How-To paint your headlights housing.

[buckflash]

Another one out... How-to pain you headlights housing.

Let's start with this advertiser...

IT IS NOT AN EASY JOB... PROBABLY THE MOST PAIN IN THE A** PROJECT I'VE DONE!!!


Now, lets start!...

What you'll need: - An Oven
- A flat head screwdriver
- Krylon bonds to plastic paint
- Silicon sealant
- A ratchet set and extender

The krylon paint is the one in the middle of the picture

First off, you need to remove the headlight from the truck... you can see the three bolt emplacement on the picture below. For the bottom bolt, you can just untight it and remove the headlight by sliding it away.

Now it's time a good place to work when your headlight will exit the oven.
Then, you take your tools and unscrew the two screws on the side of the headlight (sorry I didn't take a picture of that part)

It's now time to put your Headlights in the oven.

Make sure to center it in the oven to have it to an equal distance between top and bottom.

Heat you oven to 220 Fahrenheit and let the headlight heat for 15-25 minutes. Take a close look at the sealant every 5 minutes when the 15 minutes point is reached to make sure it's soft enough to work with.

Once it's done, hurry up and get your flat nose screwdriver to take the lens of the casing before the sealant harden's up again.

Once the lens if off, there's 2 screws you need to untight before you go further.

This is what it looks like when the lens is out of the casing and the housing out of the lens.

You can now do the same thing for the other headlight and then proceed to painting.

I used black Krylon bonds to plastic spray paint. I layed 3 coats for the housing. The orange reflectors on the side are just held by a small clip.

Once both are done, you put the housing back in the lens and then bolt back the two screws on the picture.

***********************************
We are now at the last 3 steps but most important steps of it all!!!

Put back the lens on the casing.

I recommend to take off the old sealant on the casing to help you put back the lens on. You will be able to reseal it after it exit the oven for the last time.

It's not an easy job to put it back on, i'm telling you, but be patient and make sure everything is in place and all the clips are are the right place.

This is what it looks like when you take it out the oven before resealing:

You can now seal everything back together with plastic sealant. You can never seal more than needed so make sure every single millimeter is sealed tight...
I recommend also to seal the 2 bolts on the side of the headlight.

If you do the job the right way, you shouldn't have any fogging or condensing problems like I did. If it happens, take the headlight out from the truck and have all the humidity and fog to disappear by shooting some air in the light holes and then put more sealant around the headlight.

Once everything is sealed and ready, you can put the headlight on the truck and enjoy the look of your new black housing headlight!!!

This is the final result!

Hope this helps!.... If you have any questions, feel free to ask!

 

[Oxygen]

looks great man!

 

[jupiterak]

Nice write up.

 

[JoeCool6972]

AWESOME. You made it sound easy too. And the afterwards looks great!

Wish I had done that to my stockers instead of buying black housed ones off eBay, if I had known it was that easy, I would have. I may just have to do that to my old stock ones and resell them as black.

 

[dothedeww]

just out of curiosity..I have that nasty gray p[alstic stuff that came on the 06 XLT's...think that Krylon paint would bond and not peel?

 

[buckflash]

just out of curiosity..I have that nasty gray p[alstic stuff that came on the 06 XLT's...think that Krylon paint would bond and not peel?

What is that nasty gray plastic stuff exactly? Got pics?

 

[dothedeww]

What is that nasty gray plastic stuff exactly? Got pics?

Its the trim...that goes around the wheel wells and doors...

This is when I shined it with tire shine...

 

[buckflash]

If well sanded and primered with self etching primer, it should be no problem... Do the same as my how to remove and paint the front grille it should be perfect!

 

[dothedeww]

If well sanded and primered with self etching primer, it should be no problem... Do the same as my how to remove and paint the front grille it should be perfect!

sweet.

Im not sure whether to take the plastic off and paint or tape off....its a pain in the a** to remove i think...

 

[Sams01XplrSprt]

looks great

 

[xander06]

sweet.

Im not sure whether to take the plastic off and paint or tape off....its a pain in the a** to remove i think...

if your going to paint your trim, and plan on leaving it on the rig, i would wet sand 1st(really well) and then use a "pre-adhesive" spray rather than a primer( helps the paint stay on better) and coat your trim with the desired color within 5 min. of applying the pre-adhesive, so its best to do it in sections. then do 2-4 coats of that color with 5-10 min between each layer wait another 10-15 min and start your clear coat process again, i would advise multiple layers(minimum of 3) if you plan on going with the "remove" approach, i recommend using a bake on paint and ask a body shop to bake it or even paint them...its your choice tho
Caleb

 

[King of So Cal]

This is the final result!

Still my favorite 4th Gen of all time <3

I need to get another grille guard for mine. Plus a new roof rack.

 

[banditxp]

wow that truck looks awesome!

i think i also want to do this just if i do i want to put theses in at the same time if i can figure out how to make sure i wont get a bulb out message.

http://www.theretrofitsource.com/product_info.php?products_id=237

 

[turbo1]

How do you aim the Hid's once you fit them into the explorer housings?

 

[diesel_s]

Hey man, I have to thank you for this write-up. It helped me alot!!!! I painted mine this past sunday and DAMN they came out nice. I even tinted my reflectors and they looked good as well. Great appreciation for this!
<p>

 

[willied]

Looks great, diesel! Now I want to do the same to mine.

 

[Lukas2009]

@Diesel:

Thank you for the pictures!
How did you seal the headlights when putting them together?

 

[turbo1]

Tint or paint the silver part black would be a +1.

 

[willied]

Tint or paint the silver part black would be a +1.

What silver part?

 

[diesel_s]

@Diesel:

Thank you for the pictures!
How did you seal the headlights when putting them together?

I actually heated the pieces back up in the oven at 220 for another 10 min and pressed them together after I added additional silicone to the junction points then used the tabs to hold it together tightly and put it in for 8 min then let everything cool down. Once it was cool i added another lining of silicone around the entire headlight and let that dry and set overnight. Installed it the next morning then waited for the 24 hour dry time needed for the silicone before I went to go and test he seal. I'm doing the foglights the same way this sunday