How-To paint your headlights housing.

[diesel_s]

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

I considered doing that but it would have been a pain to remove them to paint and then put them back in. Would have required re-aiming the lights. I wasn't up for that and I was getting tired lol. I literally had just finished wet sanding my grille pieces right before I got to the lights

 

[diesel_s]

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

The HID's dont need aiming. They point in the direction that your stock lights were pointing. If the need aiming then that means your stock lights were pretty off. When installing HID's especially the REAL Bi-Xenon HID's, always make sure that the stem on the bulb (brown stem on 5K bulbs, White stem on 6k's, blue on 8k's and so on), make sure that the stem is facing down. The housing will do the rest.

If they need to be aimed, theres a silver screw of sorts pointing straight up for the light, adjust that to aim it. U need to be 25ft from a wall at night with clear vision to properly aim the lights

 

[diesel_s]

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

you have to order 4 resistors and crimp them onto the high beam and low beam wires or you have to get the direct plug in bixenon kit that eliminates the bixenon relay and kills the error codes in the truck. We sell that kit for $80

 

[turbo1]

What silver part?

SO this is the finished product:

 

[diesel_s]

SO this is the finished product:

thats a film over the light. ours were actually painted and gave it that smoked effect

 

[turbo1]

No this headlight is painted.

 

[King of So Cal]

thats a film over the light. ours were actually painted and gave it that smoked effect

Its paint dude... I did what you did then painted the outside. Night and day difference. Heres some better pics.

 

[turbo1]

I'm going to tint the inside with tint spray exactly the same place you painted the outside.

 

[King of So Cal]

I'm going to tint the inside with tint spray exactly the same place you painted the outside.

You know I was thinking about doing the same but at the time I though that it wasn't going to look quite as punchy. At least you don't have to worry about the paint getting scratched.

 

[diesel_s]

Its paint dude... I did what you did then painted the outside. Night and day difference. Heres some better pics.

Just now getting a chance to look back at this. I was going to say that if it wasn't a tint over the headlights then the actually lens had to have been painted to get that look. I've seen aftermarket covers and tiny films made to give that look before so I apologize for jumping to conclusions on it being a film

 

[turbo1]

I did a test headlight a few months back and it comes out perfect!

You know I was thinking about doing the same but at the time I though that it wasn't going to look quite as punchy. At least you don't have to worry about the paint getting scratched.

 

[King of So Cal]

I did a test headlight a few months back and it comes out perfect!

Well great! Can't wait to see it!

 

[gmarin83]

Hey.

What kind of sealant did you use???

 

[GranpaStrange]

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
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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.

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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.

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Once the lens if off, there's 2 screws you need to untight before you go further.
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This is what it looks like when the lens is out of the casing and the housing out of the lens.
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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.
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Once both are done, you put the housing back in the lens and then bolt back the two screws on the picture.
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***********************************
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:
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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.

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

Is the sealant permaseal or rubber butyl? I'm getting the pieces together to do a headlight and tail light conversion.