[Eyger]

I'm going to use this thread to post pictures of it when it's done.

Does anyone have any tips for me as I do it?

Thanks!

____________________

Done! All I have to do it put it together, and put it back in.

To be honest, I didn't set out to do this as perfectly as possible. I did this because the headlights were really messed up with scratches and paint and junk, so I was thinking about getting a new set of lights. But I decided to just re-furbish the old ones. Since I was going to be sanding and painting, I thought I might as well black them out too while Im at it.

Pix's:
pulled them out.


Here is what the headlights looked like. A couple years ago I decided (this was back when I knew less....way less...) to paint an "eyelid" on my headlights. And well, it worked perfectly fine for a long while, until about a year ago the paint started to chip off, because the plastic under it wasn't prepped correctly. Learn as you go right!

They came apart pretty easy, granted I did it gently and such. Lowest setting on my oven was 170, so I put in in there for 7 minutes. Worked perfect.


Here I started sanding it, top middle is sanded, the rest is still chrome. I was surprised how easy the chrome came off...


And of course, completed sanding.


This is just after the black paint. I used Alsa Jet black basecoat, so it's flat when it dries.


After I finished it up I moved it into the bathroom to keep junk from getting in the paint and switched the fan on. To keep the fumes moving out.


Here is a closeup of the clear I did, it looks ok in the picture, but in person you can see scratches. I'm going to wetsand and polish that out at a later time.


And a closeup of the black part. I taped over some chrome, so I hope I can get it off without peeling. The next question would be, if you can't tape on top of the chrome, how do you mask of the small tube area for the running lights?


More pictures when I get them installed.

More pictures::::::::

This is when I got the tape off and the paint was dry:


After I did the whole thing the lenses were kinda hazey, which I know no is because I didn't have the right grit sandpaper. Today I bought 600, 800, 1000 and I had 1500 at home. So I sanded the lights with all those grits, then used a rubbing compound with my craftsman orbital buffer, then after that I used the Meguiars Plast-x to get the final shine. Here are some of the pictures. It's like 98 percent perfect, but looks really good. So Im happy with it. Maybe another day down the road I'll buff it out more, but for now im cool.


Here's a shot of the final product.




In this last one, it looks kinda hazy on the top, but it's just the reflection of the sky.

[kcari]

preheat all the tape before you remove it from the chrome. use blue painters tape.
do it slowly. if you're gonna remove your amber clips do it slowly. be extra careful. use an oven, not a hair dryer, goodluck

[manahoonie]

TAKE YOUR TIME...spend two days if need be (since it IS almost 5pm now)

[fullgrown]

do at least 3 coats.

[gearbox]

do not use any tape on the chrome, it will peel it right off. use post-it notes! and let the paint dry at least overnight before assembling.

[kcari]

post it notes? wont the paint seep right through?

[armieo]

post it notes are good but they peeled on me too giving me a little overspray in some areas. oh well.

Be careful taking the silver housing out of the light, don't let it touch the glue. In fact you can even bend the glue back or remove the glue on the clear cover because chances are it'll get on your housing. Insert and remove the silver housing by pulling up and out on the turn signal corner.

[gearbox]

yeah postit notes dont like to stay put. gotta cut them and place them just right. but it wont hurt the chrome.

[sl33pyriceboi]

^even the painters blue tape will take off the chrome???


btw, if ur painting it....

sand 600grit
primer
sand 800 grit
primer
sand 1000 grit
primer
first coat (black)
second coat (black)
clear coat (clear)


that will ensure you a good finish as well as a solid paint job, meaning it wont chip.

[kcari]

i didnt sand paper mine at all and i used Krylon Fusion black...and thats all I used and painters tape did take some of my chrome off. maybe i should have sand papered.

[Eyger]

Cool, thanks for all the tips, Im finished now, and I think Im going to sand a spot or two on the black, because I got a bit of a drip.

Now as for the clear lens on top, I had to sand the whole thing down with various grits then spray clear coat on it, you'll see it in the pictures. Unfortunately you can see some scratch marks on the plastic. I think I might wet sand when dry, then polish it good. I think that'll take care of it.

Pics in first post.

[colourwolf]

i didnt bother to mask the turning signals parts.....just paint them all black.

The out put of the turning signals are weaker tho.,

[Eyger]

So I put everything back together and installed it. It looks good, but the plastic is hazey because I reconditioned them.

I also looked up Falkens "recondition your headlights" DIY thread. I used a rubbing compound and I got the plast-x and used a Detailing buffer, and it stiil came out hazey. I think next weekend Im going to get some more sand paper and do it again, because Im not happy with the hazey ness of the final outcome.

Anyone have tips on polishing the headlights to get them back to clear again?

[gearbox]

you gotta use ALOT of rubbing compound and a buffer def helps. once its nice and smooth, you apply the plast-x polish to make them shiny. if it still wont work, then i guess youll have to try sandpaper but use a soft grit with water.

[civicsrcool]

i tried falkens way and it didnt cut out for me for some reason. i used the permatex headlight restore kit from pepboys and it worked like a charm. comes with everything you need to do it: 600-2500grit (1 sheet for each headlight) sandpaper, nice terry cloth, the plastic restorer and even the package functions as a bucket to soak the sand paper in.