Clear Corners: Diy With Pics
09-18-2006, 07:41 PM
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THINGS Needed:
OVEN preheat to 350 degrees
SMALL flathead screwdriver
Needlenose pliers (optional)
CLEAR SILICONE
rubberbands
Phillips Screwdriver (to take corners out, lol)
well today was phase one of my clear corners. soon they will have black clearcoat (tinted) on outside as well..
I would have to say, DIY clear corners suxors, but buying them wouldnt have helped me, cuz i wanted a black housing.. my goal, when im done, is to rid 99% of ANY silver, chrome, bling on my car, and have just dark colors..
taking the corners off the car was cake.. take a screw out, and pry the damn things out.. easy
again, i HAD to go the oven route, cuz i was painting the housings at the same time.
i preheated my oven to 350 degrees. and left it open a little bit, ya know when the oven just kinda sits open at that certain spot.. if you don't know how it does that, then you should stop this DIY NOW. cuz everyone should know an oven props itself open a bit..
VERY IMPORTANT: DO NOT, by ANY MEANS RUB, WIPE, OR TOUCH THE CHROME HOUSING IF YOU CAN, IT RUBS OFF EASILY...
Step 1: let them babys cook, ON A COOKIE SHEET, in there for ~3 min. Get a SMALL flathead screwdriver, preferably a #1, the bit end is ~1/8" bit, the smaller the better. try prying up ONE side at a time.. after you get one side up, the others have cooled down a bit. so i threw em back in the oven for ~1 min. per side and did the edges last.. and yes, i got hairline cracks in both of my corners, but this CAN be done with a lil more patience, and more TLC lol.
Fig 1a: after they were pryed off with screwdriver.
Step 2: throw them back in the oven, this time, on a damp rag, lens side down, for ~1 min. Reason for lense down is so the heat will be closer in contact with the orange reflector and heat it up to melt the glue a bit. Take your flathead screwdriver, and try to carefully pry up the reflector, reason to carefully do it, so you can get it all out in one piece, instead of 20+ pieces. there will probably be a few small pieces left around the edge where it was glued on, you can get most of it with your hand, but you can use needle nose pliers if needed. ( If 1 min. doesnt seem long enough to melt the glue, try another minute, and the reflector should come off relatively easy.
Fig 2a: after the reflector was cracked out.
Step 3: Now this is pretty important. Clean the lens up a bit, just so you dont have any annoying finger prints on the inside, but DO NOT try to clean up the chrome part of the housing. IT WILL RUB RIGHT OFF. didnt matter for me cuz i was painting em, but i tried wiping down with a damp rag, and the paint came right off.
Step 4: Silicone these son-b****es back together. BUY THE CLEAR SILICONE. they didnt have it when i went to get it, so i got black, but o well, i had black housings, so it didnt bother me at all. and the black dries kinda weird so stick with the CLEAR SILICONE SEALANT. found at any autoparts or hardware store. throw a SMALL bead of silicone around where the lens sits in the housing.. make sure EVERY area is covered, but make sure its a VERY SMALL bead so it doesn't get all over the place. after you seal them, make sure you press down on each area with some pressure, and the wrap them tight with rubber bands and keep em like that for about an hour to let the silicone seal. put your bulbs back in and reinstall.
Fig 4a: reassembled corners.
OVEN preheat to 350 degrees
SMALL flathead screwdriver
Needlenose pliers (optional)
CLEAR SILICONE
rubberbands
Phillips Screwdriver (to take corners out, lol)
well today was phase one of my clear corners. soon they will have black clearcoat (tinted) on outside as well..
I would have to say, DIY clear corners suxors, but buying them wouldnt have helped me, cuz i wanted a black housing.. my goal, when im done, is to rid 99% of ANY silver, chrome, bling on my car, and have just dark colors..
taking the corners off the car was cake.. take a screw out, and pry the damn things out.. easy
again, i HAD to go the oven route, cuz i was painting the housings at the same time.
i preheated my oven to 350 degrees. and left it open a little bit, ya know when the oven just kinda sits open at that certain spot.. if you don't know how it does that, then you should stop this DIY NOW. cuz everyone should know an oven props itself open a bit..
VERY IMPORTANT: DO NOT, by ANY MEANS RUB, WIPE, OR TOUCH THE CHROME HOUSING IF YOU CAN, IT RUBS OFF EASILY...
Step 1: let them babys cook, ON A COOKIE SHEET, in there for ~3 min. Get a SMALL flathead screwdriver, preferably a #1, the bit end is ~1/8" bit, the smaller the better. try prying up ONE side at a time.. after you get one side up, the others have cooled down a bit. so i threw em back in the oven for ~1 min. per side and did the edges last.. and yes, i got hairline cracks in both of my corners, but this CAN be done with a lil more patience, and more TLC lol.
Fig 1a: after they were pryed off with screwdriver.
Step 2: throw them back in the oven, this time, on a damp rag, lens side down, for ~1 min. Reason for lense down is so the heat will be closer in contact with the orange reflector and heat it up to melt the glue a bit. Take your flathead screwdriver, and try to carefully pry up the reflector, reason to carefully do it, so you can get it all out in one piece, instead of 20+ pieces. there will probably be a few small pieces left around the edge where it was glued on, you can get most of it with your hand, but you can use needle nose pliers if needed. ( If 1 min. doesnt seem long enough to melt the glue, try another minute, and the reflector should come off relatively easy.
Fig 2a: after the reflector was cracked out.
Step 3: Now this is pretty important. Clean the lens up a bit, just so you dont have any annoying finger prints on the inside, but DO NOT try to clean up the chrome part of the housing. IT WILL RUB RIGHT OFF. didnt matter for me cuz i was painting em, but i tried wiping down with a damp rag, and the paint came right off.
Step 4: Silicone these son-b****es back together. BUY THE CLEAR SILICONE. they didnt have it when i went to get it, so i got black, but o well, i had black housings, so it didnt bother me at all. and the black dries kinda weird so stick with the CLEAR SILICONE SEALANT. found at any autoparts or hardware store. throw a SMALL bead of silicone around where the lens sits in the housing.. make sure EVERY area is covered, but make sure its a VERY SMALL bead so it doesn't get all over the place. after you seal them, make sure you press down on each area with some pressure, and the wrap them tight with rubber bands and keep em like that for about an hour to let the silicone seal. put your bulbs back in and reinstall.
Fig 4a: reassembled corners.
09-18-2006, 09:32 PM
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Vehicle: Turbocharged 2001 Hyundai Tiburon
great writeup, and its about dayum time you got clear corners lmao.
ill add it to the listing
Loving the Avatar too haha.
ill add it to the listing
Loving the Avatar too haha.
09-20-2006, 09:11 AM
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Vehicle: 2001 Hyundai Tiburon, 2004 Kia Sorento, 2010 Kia Soul
Those look pretty bad ass mang. Lots of work, only reason I'd do it is for the blackness.
09-21-2006, 04:28 PM
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not really lots of work, i just wanted to be thorough in the DIY. without breaks and everything.. maybe took 60 minutes total.. if the black clearcoat on the lights and corners doesnt work, imma get the kspec clears, and use those lens's so i dont have the line and wont have the lil cracks. the line doesnt really bother me, and wont be visible once tinted..
i love the blackness though.. heres a pic with the headlight and everything on the car.
i love the blackness though.. heres a pic with the headlight and everything on the car.
09-24-2006, 08:16 PM
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hey man, Did or do you know if you can paint your headlights black? I was looking into painting the crome part of my headlights black when i get my Ae's installed but i didn't know if painting my headlights black would make them less bright?
if you know the answer then let me know thanks man
-mitch
if you know the answer then let me know thanks man
-mitch
