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Blacked out headlight how-to (With Pics!)
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Author:  DetroitKK [ Mon Sep 06, 2010 5:18 pm ]
Post subject:  Blacked out headlight how-to (With Pics!)

Hey everybody,

I had been eying the other thread about the blacked out headlights, and this weekend I decided to just take the plunge and figure it out. So I wrote up a detailed How-To on here to make sense of the mod a little better.

I hope this helps anyone thinking about this mod, and feel free to ask any questions if I left something out!

Supplies:

Torx Screw Driver

Flathead Screw Driver

Spray paint; I went with Rustoleum Flat Black

Silicone Gel (Maybe not necessary, but for another $4.00 it was worth the piece of mind knowing the lights won't be fogging up)

One Jeep Liberty KK
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Step 1: Removing the front clip
Locate the hood latch cable, and unclip it from the plastic along the front of the engine bay, you will need to tilt this piece forward later and its just good to get it out of the way. This next part is really easy, you will need your flathead. Locate the 9 plastic tabs which hold the top of the front clip in. Each of these tabs are made up of two parts. An anchor, so to speak, and a pin that slides into it. Using the screwdriver, pop the smaller piece up and out, this will release the tension on the anchor under the metal. Then pry the anchor up and pull it out. These should come out pretty easily. Then, tilt the clip forward from the top unhinge the small tabs on the corners and pull. There are tabs along the bottom, they will all simply pop out when you pull. It takes some pressure so don't be afraid to break anything, just be careful not to scratch the bumper.
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Step 2: Removing the headlight assemblies
Each headlight is secured by 3 torx screws, they all come out pretty easily. Once you remove those, tilt the lights the same way you did the bumper and reach back and unclip the two power connections. Pretty standard stuff so far. (I did find the cord on the fog light connection was extremely short on the passenger side, so keep that in mind.)
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Step 3: Prepping headlights for bake
Now things get a bit weirder. Remove the rubber seal on the back side of the lights as well as the clip and three screws around the fog light hole. Again, maybe not necessary, but it cant hurt. I gave the whole thing a good cleaning with a rag and some windex. I didn't feel like getting that nice road taste baked into my next meal.


Step 4: Baking headlights to loosen the glue
I tried a few temperatures with each light and kinda struggled to really get the glue to separate. I would recommend going with about 10-12 minutes at 300. I started at 10 minutes at 250 and it just wasn't happening so I bumped it up. My first light took some trial and error, I put it back in a few times. The key is to place the oven rack in the middle and put some foil or reynolds wrap on the rack. EXTREMELY important, I first popped mine in on a cookie sheet with no heat protection and kind of melted the back.
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As a precaution, I would also place the lights with the clear plastic facing up, just in case you get a bit of melting, but as long as you use some foil, it should be fine.

After about 10-12 minutes, grab the light with some potholders and set it down on some carpet or a towel. The light will be HOT and can burn you, but the heat dissipates quickly, so its'm important to work fast. Pick a corner and have at it. Pry back a few tabs with the flathead and try to pivot on some of the protruding plastic parts for leverage. It will take a while to get things goin, and probly wear out your fingers, but just keep at it. Things should start to loosen up a bit and get kind of gummy, once this happens just follow the side along and try to wedge it open. If its taking a while, or you can only seem to get certain parts of the glue loose, then toss it back it. Keep it at 300, but you probably won't need to wait the full 10 minutes this time. Once you get it open, you are done with the first difficult part.

Step 5: Further disassembly/painting
Pop out the chrome plastic piece carefully, the tabs should come loose no problem. Then get to an area ready for painting; ventilation, newspapers, etc. Holding the spray paint around 6 inches way, just start coating the piece. Be careful to stay in one area for too long, because the paint could pool up on the sides of the main light covering. You will also have to hit it from a few angles to get everything coated evenly. I only used one coat of the flat black and did some touching up after it dried a bit. If you are going for a glossy look you might need a bit more.
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Step 6: Prepping for the re-bake
Once they are dry and look great you're almost done... almost. For me, this was the most difficult part of the process. I managed it, but there might be a better/easier way... First I popped just the back part with the glue in the over and baked for around 5 minutes. Then I tried fitting the newly painted part and the clear plastic, but It wouldn't fit back in. I baked it for a while longer and found out the the way I let it the glue dry and resettle (or something) was preventing the clips from the painted part from sitting flush on the housing. So I ended up tediously cutting away the glue around the clips, then just putting it back in on top of the piece once it was heated. This was time consuming and a real pain in the booty to be honest, so you might want to consider pushing the glue up against the outer wall once you first take them apart. Once I trimmed the spots back I re-heated and was able to squeeze the cover back on, most of the tabs were tough to re-click but I got them all to snap. Once it cooled down it didn't seem like the glue had totally fused, so I popped it back in for a while and then coated the whole seam with some silicone. I chose against a stronger sealant just in case there WAS a leak that I missed, but also because I may have to crack em open again and put the halos in there :rockon: .. we'll see.

Step 7: Sealing/Reinstallation
I used simple waterproofing silicone, it was pretty easy to work with. Cut the hole just smaller than the gap between parts and go to work. I smoothed the seam out once I was done just to make sure there were no air pockets or anything. After a quick Florida rainstorm there was zero fogging, so at this point it's looking like a success!

The hardest part was trying to get them back together and getting a real solid fit. As long as you waterproof the seam and get the clip in, the fit shouldn't be tooo important. Everything pops back onto the car but in reverse:
Foglight cord, headlight cord, 3 torx screws, bottom of the grille just pops back in, slide under the two top corner clips and re-insert the 9 plastic tabs followed by the hood latch cable. Check the lights to make sure they still turn on and you are all set.

So for around $10 bucks and a few hours of work you can go from this:
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To This: 8)
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If anyone has any other methods or ideas I would love to hear em!

Photobucket page with more pics: http://s1011.photobucket.com/albums/af2 ... rOneActor/

Author:  onegoodpunk [ Mon Sep 06, 2010 9:36 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Blacked out headlight how-to (With Pics!)

very cool.. looks great. thanks for the how to!

Author:  DirtyKK [ Mon Sep 06, 2010 9:48 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Blacked out headlight how-to (With Pics!)

need to tint them turn signals now but that looks sharp! i want to paint mine white to match but then i would need to find something for my signals cause i think it would look out of place on my Jeep. :roll:

Author:  lefty's pride [ Tue Sep 07, 2010 1:21 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Blacked out headlight how-to (With Pics!)

totally cool does it effect night driving at all? i had a buddy that did a set of lights in his celica he either boiled them or steamed them to get the glue to release.

Author:  DetroitKK [ Tue Sep 07, 2010 9:50 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Blacked out headlight how-to (With Pics!)

lefty's pride wrote:
totally cool does it effect night driving at all? i had a buddy that did a set of lights in his celica he either boiled them or steamed them to get the glue to release.



The reflective surfaces for each of the 4 bulbs weren't touched at all, so the effectiveness of the lights at night hasn't changed.


And about the turn signals.. That's next, I haven't decided what exactly I'm gonna do, but I'm thinking spraying some VHT Nightshade on the turn signals as well as the tail lights. Anyone have experience with this? I don't wanna make the tint too dark, especially on the tailights. I don't want them blacked out, just given a smoky tint to kinda blend into the paint a bit better.. Maybe I'll give it a shot this weeked... :juggle:

Author:  DirtyKK [ Tue Sep 07, 2010 1:00 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Blacked out headlight how-to (With Pics!)

check with jeepin it real, im pretty sure he has his all tinted. i wouldnt do the taillights but definitely the turn signals. it is your vehicle though and up to you though. :lol:

Author:  turbosocks [ Tue Sep 07, 2010 1:41 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Blacked out headlight how-to (With Pics!)

great how to.. i was to leery about melting or bubbling the clear surface when i tried this, so i didn't keep them in the oven that long.. i ended up giving up after trying to pry at the lens for about 15-20 minutes.. didn't want to crack it..

you should sell me your headlights and i will give you my stockers... HAHA then you can do it all over again.. please.. .. lol

i was going to just buy the renegade headlights, but at ~200$ a light.. forget that.. I might try this again in the future with this new how to.

thanks!

Author:  infernicus [ Tue Sep 07, 2010 4:35 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Blacked out headlight how-to (With Pics!)

DirtyKK wrote:
check with jeepin it real, im pretty sure he has his all tinted. ....

Yeah he definitely has his tail lights tinted..
I believe if you want a light tint, you do one light coat, every subsequent coat makes it a little darker. So do one coat, if its not dark enough, do another.
Some states have laws about tinting tail lights. So be aware.
Jeepin_It_Real's tail lights are very dark.. In the day time it is hard to see brake/signals.

Author:  DetroitKK [ Tue Sep 07, 2010 6:15 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Blacked out headlight how-to (With Pics!)

Thanks for the tips guys!

And Turbo, I know its nerve-wracking baking the lights, but if you do it right you'll have no problem, and if you have any other questions feel free to drop me a PM or whatever..

Now if you pay for a set of those halos I might be willing to swap mine with yours haha :twisted: but seriously, aside from some sore fingers this mod is a pretty simple one! Give it a shot!

Author:  Green2010 [ Wed Sep 08, 2010 12:45 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Blacked out headlight how-to (With Pics!)

Wow, looks sharp! :D

Author:  RRiveraKK [ Wed Sep 08, 2010 2:28 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Blacked out headlight how-to (With Pics!)

Awesome. Great write up. I was about to do it, got the paint and everything, but then my wife talked me out of it. The way those turned out make me want to do it now. We need to move this one to the How to... section so we can refer to it easier, without getting buried w all the other discussion.
Thanks again.

Author:  Scar0 [ Wed Sep 08, 2010 4:44 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Blacked out headlight how-to (With Pics!)

Well done. They look great.
Nice write up as well.

Author:  turbosocks [ Thu Sep 09, 2010 11:16 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Blacked out headlight how-to (With Pics!)

i might try it out again, starting with one light at a time. it was just such a pain in the booty trying to pry the lens up before they cooled down, not knowing if they were warm enough yet, not wanting to melt the lens, etc..

i wonder how a heat gun would work with this mod.. hmm.

i am also going to tint the corner lens's, reflectors, taillights and the 3rd brake light if i do this mod.. i'd really like to have the whole 'murdered' out look in the end.

night shades works pretty good if you also use a clear coat.. if you don't use a clear coat, especially on front end lighting, it will end up chipping pretty easy over time.. in my experience anyway.. to get a nice looking, dark tint, i usually use one 'medium-heavy' coat so it looks 'wet'. then after it drys, one wet coat of clear.. stayed on my srt-4s rear brake light and fog lights for over a year without chipping.

Author:  Mike08Liberty [ Sun Sep 12, 2010 11:10 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Blacked out headlight how-to (With Pics!)

DirtyKK wrote:
need to tint them turn signals now but that looks sharp! i want to paint mine white to match but then i would need to find something for my signals cause i think it would look out of place on my Jeep. :roll:


It doesn't look out of place
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Author:  turbosocks [ Sun Sep 19, 2010 10:48 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Blacked out headlight how-to (With Pics!)

so this time i pretty much used this DIY.. and after prying at each one most of the way around, i put em back in @ 300 for a couple minutes and got it the rest of the way.. a cake walk this time.. haha.. i jumped on the bandwagon and did this mod.. next up will be figuring out how to remove the corner lens for the turn signals and spraying night shades and clear coat on them as well as the tail lights and third brake light.

Author:  DoubleK [ Mon Nov 15, 2010 5:20 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Blacked out headlight how-to (With Pics!)

Thank you soo much! im soo excited to do it now :]

Author:  jslibby [ Tue Nov 16, 2010 6:31 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Blacked out headlight how-to (With Pics!)

looks killer smoke the turn signals and it will look insane. it alread looks great but i say take it all out

Author:  zammer [ Tue Nov 16, 2010 7:45 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Blacked out headlight how-to (With Pics!)

Nice How To, looks much better.

Author:  DetroitKK [ Wed Nov 17, 2010 8:50 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Blacked out headlight how-to (With Pics!)

jslibby wrote:
looks killer smoke the turn signals and it will look insane. it alread looks great but i say take it all out


Since I posted these pics I've tinted the turn signals and also smoked the tail lights with VHT. Definitely looks better that way. I'll try and get a few more pics up this week...

Author:  808JEEP_KK [ Tue Dec 07, 2010 7:31 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Blacked out headlight how-to (With Pics!)

Hey I have a question did you ever decide to use a heat gun I got one and I wanna try it to use it instead of putting it in the oven it kinda makes me a little nervous to that. How did you get it so the other light didn't melt? And did you put a primer for the very first coat or was it just the black?

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