Keet

I've seen and read a lot about it on here and I've been putting mine off for years. But finally I've got the urge to DIY this week.
I bought my paint, masking tape and silicone and I'm all set so I won't be able to back out of it that easily this time.

QUESTION: Would anyone on here be interested to see my step by step DIY pics with comments, or should I just post photo of the finished result? I know it's been done to death a million times, so I won't bother unless anyone is really interested.

EggRollBandit05

iTrader: (7)

This diy has been covered a few times before so its not necessary to make another. The process is pretty simple but if you want to make another diy go for it

Good luck with your project and dont forget the pics

DeX

Don't do what I did and get everything ready, preheat the oven, then realize the headlights don't fit in your tiny *** apartment oven at all. And then call up a coworker at 11pm to ask if you can put your headlights in his oven for a few minutes. And then proceed to throw away the clothes you were wearing including your $72 hoodie because they're full of silicone.
Good luck!

civicsrcool

^^ lmfao.

cinaibur

iTrader: (5)

ouch

Unevolved

I think it might be a good idea. Maybe do a real thorough one, and maybe a mod will sticky it. This procedure is just assumed to be common knowledge amongst a lot of members, and I'm not sure there's a good, thorough DIY anymore without any broken links.

metalviper

iTrader: (13)

it is common knowledge. my 12 year old cousin pretty much did mine

nicokpe

Good luck with your work/project, and i will wait your pics in here.

qnzlilshotta

iTrader: (2)

i got silicon caulk all over me too lol...just becareful not to have anything touch the paint while its wet...i was spraypainting on newpaper and a lil wind blew the newspaper and the newspaper was stickin 2 the newspaper...i then had an uneven and unsmooth paintjob..tried to sand that area and repaint it and it still looked pretty ugly..but w.e i got annoyed and closed it up with silicone lol it doesnt look bad but one are on both headlights dont look like it was painted smoothly...

metalviper

iTrader: (13)

^^ should have wet sanded them with 2000 grit and a light after coat

Keet

Well I'm wondering why you didn't DIY, it's your car.

I actually haven't seen a complete walk-thru for this, there's always some missing steps. Sure a lot of it is easy, but that depends on your skill level. Also, there's several ways to do this, depends on how you want it and what you're starting off with.

Like for example, I used to have a mugen front lip, there's probably some extra screws that weren't there before, and my stock rubber difuser thing is gone.

I'll bet that no two headlight painting projects are ever quite the same.

Anyways, I'll be starting it tomorrow. I'm figuring 3 days. One to remove bumper and headlights, possibly open the casing and mask/prep... second day for the actual painting and drying and third to put everything back. I realize this is a long time but I'm in no hurry and if it goes faster than planned then yippee for me.

qnzlilshotta

iTrader: (2)

yea i did sand the chrome down with some 1000 grit sandpaper..but after i painted it news paper flew onto the paint and left a few big blobs of paint tried to wipe it down waited for it to dry them sandpapered it again and no luck!

Keet

Okay, it's done! I'm quite happy with it but I wouldn't want to do it twice. I have all the pics for a DIY which I'd like to post soon because there are a LOT of pointers and tips worth mentioning that no one has ever brought up before. But for now here are some of the "finished pictures" (I may be editing as more come in, size restrictions, etc):

metalviper

iTrader: (13)

it was the second time i did it. i wanted to the chome corner lights instead of all black. he wanted to help so i let him at it. i wasnt trying to put you down but really if you have common sense and patience it will come out great. hence why im sure you came across the "little tips" in the process. trust me i was a noob when i first did this and i was hella nervous. i had barely learned how to change my own oil. but none the less, glad they came out good!

Dudun

iTrader: (1)

Hey can you make the DIY, or at least upload the pics. Thanks.

sl33pyriceboi

iTrader: (3)

^search... also search hondatech....they have it.

Maple50175

iTrader: (1)

damn that looks good

what paint did you use etc etc

let me know!

str8t_dominican

iTrader: (1)

i should be giving this an attempt real soon

colourwolf

i did mine a week ago, i decided to go flat black, so no clear coat what so ever, just paint. When i put the amber back and put it back into the housing, i scratched some of the paint. >.<. But over all, It looks hell lot better than chorme. Probably because i have a black car.

popee

iTrader: (9)

i havent got around to installing my BOH.. jus finish sealing it .. going to seal it one more time.. than slap them on when i get a chance..

Eyger

:: Riiing, Riiing ::

Co-Worker: "Hello?"
Dex: "Hey what's up, it's Dex..."
Co-Worker: "Oh hey what's up dude?"
Dex: "Not much.... Hey can I stick my headlights in your oven...?"
Co-Worker: " .... "
Dex: " .... "
Co-Woker: " ...What?!"

Heh, "....and the award for the least heterosexual phone call of the day goes to! This conversation!!! Congratulations!!"

I completely kidding dude, but that would have been the funniest phone call to listen in on!

DDragon7

LoL, I did mines over a week ago and I got lazy and left it alone, and I just sealed them with silicon today. I'll have mines on tomorrow.

popee

iTrader: (9)

NICE>>> i'm going to seal it one more time..than i am going to install it

Maple50175

iTrader: (1)

Pics

colourwolf

^^
whose pics you are asking for ?

Keet

For anyone who wanted a DIY for this, here we go:

As I've heard someone state this could theoretically be done in 3 hours. JUST to be safe give yourself 3 to 4 days, especially if you're new to DIY stuff/go to work/school/have the patience/etc. (Yes, it took me 4 days, heh). Once you start you kind of have to finish.

Before you begin here's some things you'll need so you don't go running around for it later. Obviously the spray paint. Here's what I used:

I don't think it REALLY matters what paint you choose since nothing should be touching it afterwards. I grabbed this because it was the only paint in the store which was flat back, in a rattle can, and didn't require any primer.

Masking tape, 3M good quality, don't be cheap. It shouldn't be too sticky or wide, good masking is crucial. I don't even have to tell you to have lots of newspaper.

The most valuable thing which I HIGHLY recommend is one of those fine microfiber cloths used for wiping eye glasses. I don't think I'd be able to do this project without one. Get one. Go to an eyewear store if you have to, you'll thank me later.

The next item is every 10mm tool you can find. Now I'm one of those guys who just guesses or uses a monkey wrench or a knife for everything, but seriously, 10mm is the magic number. Sockets, wrenches, ***** extenders, whatever you have you'll want it. You'll also need two small flat tip screw drivers for popping out plastic rivets... later on you may also want a Phillips (cross) screwdriver and an Allen (Hex) key, but I'm sure you'll find something for this when the time comes.

If you're doing this completely without help from anyone then I suggest an old blanket and/or a giant piece of cardboard, for laying on and for the front bumper.

Another helpful thing to have is three bowls, cans, or glass jars for the three sets of screws/bolts/clips you'll be removing.

You're gonna make a huge mess, there'll be stuff all over your house, and my photos probably look clean and simple but keep in mind it's twice as much work since most of the time I only bother showing one of the headlights. Also no one ever bothers to tell you how to put everything back together again since it's just assumed, but I'll give a few pointers to cover the main differences.

Keet

Ok it's bright and early, the sun is up, you've parked your car so as to give yourself plenty of room infront, let's begin breaking things:

*1* For this first step, put that blanket or cardboard down infront of your car. Maybe you've heard somewhere that you need to jack your car up, but I didn't. You just have to overcome the awkward postions you'll be working in for this step. I wish this could be more helpful to most of you because as you'll notice I don't have that rubber guard piece, but from what I could tell there's a series of small metal brackets that held it to the bumper and those DO NOT require removal. What you DO need to remove is shown in the picture:

The green arrows point to four plastic rivets that you pop out using two small flat screwdrivers, wiggling the middle out to free the rivet. Try to get used to removing these because most of the Civic is held together by them :P. I found the ones under the car were a bit tighter cuz of the dirt that gets into them.
The purple arrows point to two screws which you should probably inspect while removing so you see how they go back, since they go through a few layers of plastic under-car molding.

You can now put the two screws and four plastic rivets into one of your three small containers, so you won't mix or lose them so easily.


*2* While working on this step it may become dark, your car may repark itself, and you may notice your rims have been switched for something nicer. (Sorry, I had to retake the picture yesterday cuz the original didn't turn out at all).

The green arrow... we're just taking out two bolt-screws, one on either side, in the wheel well under the fender, near the top corner of the bumper. Yeah, this one is 10mm, but you'll also be able to remove it with just about any tool. Very simple.
The purple arrow points to a screw I had to remove that was used for my Mugen front lip. I'm pretty sure a stock Civic doesn't have this, but I'll need it if/when I get my lip again in the future.

*3* It's time to pop out more plastic rivets. Open your hood and you'll find them just above your grill...

Again, simple. You can put the two screws and these four plastic rivets into your 2nd container.

*4* Assuming we got all the right screws and rivets out, we can remove the bumper now. I hated this part (and you will too) because you'll basically need to use some force and hope that the wrong thing doesn't snap. Just start at the top corner of each side of the bumper and sorta wiggle and pull at it. As soon as you have a bit of space you will see there's a series of metal tabs that hold onto slots in the bumper. You'll notice the grill area is probably the most free at this point.

If I had to do this again I'd wrap shop towel around each bumper corner once its loose because it will probably rub and scratch against your fender. Other then that I can't think of a way to avoid it.
I found it helpful to pull upwards as I went along. I guess downwards hooks onto the tabs better and you don't want that.
Because it was just myself doing this, I was lucky enough to have the whole bumper let loose from its top half first. So while standing infront of it I eased the bottom off and placed it on the cardboard.

*5*

The bumper is off. Notice the snowblower and the snow shovel in the background? Notice the cord running from the radiator area to my lower grill area? You cool Nothern folks will have it, it's the plug for your block heater. I had to cut the plastic snap tie which held the plug to the grill so I could later move the bumper away far enough.
You'll also notice the styrofoam absorber. Two styrofoam plugs that stick out from it hold it in place, so it'll probably just drop off without your help. Now's a good time to clean off bugs and dirt if you feel like it.

Keet

*6* Get all your 10mm drivers, sockets and wrenches for this step. Each headlight is held by a total of 5 screw-bolts, and you will end up also removing the large metal bracket/guard under each headlight which is like part of the bumper frame. I assumed I could just leave them but it's much easier to remove them along with the headlights. Here at this angle you can see three of the screw-bolts to remove, (the one at the very back/top is a little different from the other four).

It doesn't exactly matter which order you remove them in, but one thing you'll notice quickly is that two of them are a real pain in the *** to reach, so hope you have some decent hand tools to speed things up.

I collected all ten screw-bolts from both lights into my third container.

The headlight will come loose, as will the metal plate piece under it. Now carefully hold the headlight (or balance it) while unplugging the three cables from it. I unplugged after unbolting because it's much easier to reach the other two cables this way.


*7* So now your headlights are removed.

You'll find it helpful if you just wipe off the black plastic sections with a damp cloth since you'll be handling them a lot. This way you won't spread the dirt all over.

Keet

*8* For most of this part you'll want to work in a clean indoor area. We start by removing the bulbs. I've changed my main bulbs before so it was easy, it was the other two that puzzled me a little. The main bulb is removed by first pulling off the rubber plug (it has two tabs to help you get started). Then there's a spring-loaded wire keeping the bulb pushed in, you unspring it by pushing it in then unhook sideways. The other two are eactually easier, you twist them!

Try not to touch the bulbs, put them on a towel someplace where you won't step on them.

*9* I don't have a picture for this step because it's absolutely unnecessary. I'm sure you've seen these before, but along the edge of each headlight are five little metal clips which you just snap off. You can use a screwdriver for this. My advice is to snap them off on the black plastic side, and not the clear lens side. You don't need to remember where they go because each spot has a little lip on them.

*10* Before resorting to using the oven, I was going to try to just gradually pull the headlights apart just as they were, and as it turned out it worked well enough. A useful thing to have is a large coin (or in my case one of those spoon fishing lures) to help you pry a section apart. I'm sure it's faster and easier if you put them in the oven first, but I didn't mind slowly prying them apart.

Now I'm sure you heard a LOT about the black sticky stuff and so I don't have to tell you just how nasty it really is, so from here and on just pay attention to where and what you touch so you don't end up getting it where you don't want it.

First thing I noticed when the headlight unit came apart is that it was completely the opposite of what I had expected. I assumed you'd have the housing with the chrome face attached to it and that would be sealed with the clear lens over top. Instead you have the housing and then you have the clear lens piece with the chrome face attached INSIDE it. I'll admit this made things slightly more challenging.

*11* Once you separated the housing from the lens, you need to get the chrome piece you'll be painting out of the lens. There's two little silver screws on just one side which look like they weren't meant to be taken out (infact I doubt any part of the headlight was intended to ever be taken apart). Anyways, I found a hex Allen key that worked perfectly because the screw head is made from weak aluminum and is just weird-shaped and looks like a regular screwdriver would strip it.
On the other side from where the two screws are, the chrome face has three angled tabs which just rest along the sticky edge of the lens. You should probably scrape away some of the sticky goop from those tabs to free them.

This is the WORST part of the whole project. I bet you're really gonna hate actually removing the chrome face from the lens...for two reasons: Firstly because you will hope no part of the chrome piece touches the black sticky goop and secondly because it will remind you of one of those brainteaser puzzles where you have to untangle some impossible metal loopy things. Just try not to panic. Someone said they had to bend the lens to nearly the point of breaking to get the chrome face out, but you DON'T HAVE TO! Let me teach you a trick to this and it'll make your project 100x easier...

I should have made a video clip to show it rather, but with the side with the three tabs facing you, you slide the plate towards you JUST high enough to clear the sticky gooped edge and it goes just out from the side with the pointy corner (where it's almost trapped). You don't have to bend anything, it will just fit but at the risk of nearly coming in contact with the edge.

Okay and DON'T do what I did in the picture above, with the newspaper. It seemed like a good idea but then the newspaper was stuck and took a while to peel pieces of it off from the goop. If you are going to try it then maybe use saran wrap instead, I'm not really sure.

*12* With the worst part behind you, you can admire the three pieces you now have. This next step is optional, but after some consideration I chose to remove the amber piece, with my rationale being it will make masking easier and will therefore prevent paint from bleeding under it. However, there's a bunch of ways to do your own headlights so it's up to you. Removing the amber piece was a matter of using screw driver tips covered in a soft cloth pressed against strategic areas. Thankfully, the amber piece is quite flexible.

One thing that totally surprised me is that under the amber piece is yet another clear plastic piece, a bit smaller... what exactly the purpose of this piece is I have yet to guess, but it seems to be made as a kind of reflector. It was in my way so out it goes. It snaps out similarly to the amber piece. Let me just say here that snapping it out is much easier then snapping it back in :S

*14* This steps is to repeat any previous steps for the other headlight, because I'm sure you want to do both of them at the same time.

Keet

*15* Now for one of the most painstaking and time-consuming steps of this whole project; the pre-masking. This step will entirely depend on the individuals own skills, but my advice to you is to take your time and be meticulous, because afterall, you're only going to do this once (hopefully). Don't be stindgy on the tape, use lots, yeah sure it seems like a waste, but you want to be certain the chrome is covered good cuz you'll be banging your head on a wall later if you find over-spray on the parts you wanted to leave chrome.

Here you see I employed crumpled saran wrap to fill in the big hollow sections. I used newspaper on the other headlight and I would recommend the saran wrap only because it stays better due to its grip, (also I figure it's more paint-proof).


I found the outside curves to be the trickiest. Just keep cutting sections of tape, sticking it down and curving it as best as you can. Do NOT attempt to use any blade to cut onto the chrome, it should be possible to perfectly cover the chrome with various arrangements of tape.
When you're finally done your pre-masking then you're ready to paint, otherwise you better redo any part you're not satisfied with.

===Painting Your Chrome Insert===

*16* If it's sunny with little or no wind then you could probably paint outside, but if it's windy or dusty outdoors or there's the slightest sign of rain then probably do your painting in a garage. I used a garage and covered the floor with newspaper and even afterwards it left a boxy shadow of paint around it, so use lots of newspaper in a wide area. To get better angles I used two buckets, turned them upside-down and covered them in newspaper which was taped in place. I placed my pre-masked inserts on the buckets.

*17* For the actual painting you'll want to do this in at LEAST two coats. The main reason is that one thick coat will drip, or maybe crack when drying and make a total disaster of your paint project. So don't get carried away on the first pass, it'll be a very thin dusting which will probably be difficult to keep very even. Shake the hell out of the can before you start, and also shake the can constantly between sprays. Always start spraying before actually going over the headlight and continue spraying as you go off. After each coat you should clean the spray nozzle to prevent it from paint building up or clogging. Wipe the nozzle with a clean paper towel, (use a bit of paint thinner on the towel if you have some).

*18* Drying time varies between coats depending on the paint. Although I did my painting in the garage, I managed to carefully bring them indoors under bright sunlight for about 15 minutes. Do not touch the painted surface, even to test if it's dry, cuz even if it's dry it'll leave some horrible smudge. Just hope that nothing gets on it during this time, not even a hair. To make sure that doesn't happen try not to have anything moving around, (ie: a dog wagging tail over your freshly painted inserts).
Here they are after the second coating, you can still see the blue masking-tape showing through:


*19* Each time a coat of paint is drying, take a good close look to see what areas to concentrate on when the next coat is applied. I found the inside and outside corners to always be a bit thin with more chrome still showing thru. By the fourth coat I was fairly certain I had the right coverage I wanted and left it to dry about half a day.

*20* This is by far the BEST and most REWARDING part of the whole project, when you're finally removing the pre-mask, it makes everything worth it to see the results. Peel the tape off slowly, because I suspect peeling it off fast would have some undesired consequences. Ofcourse, if to your horror you discover that you have indeed over-sprayed then, well, I don't know what to tell you except I'm sorry.




*21* Up to this point you've probably handled the chrome insert a lot and probably put some fingerprints on it, even left some kind of smudges if you were smart enough to use gloves. This is where that eyeglass microfiber cloth comes in REAL handy. There's nothing in the world that could wipe finger prints off chrome better than this little cloth will. Again take your time with this too, check under different lights to see if you've missed a spot, I'm not kidding, it may look clean now but then you'll be out one night with your car and go WTH?!