Sly_dawg19

Sly_dawg19's - Clear Corner/Painted Headlight Tutorial
This is my first tech article that I am writing for the Scion xA. This article is for Clear Corner/Painted Headlights in the Scion xA. I hope you enjoy!

Tools needed for just Clear Corner
1. Phillips Screwdriver
2. Flat Head Screwdriver
3. A Working Oven
4. Aluminum Foil
5. Cookie Sheet or Tray for Oven
6. Latex Gloves

Additional tools needed for Custom Headlights
6. Rustoleum or other High Quality Spray Paint of any Color or Texture
7. Painters Tape and Paper
8. Scissors
9. Imagination!!

-=Step One=-
Open up the hood. Get the Phillips Screw Driver in Hand. There is 4 Tabs with screws in them that hold the xA's Headlight on. Take the Screw driver and remove all the screws from those 4 points (Shown here)



In order to remove the bottom screw, you will have to pull away the bumper Up then Out Slowly and Gently at these points.



Then push the bumper down, very little, just enough to stick the Phillips screw driver in and remove the 4th screw. It is alot easier than it sounds. After you remove the screws, gently pull out the headlight, remove the bulbs, (which in turn frees the headlight) and finish removing the headlight. Be sure to REMOVE ALL BULBS at this point, and keep them in a safe spot, to not be damaged.

-=Step Two=-
Preheat your Oven to 275 Degrees F (of course with parent supervision if your doing this under the age of 18 ) Then grab a cookie sheet, or a flat sheet, and put a strip of Aluminum Foil over sheet. After that, place your headlight onto the sheet (Bulb free remember?) and stick it into the oven. Let it "bake" 15 Minutes.

-=Step Three=-
After you have waited 15 Minutes, take your oven mits and remove the sheet with the headlight on it. If you do not have high heat tolerance or heat gloves (The Headlight will be 275 DEGREES) wait about 2 minutes for it to cool. After that, take a Flat Head screw driver and begin to pry away carefully the contact tabs on the Lens and the Headlight Backing. Once all the contact tabs are pulled a little away, begin to pull off the Lens from the Headlight Backing as shown. (BE SURE TO NOT TOUCH THE INSIDE OF THE HEADLIGHT or ALLOW THE EPOXY FROM THE HEADLIGHT TOUCH IT.) If you have let any epoxy get on the chrome, leave it. It will NOT remove without removin the chrome with it. But it is up to you what you want to do in a situation like this. Just in my experiance, it can not be easily done.



Once you have removed the Lens push the epoxy back into the plastic crevise from which it came, on the Headlight backing. Place the headlight Lens in a safe area where nothing will bother it.

-=Step Four=-
Put on the Latex Gloves now to prevent you from getting Dirt or Fingerprints on or in the headlight assembly. Be extra careful to not rub any of the chrome on the inside! Doing so will remove the chrome! Toyota definately cut costs on the Chrome Quaility on the inside of our headlights. Carefully remove the "Boomerang" from the Headlight Backing as shown.



Once you have the "Boomerang" removed, from behind, push the orange tabs out and slide off the Turn Signal Cover.



-= The Clencher!!!=-
Now you have done your Clear Corner Headlight! At this point you can choose to keep it only Clear Corner, or make it CUSTOM! If you decide to make your Headlights ONLY Clear Corner, just ignore the next step.
Here is an example of ONLY Clear Cornering.



-=Step Five=-
Well now you have your paint, your headlight is taken apart, and your ready to get imaginitive! Right? No!
You need a plan of action!!! What is it exactly you want to do? Will it remove all of your chrome and make no reflection for your headlamp? Will it be street legal? Will it be functional? These questions are all for you to answer, and I take no responsibility if you make a wrong choice (had to go in here somewhere!)

If you do decide to paint, be sure it doesn't interfere with your headlights ability to function properly! Unless your doing a Show Car only.

Use the Painters tape and Paper to trim and cut and cover any part of the "Boomerang" or headlight or anything else inside or outside you do not want painted. I feel I do not need to explain anything else here, because if someone wants to paint there headlights, chances are, they can already paint and know what to do.
Here is an example of a Painted Headlght! (Mine)



-=Step Six=- Putting back the headlight together!
If you wanted only Clear Corners, just save the Orange Turn Signal Cover somewhere, incase you want to put them back in at a later date. If you painted it or went crazy and ordered colored custom covers, just snap them back in the "Boomerang" the way you removed them.

BE CAREFUL NOT TO RUB OR FINGERPRINT THE CHROME. Nothing is worse than seeing a fingerprint in your chrome when you put your headlight back together. If by chance you DO Fingerprint the Chrome, a dry tissue with extremely light pressure and no excessive rubbing will remove it without removing the chrome. If you accidently paint or scratch or mess up on the chrome, your on your own. Every time I accidently painted or scratched the chrome, my attempts at fixing it only made it worse.

Put the "Boomerang" back into the headlight with a little pressure, it will "pop" into place.

-=Step Seven=-
Go ahead and put the Lens back onto the Headlight Backing carefully. Try not to hit or scratch any of the chrome. You will not be able to put the lens all the way in, because the epxoy will have hardened. Just put the lens in as much as you can, without breaking anything of course.

-=Step Eight=-
Re-Heat the oven to 275 F Degreees and place the Headlight inside for about 10-15 Minutes. Just enough to make the epoxy soft again so you can totally seal the headlight. Once you remove the headlight from the oven, just push the lens on all the way and make the contact tabs contact again.

-=Step Nine=-
Once you have put the Headlight back together, Congratulations! The hard part is done! Now you can put back in the bulbs, and screw the headlight back into your car the same way you removed it. Just be gentle!!

-=Step Ten=-
With your headlight back into your xA and everything plugged in and back together, ENJOY! You now have a totally custom headlight just for your xA!!

If you want to get Crazy you can remove the lens and retrofit in some HID lamps or Projectors, or do what ever makes you happy! This is YOUR car! Make it YOUR way!

Here is some examples of Finished Headlights with this Tutorial. I hope this helps you all 'Til next time!



If I have any errors, or left anything out, feel free to PM me and I will change or add them. Happy Customizing!
-Sly_dawg19

Tia842

Very instructive on the headlights.. If I had a Scion I would try it in a jip Keep posting on other things what you do to make xA's look hott!

SanchezHacker

Nice "How-to" Sly_dawg19! I've seen a few of these tech articles for the tC but non for the xA. I'm thinking maybe ill just yank the yellow thing and leave it at that. I'll have to try this on some weekend when I finaly build up enough courage.

Sly_dawg19

I try

Ive only taken mine apart about a dozen times now. lol so if anyone has any question, just pm me

guitarguru44

Dang, clears on an xA are so much easier than on a tC.

Looks good, keep up the good work.

JOE

zdawg913

hmmm very nice write-up, definitely going to be clearing mine out and maybe painting the housing black. good job!

HoldFastHope

I've been tempted to do this but I too am a little scared putting my headlights in the oven as I have NEVER used an oven before, only microwaves. Do the turn signals blink clear when you do this or are the bulbs amber anyways?

HoldFastHope

Very nice write up by the way. Gives me a little more peace of mind if I do end up doing this.

06XaKris

Yeah I was wondering what color the bulb is too. I thought it would blink clear thought right? I too am worried about doing this as I don't want to mess up my headlights but it does look cool. Nice write-up.

zdawg913

you need to have someone with a knowledge of this stuff help you out if you dont want to do it on your own. i did this with my cousins car and it came out really well.... just be sure to follow the precautions in the write up like not touching the chrome and whatnot. this seems like a really good writeup, so if you follow it closely it wont be bad at all!

reaubideux

Sorry if I sound like a dick, but using an oven is not rocket science. Turn the temperature **** to the desired temp. Let it warm up for 5-10 minutes. Open door and stick something in it to bake it. The tricky part is remembering to turn it off when you're done.

reaubideux

Looks like an amber bulb from the finished pics above. I don't think I'd bother with doing the clear-corner thing unless I could find a clear bulb that has an amber colored filament (if there is such a thing). Just seems a little pointless to remove the orange reflector to do a "clear-corner" mod, just to stick an amber bulb in there that isn't clear. I know you could just use the white bulb but I don't feel like dealing with cops bugging me about it.

I don't know if they make them in the required size for the turn signals but there are companies out there who make a silver lens that lights up amber, but they're pretty pricey for the better ones given the purpose they serve.

All the same... very nice how-to write up. I appreciate the time spent to make the contribution.

Zillon

iTrader: (1)

Hm... I think some credit needs to be given.

Anyways, the bulb will blink clear. Pilot makes a set of chrome-to-amber 7440 bulbs that directly replace the factory units. Best part? You'll only pay 4 bucks per bulb. They are not that expensive.

http://www.cardomain.com/item/PILXC7440A

I've had this done to my car for a few weeks now. https://www.scionlife.com/forums/vie...740&highlight=

Sly_dawg19

The light will blink a Light white/yellow, like a normal incandesant bulb.

How I got aound that was I took Latex Paint (Yellow or Orange) and dipped the tip of the bulb in it about half way.

It looks awesome and blinks orange, yellow, blue, w/e color you want!

And you dont have to remove the headlight to paint the bulb! So if you already clear cornered, and dont like the incandesent color, just pop it out and paint it!

I dont think there will be a problem with the paint (as long as u use latex paint) because the bulb is never on enough to get hot enough to liquify the paint

I will post a few pics in the edit of the BULB color guide and what mine looks like.

Zillon

iTrader: (1)

I also see a few points of concern...

DO NOT touch the chrome with a tissue, paper towel, or any other semi-abrasive material. These will scratch the chrome. Use a microfiber or polishing cloth instead.

When painting the 'boomerang' do be sure to properly prep the surface first. I prefer steel wool to rough up the surface prior to painting and following that up with rubbing alcohol and a cotton ball to ensure that all oils and dirt are removed. I only use blue painter's tape when masking things off, so I suggest you do the same. Green or white tape can be a little harder to work with, and any other kind of tape is a no-no.

I also highly suggest using an automotive primer on the 'boomerang' to ensure that the paint sticks properly. Paint only in an area where the temperatures are ABOVE 60ºF. Any colder, and you might have problems with the paint sticking or drying properly.

Sly_dawg19

I have used a tissue with no ill effects on the chrome to remove fingerprints.

As i said in the tutorial, blue painters tape, and I also reccomend primer for the most even coat. However, i did not use primer, and mine looks fine.

Its all up to the customizer, like i said eariler too, im not going to get crazy on the paint part, because if your brave enough to paint, you most likely already know how.

But i may edit it in time to inclue these measures. thanks for the feedback.

SanchezHacker

Ok, one quick question about the oragne cover, is it yellow plastic or can the yellow be rubbed off like the chrome? I ask because I dont like the fact that the bulb would be showing if I just took it off, I want to keep that piece on but have it be clear-ish.

Tia842

the orange cover is full on transparent orange plastic, you cannot rub off the orange.

Sly_dawg19

True, the orange cover is permanent orange.

But like Zillon said earlier, there are clear bulbs avaialble that shine orange.

I like my painted bulbs though

Tia842

After all it's cool they have colored bulbs at the stores and all but it's never the exact color you want. Plus, I'd rather paint my own bulbs cause they give the color you want and it's more special cause you did it yourself : P