How to paint headlight housings (DIY)
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From: Eugene, Oregon
How to paint headlight housings (DIY)
1. Pop the hood, remove 3 bolts per headlight. These are 10mm bolts.
2. Unplug the headlight bulbs
3. Pull headlight housing out and take inside
4. Pre-heat your oven to 275 degrees
5. Clean the headlight lenses
6. Remove all bulbs, unscrew and remove the wiring mounting brackets, set in safe place
7. Get a cookie sheet, grab a medium sized towel, make it moist with water, and place it on cookie sheet
8. After removing ALL bulbs from HL, stick on cookie sheet
9. Place cookie sheet with HL on it in oven for 5-6 minutes (not much more, one HL at a time)
10. Use oven gloves to remove cookie sheet
11. Gently bend the "clips" surrounding the housing upwards (they are black little over clips, which hold in the clear plastic, you will see them).
12. Pull the clear plastic away from the back housing, I used a screw driver and CAREFULLY/slowly pried small parts away around the housing and then pulled apart
13. Repeat steps 8-12 for 2nd headlight
14. Remove the inner chrome piece from the clear part of the headlight. You will need to unscrew 2 screws with a Phillips screw driver
15. You will see a clear plastic circle thing in the housing (blinker light cover). GENTLY remove this by pushing the clip on the top down. Be CAREFULL. I broke one of mine (this IMO is the hardest part of this project)
16. Sand the chrome housing somewhat with 400grit sand paper. This helps the paint stick (OPTIONAL)
17. Find a place to paint
18. Coat the chrome housing with black primer. Spray lightly, you will spray this 3 times total with primer
19. Let sit 15 minutes
20. Re-spray with primer
21. Let sit 15 minutes
22. Re-spray with primer
23. Let sit 15 minutes
24. Spray with the color you have chosen. Most do black, I did a gunmetal metallic flake
25. Let sit 15 minutes
26. Re-spray with color
27. Let sit 15 minutes
28. Re-spray with color
29. Let the light dry for a few hours in a warm area
30. After drying, re-insert the clear plastic circle thing in the housing, this should 'pop' back into place
31. Put the painted pieces back in the clear housing, re-screw them into place.
32. Stick the back housing and the clear part back together, get it lined up as close as possible
33. Stick back in oven (on cookie sheet) for 5 minutes to allow glue to soften
34. Push the headlight back into place, making sure the clips pop back into/over the holders
35. Put the bulbs back in and re-mount the wiring mounts
36. Re-install back into car
NOTE: When I had my headlights apart, I tinted the round clear lenses that cover the blinker light. I coated them each two times and it came out very nice. Dark to look like eyes, not too dark so that when my blinker is on, they don't "shine".
2. Unplug the headlight bulbs
3. Pull headlight housing out and take inside
4. Pre-heat your oven to 275 degrees
5. Clean the headlight lenses
6. Remove all bulbs, unscrew and remove the wiring mounting brackets, set in safe place
7. Get a cookie sheet, grab a medium sized towel, make it moist with water, and place it on cookie sheet
8. After removing ALL bulbs from HL, stick on cookie sheet
9. Place cookie sheet with HL on it in oven for 5-6 minutes (not much more, one HL at a time)
10. Use oven gloves to remove cookie sheet
11. Gently bend the "clips" surrounding the housing upwards (they are black little over clips, which hold in the clear plastic, you will see them).
12. Pull the clear plastic away from the back housing, I used a screw driver and CAREFULLY/slowly pried small parts away around the housing and then pulled apart
13. Repeat steps 8-12 for 2nd headlight
14. Remove the inner chrome piece from the clear part of the headlight. You will need to unscrew 2 screws with a Phillips screw driver
15. You will see a clear plastic circle thing in the housing (blinker light cover). GENTLY remove this by pushing the clip on the top down. Be CAREFULL. I broke one of mine (this IMO is the hardest part of this project)
16. Sand the chrome housing somewhat with 400grit sand paper. This helps the paint stick (OPTIONAL)
17. Find a place to paint
18. Coat the chrome housing with black primer. Spray lightly, you will spray this 3 times total with primer
19. Let sit 15 minutes
20. Re-spray with primer
21. Let sit 15 minutes
22. Re-spray with primer
23. Let sit 15 minutes
24. Spray with the color you have chosen. Most do black, I did a gunmetal metallic flake
25. Let sit 15 minutes
26. Re-spray with color
27. Let sit 15 minutes
28. Re-spray with color
29. Let the light dry for a few hours in a warm area
30. After drying, re-insert the clear plastic circle thing in the housing, this should 'pop' back into place
31. Put the painted pieces back in the clear housing, re-screw them into place.
32. Stick the back housing and the clear part back together, get it lined up as close as possible
33. Stick back in oven (on cookie sheet) for 5 minutes to allow glue to soften
34. Push the headlight back into place, making sure the clips pop back into/over the holders
35. Put the bulbs back in and re-mount the wiring mounts
36. Re-install back into car
NOTE: When I had my headlights apart, I tinted the round clear lenses that cover the blinker light. I coated them each two times and it came out very nice. Dark to look like eyes, not too dark so that when my blinker is on, they don't "shine".
Thread Starter
Evolved Member
iTrader: (31)
Joined: Jan 2003
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From: Eugene, Oregon
yeah the right HL did fog up JUST a tad. I took it offf, stuck back in the oven, let the glue re-melt a bit and squeeezed the housing back together REALLY well .. and now its solid, no fogging or leaking. One shouldn't really need to use different glue, the existing stuff should work well.
hey i did mine.. i noticed you didnt paint the headlight backing either.. would that kill the light..
hey i already posted the pictures.. why cant ya post the same picture 2x...
oh well
check it out
https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/sh...9&postcount=19
hey i already posted the pictures.. why cant ya post the same picture 2x...
oh well
check it out
https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/sh...9&postcount=19
Last edited by blacklancer03; Jun 20, 2004 at 04:48 PM.
yeah it would... the light needs something to reflect off of in order to be projected forward... if you paint the backing the light will just glow inside the housing and you wont be able to see anything on the roads... they will look something like glorified parking lights
Great How-To!
