Decided to continue my semi gloss black theme by baking my headlights and blacking them out. Here are the results:



I was going to tint the reflectors, but didn't want a difference in color, so I just painted over them






Yes, my hi beams are useless now, but I haven't used them once since I got the car, so no big deal. Luckily the turn signal still shows up well enough. I might switch it out to an LED, but I like they way the blue bulb shows up against the black.


Pay no attention to the splotchiness of the front bumper. I filled in the license plate holes and just shot some rattle bomb semi gloss black to cover up the sanded parts. She goes in hopefully this week or next for a major paint job.

 

looking good

 

sharp. i need to bite the bullet and do this already. so much pay off for so little money. it's just terrifying to think of throwing headlights in an oven!

 

looks good.

 

I was nervous too, but it's actually really, really simple to do. I did 250 for about 20 minutes. Have the 3 scres and the 2 "feet" already taken out. When you pull it out of the oven, just a flat head screw driver to pop the tabs and break up some of the glue. Then just pull it apart. One word of caution, when you are putting it back together, make sure and windex/clean the inside of the lens. I did not and now I have a few finger prints inside. I might bake them again...

 

did you buff your headlights? they have holograms/swirl marks all over.

 

No, as I was explaining, that is a result of not cleaning the inside of the lens before putting the light back together. I will most likely bake them again and clean out the inside of the lens.

 

looks good, how difficult is it to bake HL's for painting? and how long usually to let dry and what not?

 

It's not hard at all. I did 250 for about 20 minutes. Have the 3 screws and the 2 "feet" already taken out. When you pull it out of the oven, just use a flat head screw driver to pop the tabs and break up some of the glue. Then just pull it apart. I let mine dry about an hour before putting it all back together. Put the light back in the over at 250 for another 20 minutes to soften the glue again. I also put more black silicon in to ensure that I didn't have any moisture build up.

 

awesome! thanks!!! i'll maybe have to try that (if can find a spare set in case i screwe em up) hope to see you at a few shows this year seeing that you are from peoria! (awesome another central il scion haha)

 

Looking good. Nice work

 

Looks good.

20 minutes might be overkill though. I took one apart after 9 minutes at 250 and it was easy. Was already really hot too.

 

id like to do this...but color match :D

 

when i do this, i'm painting the reflective part of the high beam, driving light and turn signal a translucent yellow. with some yellow bulbs, i think it'll look pretty good. definately different if nothing else.