the time when she's wearing something else and it hasn't happened. I leave my brand new ruby in the car for maybe an hour and they're ruined? Frustrating.

The guy I bought them from says he can file a warranty claim for me and get them replaced along with a tune up for $60.

My Voilet Riddles looked the same way so I sent them in but the replacement pair were the same, but a little different. Now I just deal with it

Ahhh the cancer of the R1 is spreading.....

R1 is different, it's just in specific parts of the lens. Heat damage is all over.

OK - so I'm about to send my Penny frames in for a lense replacement. I realize now after reading other threads here that this is in fact what I am doing.

The guy I bought the lenses has set this up, He got me a "TR" # and I will be sending the directly to Oakly HQ. He told me to strip all the rubber so that I would get new rubber.

My questions are these:

#1 - Should I remove the current ruby lenses first? And if I do, should I be concerned that I might get ice lenses back? I am concerned about this because my titanium frames do have a SN begining with "PI..."

#2 - If I do remove the lenses and just send in the frames, should I also leave the screws and gaskets out?

#3 - I live just a few miles from Oakley HQ. Can I walk this in and have it taken care of quickly?

This is going to cost $60. I know now that this is the standard charge for a RUBY lense replacement, but I just want to make sure I do things right to get what I want. I am not an Oakley afficienado. I just have my Penny and I love them. I wear them every day. Like I said - I just wanna make sure I do things right.


P.S. I did originally register the SN when I first got the sunglasses. This is another reason I am concerned about the right way to go about this. Apparently he registered my info, but not the SN, to get the TR number.

Rob, those are all relevant questions you raise. I have never gone through the lens replacement process with the fine folks at Oakley HQ, only with Oakley Japan. I trust some members will respond to your post soon and put your mind at ease. I don't think HQ will really care that your frame has a PI-serial though.

Serial number nothing. They don't care what frame you send them at all, or so it seems.
Here's the custom lens replacements we've done so far:
Titanium Penny - replaced with Ruby lens
Carbon Ducati Juliet - replaced with Ruby lens
Plasma Juliet - replaced with 24k lens
I'll soon send in a Black Iridium Mars to get Ruby lenses. Hopefully not long after I'll do it again for an Emerald set.

As long as they have the lens, they'll replace them in whatever frame you send in.

Do take the lens out since they won't give it back. I'd take the screws out too since it never hurts to have spares. Or just go to walk in warranty (early to beat the line) and talk with the guys there so you get what you want.

Speaking of which, does anyone know how I can remove the lenses from my Mars? I would like to keep the Black Iridium lenses as spares, but never realized that it was clamped shut and not held by screws like it's brothers and sister.

There's got to be an art to removing that little snap ring because I destroyed both of mine

None too reassuring, Tick... -_-'

Well, I stripped them down and shipped them off today. Even though I live so close, I just don't have the time to go over there. I miss them already. I've been wearing cheapos all day and had forgotten just how dramatic the difference is.

Hopefully I get them back quick cuz the shipping is only one day... and I'm really suffering here already. LOL

One of these days I'm gonna make it over there cuz my next pair of Rx frames/lenses are gonna be from Oakley. And I'm about due.

I stuck a small flat head screw driver in the gap and worked it inside. This pushed the clamp open a bit and I was able to rotate it off. I've snapped about half of mine though. Best to get new ones before starting the project so you're not left half done.

What's the typical turn around time when you send them in for lense replacement/tune-up?

I got them back today. So the turn-around is 1 week + shipping time. But you all probably knew that already.

I know there's a big debate going on regarding ruby "generations." FWIW - these "new" ones have more red/purple in them then the first ones I got off ebay. I'll try to get some good pics up if anyone is interested. If I can, I'll try to catch that "spider web" effect too - but the lighting coming through the lense has to be just right to see it.