How To: Spray your headlights black

[StormVY]

It's been done before here and here. I followed this tutorial from streetwagons. With those links and my pics you should be sweet.

First remove the bumper...

Whenever dealing with cars I like to chock the wheels to make sure it cant roll anywhere. Try and use non-living things to do this, take my word for it.


She's fine, just seeing what I was doing and trying to help out by pushing at the wheel. She's usually more useful by stealing screwdrivers and licking my face when I have hands covered in oil and grit.

Unscrew these screws.






These screws had to be destroyed by me as they are plastic and threaded. I had some spare similar ones around to replace. Good luck getting them out if they don't screw out.



You should be able to pop off the sides of the bumper now and it will just come away. It just a few clips that are holding it in. I was quite forceful to pop the sides. Be careful though, dont want to snap it! Also be careful if you have fog lights as the cables wont let the bumper touch the ground. Instead of disconnecting them I just put the bumper on a platform to raise it a bit.

Unscrew the lights...






Pinch the sides of the plug at the back to get it off.



Now you have to unscrew the single black screw at the back of the headlight.
I tried using a hair dryer as I didnt want to bake my lights but they glue went hard to quickly. I put the oven on low fan and the weakest temperature (it started at 100C so I put it just under that).
After it was at the temp I put it in on top of a upside down tray so the plastic wasnt resting on thin hot metal rods. Left it for about 2-3mins.



When you take it out of the oven it is a MAJOR pain to get it off, not only do you have to deal with glue and a hot headlight you have to get these clips undone. I bent and stuffed up a lot of the plastic around the clips using a sharp flathead to get right between the seal to lift the clip up and prying the gap apart at the same time.



Look carefully at the areas around the clips and noticed they are bent up.


As soon as you remove the two halves you have to tidy up the glue so that it sets the right way so when you want to put it back the mountain/valley fitting that is used can slot right in. ie, dont let stray glue strands solidify everywhere.

I stopped taking photos here as I was over it and very frustrated from the glue situation.

Unscrew the 3 screws in the head light. Slowly take out the chrome fitting. Its fragile. You will have to manouver it around a bit, it may take a while but it should come out ok.
Pop out the indicator lens and tape it up the front of it then put it back in so it fits snug. This is so you can spray the lens and not behind it as you want that to stay silver.

I used 2000 wet dry sandpaper. Super fine stuff. Sand all chrome surfaces so they are all dull. This is so that the spray can hold onto something.
I used matt black enamel spray. Matt black will match the SS style better. Any spray that adheres to plastic will work.
I sprayed around 5-6 light coats. The first coats will not cover all the chrome, this is ok. Hold the can around 30-40cm from the target and give it a mist, will be spotty but as you put more coats on it will become uniform. Spray from all directions. Spray in a wind and dust free environment. If something lands on your wet spray job you are stuffed. Do not spray inside the round hole that the parkers sit in. You will not be able to see in it when the cover goes back on and it will reflect better if it is still silver.

Wait to dry and CAREFULLY remove the indicator lens. Remove the tape and put it back in CAREFULLY. I was not and chipped a small part off the black. May not have happened if I left it to fully dry. Who knows.

Put it back in the shell and screw in. The backing should go about half way back in if your glue is ok. I chucked it back in the oven to get the initial push in and then used a hair dryer to work around and get the clips back on. I heated up the clips and the plastic around it heaps so I could mould back the twisted plastic from the screwdriver and it came back to shape fairly well. I used some silicon seal around the clips so ensure a waterproof seal. This is optional.

Walked outside and saw this...



Like an average chick with no makeup hey. Put the right parts on the face and wallah.. sexy.

End result...





So yeah nothing amazing as stacks of other Commodores have lights like this but it's something to do if you get bored.

A few notes:

• This will take hours to do, make sure the weather is ok and you start early in the morning.
• Your headlights may not be waterproof after this.
• You may damage your headlights doing this
• Work in a wind and dust free environment. Your headlights are currently sealed from the outside world, for a reason.
• Taking the glue off is not easy. The 2nd light I did took me half the time. Hopefully with this you wont do as much damage to my lights as what I did.
  
  2 years later update:
• Ensure the inside of the enclosure is clean and completely free of water or moisture before you seal it back up. I have mild fogging on the inside of my lights now.
  

All the best guys!

[valakis_vx]

great write up mate, another handy one if people get stuck somewhere along the process, and a great way to save $$!

[DUK13Y]

awesome write up. Would have come in handy when I was doing my conversion to calais/HSV spec.

[fuzzy2308]

great write up

[StormVY]

Has anyone who has done this had issues with fogging? I havent yet but would rather know now if its an issue and ill put some more effort into sealing.

[smurf]

Nice write up man, and that dogs the coolest man!

[tripple]

Has anyone who has done this had issues with fogging? I havent yet but would rather know now if its an issue and ill put some more effort into sealing.

i did it on my vz lights, and i get some foging, but in saying that, they where foging before i did it anyways lol
just flick ya lights on and the fog will vanish
side note, my lights do not leek, and i well tested that to
i just used the hair dryer real good when puting back togeather

[danieLOL]

i know this is an old thread, but any chance on re-uploading the pics?

[VYute04]

yer i second that please re upload pics

[StormVY]

Yeah sorry guys, the host I used went down. Im trying to find my pics to upload them again.

/edit, pics are fixed.

[emir3008]

I started doing this on my VS but for anyone with a VS thats doing it make sure you have really bright lights, the standard bulbs come out a bit dull.

but it looks good, ill post a picture up tomorrow when i finish, i managed to get one side done earlier.

[emir3008]

Well here it is, i had to mask off the upper part of the headlights, and spray the bottom bit, i threw in some H4 Platinum bulbs in, and it looks good as.

[ALL-STOCK-VY]

This might sounds stupid.. but you remove the globes before putting it into the oven right? and how do you seal it back up.. is more glue needed or whatever is left will be enough? and do u heat it back up again or just sick it together..? I tend to #### alot of things up so I am hesitant to try this lol but it looks soo good and is soo cheap I just have too try it.

How would i go about cleaning the inside of the lenses because their really dusty and starting to mist in some areas.. also another reason I wana open em.

another thing.. im thinking about chucking some drls in the lights.. just like the after-market ones that are now being sold now... 3 issues, how will the heat when glueing back together affect the drls, how do I stick em to the light so the never fall off because #### opening them back up again.. and.. legality issues of a home-made drl headlight lol ADR Approved..?

[StormVY]

Definitely remove the globes first.

I used silicon seal to seal up around the parts that I thought the glue had not come back together properly. If you mold the glue while it is hot and you have just separated it, it should just go back together when you need it to. Plan ahead. Yes, you will eventually need to heat it up again to reseal it.

You will have easy access to clean the inside of the front of lenses when they are open. Ensure there is no moisture or streaking after you have finished cleaning. I am hesitant to advise you to use Windex as I am not sure how it reacts under high heat. I assume it should be alright.

Not sure about the DRLs. It would be complicated as you would need to drill a hole in the enclosure to run the wire to power them. You would also need to find an adhesive that would stick them down and handle the intense heat of high beams or a hot summer day. If you are inexperienced, maybe just put them outside the enclosure like a few people on the forums have done, or try this.

[TVR-190]

I'm tempted to try this on my stato foglights

[Torquative]

do it Troy ... the genuine WL ones cost a motza

[TVR-190]

Couldnt get them seperated so i gave up...

[PUSHIN]

hmmmmm, so this is a LITTLE off topic, however i am thinking of painting my lights in the process (if i can be stuffed pulling the drivers apart) so anyway, how err, i'll go with unsafe, will it be for me to chuck a cracked headlight in the oven? (or even under a heat gun, depending on how keen i get before i can get a heat gun) i'm thinking there's a fair chance there could be a slight explosion of glass, or at least the crack extending, but.. i'm sort of unsure, what does everyone else think?

just i kind of had a spider crawl up my jumper whilst swapping globes in headlights that weren't in a car, which resulted in me putting the headlight down in a hurry, and putting a two inch crack on one side of the lense, so i go buy another passanger vr/vs headlights to find that the chrome on the inside has gone to crap, half of its either flaking off or losing its colour. i figure, the logical thing to do when the casing of one is perfect with a crap lense, and the other the opposite would be to swap them around and chuck the crappy one, so i remove the clips, remember seeing this thread and all about the glue, and the oven did come to mind, but i was very sceptical of trying it until i could find this again..

However even so, i'm still worried i'm gonna end up sending glass flying through the kitchen at a stupid speed, if i was nearby that could result in a fun trip to the hospitol explaining whats happened to me.. :/ cheers guys

[TVR-190]

If i remember correctly, the VN-VS headlights simply unclip, you dont need to heat them up, just take off the metal clips.

[Torquative]

boo troy ... try harder

[uniacidz]

I tried and failed.

Oven decided to reheat itself and has element on the bottom. Same setup as the original posters. However the bottom of the headlight mounting screw bracket melted. lol

Oh hum.

[PUSHIN]

nono, the vn, possibly vp and some others, not sure as i havent looked but i'm certain vn's are only clip, but all three of my vr/vs headlights are glued.. :/ anyone chucked a cracked one in and had a bad experience or shall i be the first? :/ cheers!

edit; i'm starting to think it may be okay, provided it doesn't heat, nor cool too quickly however i'm still worried about applying pressure, maybe i should just take a hammer to the broken one.... heh also, i'll admit straight up, my headlight was not heated at all, was cold, however the clips were removed, and the second i applied the smallest amount of pressure trying to pry it apart with a flathead, it broke a tiny peice of the lip on the outside of the lense, will it make a difference if its hot? O.o fair enough the sikaflex type glue will be softer, but i applied minimal pressure before that happened, hmm, thinking i should probably make sure this is the last time i do this ^.^ not keen at all, not as bad as extractors though i must say.

[James VY]

Great write up, and it looks awesome too!

makes me wonder if my 'genuine' SS headlights have just been sprayed black..