Rep Power: 448

ok...so ive decided on taking my oem headlight housings apart and painting the housings black...i have the sealant for re-sealing them and the high-temp black paint...i will be masking them soon and i will also be putting the amber lens back in to create the 'JDM look'...

the questions that i have are about the oem chrome housing:
would i need to 'scuff' it up first??
what should i use to do this??


thanks guys!!

 
Rep Power: 432

i didnt do anything. just used high temperature engine spray paint. about 5-7 coats. had no problem


i used newspaper to cover up turnsignal chrome part

would you hit it?

 
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really??

if thats true, then i have nothing to worry about
**can anyone else confirm this??**




EDIT: civicvtec1ps: what if i were to paint the signal / parking light areas and then reuse the amber piece??

 
Rep Power: 432

i did paint parking light areas but i didnt paint turn signal areas.as you can see , look at pics i posted above

 
Rep Power: 448

were posting faster than we can refresh

lets do this in PM's

 
Rep Power: 448

has anyone painted the whole housing and then reattached the amber lens??

pics maybe??

 
Rep Power: 377

You can scuff the chrome if you want, if that makes you feel better, but there's no need. They're gonna be sealed from the elements and the paint seemed to adhere just fine.

 
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I took out my amber lense and painted all of it blakc (I have a black car) and i didn't scuff it up, stuck just fine. Also, if you want to match the clear coat most closely get a glossy paint or clear coat the flat black, it looks dam nice when you're finished.

 
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i did 2 quick coats, no scuffing, and it turned out fine.

 
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What I did with mine is just wipe it down with some acetone.. What that did was clean the surface and also etched the chrome a little bit.. I then painted them with High temp glossy black paint... I didnt mask anything and reattached the amber lense. Came out fine... Just make sure to let it fully dry cause when you try and attach the amber part you have to touch the painted surface and if you leave it wet it will mess up and leave finger prints... Here is a pic of the finished product.

 
Rep Power: 448

XTREME2K2CIVIC: thank you!!

thats exactly what im trying to accomplish...
how bright does the signal light up??

 
Rep Power: 351

Cleanly done. Very nice. I did my homeboi's lights, turned out better then I thought IMO then it should have. He left out the amber piece tho and just has amber bulbs.

 
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The signal and driving light are a little more dim but I mean still visible.. But you have to figure that now the light is flashing off of black instead of chrome so brightness will be affected but since you still have amber signals you shouldnt have any police trouble or anything like that ...

 
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thanks!!

 
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gl.

keep a bottle of rubbing alcohol near you just in case you mess up and need to take the paint off. it won't harm the chrome.

 
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I did mine the same way, just painted no prep needed

 
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damn sedan housings ...it took me an hour just to disassemble them

 
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I painted everything black on mine, parking lights area and turn signal too, didnt put the amber piece in, turned out just fine heres how that looks for another suggestion:

 
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so some of you did it without masking anything off? hmmm, i've never taken my headlight assembly apart, so i'm not sure how it's assembled. if you don't mask, which chrome parts end up being painted black? parking and turn signal?
thanks

 
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i didn't want to risk messin anythin up so i bought some blackhousing headlights cheap from the local shop i ride for

 
Rep Power: 377

Yup, those parts will get painted. When take your lights apart, you will have 3 pieces. The outer plastic cover, the housing itself, and the chrome piece that covers the housing which goes inbetween the two mentioned earlier. The base housing never get's touched, just the middle chrome cover piece.

 
Rep Power: 448

ok...so they are done and they look great......

buuuut, i used the heat-heat flat black and they look gunmetalish...im thinking about redoing them with a semi-gloss black so that they match the upper/lower grill...opinions??

 
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I used a flat black paint and then put clear coat over them to shine them up, looks real nice.

 
Rep Power: 448

i didnt like the high-temp paint because it came out looking gunmetalish...i sanded them down and applied some plastic primer to them, after that dried, i sprayed them with flat-black (3-coats)...they are done and look much better now

i also painted the mesh on the altezza grill because it was close to the lights and you could see a difference between them (i had to mask it off though because the lip is painted ssm)


thanks again.

 
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Post some pics!

 
Rep Power: 347

RSDCivic, you ride looks very nice, and props on the Headlights, thats how I am going to do mine and just put an orange or white turn signal in...