Painted Headlight Bezels: With Pics
09-21-2006, 06:35 PM
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OKay, i know theres DIY for angel eyes and stuff on here, but i thought i woul do a DIY for painting the headlight bezels. Its quite easy after you get the damn bumper off to access the headlights.
Things needed for this..
10mm socket ( for the 8 headlight bolts) and bolts behind corner lens
8mm socket for the bumper bolts that hold onto fender near tire
in my case 7mm socket ( for the bolts holding the top of bumper on, you may just have the snaps..
paint.. ur choice. i used duplicolor hi temp, flat black, just cuz i know it gets a lil warm in the housing and i didnt wanna risk it.
oven @ 350 again.. hell yah.. this is what ovens were made for.
flathead screwdriver
phillips screwdriver ( to get corners out)
wet rag ( cleaning the bezels, and the headlights)
Step 1: **didnt take pics, but theres other info on it, and ill explain well**
(Taking off the bumper and un hooking the harnesses for the lighting.) First things first ( OPEN UR HOOD) take out the phillips screw in the corner lens and pull it out, you might have to pry it a bit, but be careful not to scratch any of the paint of the car. Un-hook the corner lens harnesses. Un-hook the harnesses for the headlights, you will see them right behind the headlights.
Now, start with taking off the snaps along the rubber hood gasket thingy; take the snaps, and the rubber gasket thingy and put it aside for re-install. Then, where you took out the corner lens, there are (1) bolt on either side that needs to come off. they SHOULD be a 10mm, and shouldnt give you much trouble.
USING JOSHUWAS pic for reference
Then there will be (2) more bolts to go that are holding the bumper on, on either side, close to the wheel well., on mine they were an 8mm bolt, take these out.
Carefully, i usually hold the bumper from the outer headlight holes and angle the back of it down a bit, and pull straight out; so i dont get close to scratching fender. Its ALOT easier with the stock flimsy bumper, FG ones are a PITA sometimes..
Step 2: ( taking out the headlights, easyness)
Theres 4 (10mm) bolts on EACH headlight. 2 on either side; just get a socket, with an extension, and have at it.. like this.
USING JOSHUWAS pic for reference
pull the headlights out, and you're ready for the real fun.
Step 3: (preheat that badass oven of yours to 350 degrees, and dissassemble headlights). Take out the headlight bulbs, you don't wanna throw these in the oven, well at least i didn't think it woult be a good idea.
!!!! This is imperitive, put the headlight on a cookie sheet. !!! you don't want it to be on the grate of the oven, cuz itll melt into it.. i put mine in for ~5min.30secs. and the glue was just melted enough to come off easy. BE CAREFUL, use a rag or oven mitt to take the headlights out, they will be hott. pry up the tabs with your fingers, and pry away with the flat head screwdriver, after some good elbow grease, and some prying, they will come off relatively easy.
Then there are (4) screws that hold in the chrome bezel to the clear part of the headlight housing, take them off.
They will now look like this: (before you take screws out) and your reflector wont be painted, lol
Step 4: (take your bezels to a place for paint) for me, my awesome apartment balcony. lol fvck it, im renting.
heres my area.. stuff painted here, resivoir tanks, valve cover, exhaust, IC piping, headlight bezels, corner lens, etc.
I usually use a light coverage coat, let dry 15 min. then two medium coats, every 15 min. after that. so total of (3) coats on everything. Wait 30-45 min. for the bezels to fully dry. In the meantime, clean up the lens' a bit with warm water and a lil soap, easier to clean when off car.
Step 5: (Reassembly of the bezels, and headlights) Now you are going to put everything back together. Locate each (4) screws to put the bezels back together. Tighten them up, but not SUPER, cracking the plastic lens tight. They should look like this.
Then comes another fun part, putting the headlights back together. It will take a little bit of man power to push these back into the housing; but dont get frusterated. If its hard to do, take a hair dryer (easiest way) and put it over where they go back together for about 5-10seconds in each spot to melt the glue a little.
Pull the tabs back over each area, and either throw in the over for ~1 min. or use the hair dryer to melt the glue a little more, so itll seal properly. I dont know if this was needed, but i didnt want to take any chances with the seal being crappy. SO DO IT, and dont be lazy.
Now they should look like THIS:
Step 5: ( put the headlights back in, and the bumper back on)
Do this, EXACTLY reverse of the way you did it the first time.
Put the (4) bolts of each headlight back in, tight, but not overly tight.
BE CAREFUL AGAIN, when putting the bumper on, put the top part of it on first, then slowly angle the sides to where they are supposed to be.
Put the bolts in where the bumper attaches the fender, nearest to the wheel well.
Then put the bolts in where the clear corners go, that attach the bumper to the fender.
After that put your rubber hood gasket thing back on, and attach the snaps.
Put the corners back in, and your all done.. it should look like this, well sort of, if you did my corner DIY.
Took me about 2 hours total, including removing the bumper; but i also removed IC piping to paint it, it was lookin ugly, and trimmed my bumper a bit ( the IC piping was hitting it), and kinda was lazy. So if you were keeping all your concentration on these, i would say 1.5 hrs would be a good time to have these done in, and it costs ~5 bucks, and i love the mod..
.... i also painted the reflectors for the high beams, i wouldnt reccommend it, its probably not legal and if you have inspections you will probably fail. .i wont be needed them again, because im getting my 10k HIDs VERY soon.
heres some BEFORE PICS so u can tell difference
Things needed for this..
10mm socket ( for the 8 headlight bolts) and bolts behind corner lens
8mm socket for the bumper bolts that hold onto fender near tire
in my case 7mm socket ( for the bolts holding the top of bumper on, you may just have the snaps..
paint.. ur choice. i used duplicolor hi temp, flat black, just cuz i know it gets a lil warm in the housing and i didnt wanna risk it.
oven @ 350 again.. hell yah.. this is what ovens were made for.
flathead screwdriver
phillips screwdriver ( to get corners out)
wet rag ( cleaning the bezels, and the headlights)
Step 1: **didnt take pics, but theres other info on it, and ill explain well**
(Taking off the bumper and un hooking the harnesses for the lighting.) First things first ( OPEN UR HOOD) take out the phillips screw in the corner lens and pull it out, you might have to pry it a bit, but be careful not to scratch any of the paint of the car. Un-hook the corner lens harnesses. Un-hook the harnesses for the headlights, you will see them right behind the headlights.
Now, start with taking off the snaps along the rubber hood gasket thingy; take the snaps, and the rubber gasket thingy and put it aside for re-install. Then, where you took out the corner lens, there are (1) bolt on either side that needs to come off. they SHOULD be a 10mm, and shouldnt give you much trouble.
USING JOSHUWAS pic for reference
Then there will be (2) more bolts to go that are holding the bumper on, on either side, close to the wheel well., on mine they were an 8mm bolt, take these out.
Carefully, i usually hold the bumper from the outer headlight holes and angle the back of it down a bit, and pull straight out; so i dont get close to scratching fender. Its ALOT easier with the stock flimsy bumper, FG ones are a PITA sometimes..
Step 2: ( taking out the headlights, easyness)
Theres 4 (10mm) bolts on EACH headlight. 2 on either side; just get a socket, with an extension, and have at it.. like this.
USING JOSHUWAS pic for reference
pull the headlights out, and you're ready for the real fun.
Step 3: (preheat that badass oven of yours to 350 degrees, and dissassemble headlights). Take out the headlight bulbs, you don't wanna throw these in the oven, well at least i didn't think it woult be a good idea.
!!!! This is imperitive, put the headlight on a cookie sheet. !!! you don't want it to be on the grate of the oven, cuz itll melt into it.. i put mine in for ~5min.30secs. and the glue was just melted enough to come off easy. BE CAREFUL, use a rag or oven mitt to take the headlights out, they will be hott. pry up the tabs with your fingers, and pry away with the flat head screwdriver, after some good elbow grease, and some prying, they will come off relatively easy.
Then there are (4) screws that hold in the chrome bezel to the clear part of the headlight housing, take them off.
They will now look like this: (before you take screws out) and your reflector wont be painted, lol
Step 4: (take your bezels to a place for paint) for me, my awesome apartment balcony. lol fvck it, im renting.
heres my area.. stuff painted here, resivoir tanks, valve cover, exhaust, IC piping, headlight bezels, corner lens, etc.
I usually use a light coverage coat, let dry 15 min. then two medium coats, every 15 min. after that. so total of (3) coats on everything. Wait 30-45 min. for the bezels to fully dry. In the meantime, clean up the lens' a bit with warm water and a lil soap, easier to clean when off car.
Step 5: (Reassembly of the bezels, and headlights) Now you are going to put everything back together. Locate each (4) screws to put the bezels back together. Tighten them up, but not SUPER, cracking the plastic lens tight. They should look like this.
Then comes another fun part, putting the headlights back together. It will take a little bit of man power to push these back into the housing; but dont get frusterated. If its hard to do, take a hair dryer (easiest way) and put it over where they go back together for about 5-10seconds in each spot to melt the glue a little.
Pull the tabs back over each area, and either throw in the over for ~1 min. or use the hair dryer to melt the glue a little more, so itll seal properly. I dont know if this was needed, but i didnt want to take any chances with the seal being crappy. SO DO IT, and dont be lazy.
Now they should look like THIS:
Step 5: ( put the headlights back in, and the bumper back on)
Do this, EXACTLY reverse of the way you did it the first time.
Put the (4) bolts of each headlight back in, tight, but not overly tight.
BE CAREFUL AGAIN, when putting the bumper on, put the top part of it on first, then slowly angle the sides to where they are supposed to be.
Put the bolts in where the bumper attaches the fender, nearest to the wheel well.
Then put the bolts in where the clear corners go, that attach the bumper to the fender.
After that put your rubber hood gasket thing back on, and attach the snaps.
Put the corners back in, and your all done.. it should look like this, well sort of, if you did my corner DIY.
Took me about 2 hours total, including removing the bumper; but i also removed IC piping to paint it, it was lookin ugly, and trimmed my bumper a bit ( the IC piping was hitting it), and kinda was lazy. So if you were keeping all your concentration on these, i would say 1.5 hrs would be a good time to have these done in, and it costs ~5 bucks, and i love the mod..
.... i also painted the reflectors for the high beams, i wouldnt reccommend it, its probably not legal and if you have inspections you will probably fail. .i wont be needed them again, because im getting my 10k HIDs VERY soon.
heres some BEFORE PICS so u can tell difference
09-21-2006, 06:47 PM
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Vehicle: 2001/Hyundai/Tiburon
looks good. i have been planning on doing some sort of blacking out to the exterior lights, just never got around to it. i have a whole bunch of niteshades, but i might go this route instead.
i am going to use a gloss black though with some clear. or maybe just spray tint the chrome directly. might help keep things bright.
how is the light loss with this? with the corners too?
i am going to use a gloss black though with some clear. or maybe just spray tint the chrome directly. might help keep things bright.
how is the light loss with this? with the corners too?
09-21-2006, 10:03 PM
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i havent tinted the lens of either AT ALL yet.. they are still clear.. so the low -beams (projectors) are just as bright as reg.. the hi beams, well since i painted the reflector, not much light at all, still would be good signalling device.. b4 when i did this on my old lights, i didnt paint the reflector, and NO light loss. the corners have a lil light loss but still VERY visible..
when tinted i dont expect much light loss.
when tinted i dont expect much light loss.
10-16-2006, 02:11 PM
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it DOES affect the brightness of the HI-BEAMS only... but they still work great for a signalling device.. i just painted it so it would look nicer and be darker.. i will be also doing niteshades on the inside of the headlights, AND the corners..