How to get headlight trim off without breaking it?

[nitro71]

The dooshbag that owned my X before me let the headlamps burn the plasting on the headlight lense so I'm replacing them. The problem is that when I got the replacements at pull n save I broke the trim that you rotate away and around the light. I can't for the life of me figure out a better way to pull it off without risking breaking it. Was wondering if there's a trick or is it just hope that it doesn't break?

 

[boggs1227]

may want to try what i did .get a small flat head driver or a small piece of round metal ( flat head works better) and make a hook or with the flat head ...curve the end to make a pry bar like tool .

...makes it easier to remove the trim if you have a strong hook like tool to work with .i removed my trim on the drivers side to replace bulbs and ended up breaking the part where the marker and the turn signal pods are ( small break ...fixed it jb weld )

but haveing a small tool like what i described to you makes it a lot easier to remove the trim and trying to remove those clips cause mine where so tuff to remove i thought i would end up destroying the whole thing just replace 2 light bulbs but the tool made it easier on the second light pod trim.

hope this helps if any . . . .

 

[Anime]

The plastic trim can be tough to pry off the first few times, but after awhile, the metal clips that hold the tim on don't have the same bite on the plastic and it gets easier to pry off. You can also take a screwdriver and just bend the clips open a little bit more to speed this up.

Otherwise, once you take out the philips head screws on top, just pry from the outside where the reflector is, using the strength provided by the parking/signal light to pull until the plastic slides away from the outer, then inner clips.

You can shine a flashlight in the gap between the bottom of the trim and the metal body piece and use a long flat screwdriver to nudge or pry the clips into releasing the trim if they give what feels like too much resistance.

 

[nitro71]

I better not drink any beer while doing this..!

 

[burgundy1994xlt]

Had the same fun you guys had with them dang things. Made me a hook tool too. I sealed the famous headlight lense leaks too while I was in there by using a thin line of Goop all the way around both lenses.