i bought the black headlamps and corners off ebay tried to readjust them and they f*&^ing sucked. well anywayz on the way home form louisville my passenger side corner lense flew off and prolly was shattered to pieces. so i decided to paint my stock lamps and corners. the headlamps are sealed and are drying at the moment but i don't know what to do about the corner lenses. the heads were easy cuz they were sealed with RTV silicone. the corners on the other hand are totally different. they are like glued together. what i need to know if anyone has painted their stock headlight assembly is how do i go about taking apart the corner lenses? any help would be very much appreciative.
Thanks

Sorry I can't answer your question, but I'd like to know what kind of paint you used and what prep work you did.


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i had a boxcutter to separate the headlights or form what i heard u can put them in the oven but i didn't want to risk it so i separated them by hand. when the headlights were separated from the cover i shaved the rest of the silicone off then sanded everything that was gonna get painted. we taped off what needed to be taped off. we sparayed it like twice let it dry then sprayed it another 2 times and let it dry overnight. if need be after overnight spray again. put the lense back on and spread the rtv silicone let dry for 24 hrs. and then they're done i got mine on and they turned out perfect. now i just need to either take a risk with ebay or take a risk with the oven. i think i might do ebay,lol.

i know there was a How to or DIY post of this a while back.. i dont remember who posted it or anything but try searching and u should be able to pull it up..

as for paint i used semi-gloss engine paint..

whats better flat-black paint or gloss black paint?



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if u are using the ebay clear corners flat black(semi black.. same thing)

if ur doing custom corners as well as headlights.. use whatever u wnat.. if u use gloss on the healdights then get ebay corners.. they wont match..

try settin your oven at 200 degrees and set them in there for about 3 to 4 mins. keep a close eye on them so they dont warp and then pull them out and use a knife to cut the seal off. Thats what i did and worked out great

cant u cut the moldings with a knife cutter?



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J-TECH tuner wrote:cant u cut the moldings with a knife cutter?

i ment box cutter



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Yeah I was wondering ,,, LOL a knife cutter must be very sharp to cut a knife .

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Oven trick works wonders on the corner markers. Be careful though, the glue is really tough, and if you heat it too much the lens warps and you're screwed. I went through 2 sets

for 2000-2002 headlights DO NOT use the oven, just take a razor blade/exacto knife and slowly work your way around the lens and then pop it off, i sanded the shiny parts where i was painting til its was off with 800grit sandpaper cleaned it up with rubbing alcohol then masked off and sprayed a couple light coats of flat black krylon fusion paint (made for plastics) and then went back to reassembling them

Yeah right man, I tried using a knife, no dice. The lens has a T all the way around it, where it goes into a groove. I couldn't get in there with a knife. I also cracked a lens with a knife, the surrounding is very touchy.

i used a knife with no problems so that is what i was saying, i have heard so many horror stories about the oven. i wish i would have taken pictures so i would have better been able to show you what i did

Do you silicone inside the groove or do you put the lens in place, then silicone around the outside? I've seen it done both ways..



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how do you do it with the 98 i want to paint my head lights black

Evan Stryker wrote:Do you silicone inside the groove or do you put the lens in place, then silicone around the outside? I've seen it done both ways..

i put a bead of silicone around the assembly, mount the lens, then put another bead around the gap between the housing and the lens. always to be safe than sorry.




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I heard that, thanks Now I just need a donor set of lights.......



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Corsica Dude wrote:Oven trick works wonders on the corner markers. Be careful though, the glue is really tough, and if you heat it too much the lens warps and you're screwed. I went through 2 sets

I notice that you only painted the frame part of the headlight.....

Why didn't you paint all of the headlamp...?

I plan on take my corners and headlight off the car in storage and l will be doing this as well however l want to paint all of the headlamp...?

Is this normal..will l get light...?

just so you know you cant paint all of the headlight because you wont get any reflection off of it if you do. you need to leave the chrome around the bulb to get the reflection. he painted only the frame because thats the only thing you can paint. be careful with them if not you end up buying a new set.