^^^

People are shocked when I saw I did my engine oil and tranny drain and refill in 20 minutes...LOL....

the only virgin territory for me is rear bumper/interior dash/rear seats....

 

Awesome progress.

I noticed my headlights have condensation like yours (weird film, not really water droplets, starting from bottom of headlight lens to half way up the headlight) after rain or a car wash, then a couple hours later it would clear up to normal.

I suppose it's because I didn't press my headlights together fully, like you lol

 

^^^ honestly seal them before you will be looking for a new ballast....

Thats why I like J (no homo)....he fixes problems the minute they arise and doesnt let them get worse (at least from what I read he does).....

I had some condensation in my headlights and my procrastinating ass was like "ahhh later"....and pretty soon my ballast waived me

Moisture inside the headlight is not a good thing.....

 

Thanks

I noticed it like a few weeks ago.

I was thinking, since I replaced the OEM seal with Nissan Butyl, can't I just heat up the headlights to soften the seal, and then press the headlight lens in further?

 

Thanks fellas, and yes, I do...I am anal to a certain degree so I carry around a planner and as soon as I have something that needs to be done it goes into the planner for whatever day I have nothing yet. So, let's say I see major condensation...BAM...goes in for Sunday (Saturday got UM game).

Well, I could tell from the amount of moisture that got into that light that waiting wasn't an option...I helped a friend's wife with a burned out ballast and same problem...she let the water sit so I KNOW the headlight actually funnels the water directly to the ballast connection. So Monday, after work. Did work, son. Started at 515 and finished at 7pm. That included doing my oil and a few other odds and ends. An hour to pull out, swap internals run the blow dryer thru them (to get out the moisture that's gets in from sitting open, in the attic) for 10 minutes each...then bolting back up is lightning speed for me! I actually swapped my tails out in 45 mintues for both.

Anyway, GP...yes, you can take them off, bake them and press the outermost lense in first...till you can easily put the plastic tabs where they should be...then work your way toward the center. That's the plan, at least. Then, maybe a bead of permatex silicone or something around the top lip for good measure. You'll know it's right when you put back on the car...at the furthest end (where the cf was) the edge of the light was sitting about 1/4" away from the fender. If it was sealed tight, that would have been flush.

But take swoosh's advice...do NOT wait, or at the very least DO NOT turn on your HID's until you've fixed it. Sounds like you have minor humidity though...that can happen from just washing the car...although it'll get worse cause when the sun heats up the butyl...the outer part of the lense will pull more open. You can put a bandaid on it by just leaving it facing the sun and open the DRL bulb socket...or run the blowdryer through.

 

Looks great Jeremy! I would love to see your car in person sometime.

 

Thanks man, but NO WAY! My car is only nice in pictures...you know that! The whole illusion would be ruined when you saw it for yourself!

 

I feel the same way about my car

 

I hope I get it out of my system with my car. I'd hate to feel that way about my kids!

 

"NO WE CAN'T GO TO DISNEY! I CAN'T BE SEEN IN PUBLIC WITH YOU!"

 

Indeed...that's what I'm thinking!
Just kidding...but on a serious note, went to StanceNation event 3 weeks ago...I parked my car in the corner, under a tree. Didn't even think it was worthy!

 

Thanks!

It's strange because I did the "extra precaution step" of beading butyl all around the seal. Weird how it's both headlights too and they both get the same clear film in the exact locations lol (from the bottom, halfway up the headlights).

What's also strange is the first time it happened was a few weeks ago, and a week after that I washed my car and got it again, and from that time I havn't seen the condensation. I even washed my car yesterday and no condensation. So I was all like "YAY IT WAS ONLY TEMPORARY!".

Today rained, headlights got the same condensation film fml

 

so lets see the bumper issues

 

It's a tricky tricky thing to fix.
If your ends are popping out though, I think we have the same problem.

Problem 1 to solve is stop water from getting in.
Problem 2 is to get humidity out of them.

I've learned that they are actually reactive the their environment. I went to Switzerland for 2 weeks, I come back...and I have condensation...only difference was the lights didn't go through their normal cycle of being out in the sunshine like they normally do. But it went away on it's own. The water I'm talking about that caused me to swap lights this time was a lot though...like huge rain drops of condensation on the inside.

 

I'll take some pictures of it soon...normally I try and HIDE them!

Rear...stepdad (1st owner) backed into something. More recently though I backed into the one of the support steel beams at the courthouse in fort lauderdale...hard too.

Front, some guy at the Lowes parked his F250's hitch receiver ON my bumper and left a square mark on it. I remember seeing him but got distracted and just thought he was close. OF course I saw the damage 2 days later. Anyway, I used a heat lamp to soften the plastic and hammered it pretty flat. I'm really lucky that black hides defects pretty well.

My whole front end is chip city...probably from 2.5 years of a highway drive to work and home every day.

 

My ends have always been "out" ever since I did the mod.
Actually, my whole headlights sit out from my bumper/fender.

My headlights stick out like .7cm from the body lines.
Not just the ends.

From my blackout headlight thread:

 

Front lip need a respray too? Mine as well add the repair pictures to this thread, everything else is in it

 

wow im drooling well done sir!!!!!

 

GP, yes sir...that is probably the case...you probably did an OK job of pushing them back together though...which would explain the mild condensation only. When you have a chance, take em off and throw back in the oven and press FULLY together.

tyreek, thanks a lot, buddy...much appreciate the comments.

Brian, sure thing...I'll include. My front lip isn't too bad, it's cracked in the middle from a little jack no rim on right side incident and of course the bottom is scraped up. But I think that's probably normal.

 

this page='s lulz

ps, i don't know much spanish. so idk what you said other thank thank you lol

 

Ya tu sabes! = You know it!
Gracias! = Thanks!

we like LOLZ.

 

post them up and we will go from there, give ya a price,
and if you want to help thats fine, same price either way

 

Will do, man...I'll wait for the sun to be out and clear to take good pictures.

 

Got another repair/mod in the hopper, but 1 thing at a time.


So, I have an '04 and among other things that have begun to look crumby, I noticed that my side sill garnishes were starting to look beat up! It looks like I dice tomatos on it or have a small army of tap dancing mice that live in my car at night. I don't get it because my keys are not in my pocket and my phone can't hit it, but it looks like shit.

So, my options:

1) buy new ones that will look like this again to the tune of a kidney transplant. Even on oemacuraparts.com, they are $176 each plus shipping. Sorry, I know it's cool metal wrapped plastic but even if it was Kimmy K's ass skin mounted on plutonium from the last space shuttle launch, I ain't paying that much money for something that doesn't keep my car from driving me from A to B.

2) wrap with material or suede, could have been cool...but it ain't the 70's....I'm not that good at wrapping, and I'm afraid I'd end up with serious wear marks on them again.

3) spray with plastidip. in theory, sounds good, and I've seen pics and it looks good. 2 problems i have with it are that it looks like I just spray painted my interior, which I don't like and since the parts are silver to begin with, I don't like the idea of losing the contrast of the silver.

4) wrap with dinoc or some other vinyl. thought about black CF, but since I don't have any of it on anything but my type S diffusers, so I'd have to do it to other surfaces to make it blend and I truly don't love the look THAT much. Real carbon fiber, sure...but being able to see a sticker that looks like it, not as much. No offense to all the veteran vinyl dudes...what YOU'VE done looks great because you have a theme going.

5) So I opted for a vinyl that looks like brushed aluminum. Figured that'd go closely enough to the rest of the silver trim that wraps the interior. So I ordered from Ebay...$25 shipped for 6 feet by 4 feet of it. ( I know I said FREE...so read on, the plot thickens). So, I'm a total virgin with vinyl, I understand the concept but when wrapping a concave piece of plastic, holy fk...it sucks. It's VERY hard to get it to curve and pull to the right or left to make it in one shot. I finally did get it...but it looks a lot more like scratched chrome than brushed aluminum. So, after an hour and half and my 6th attempt, I finally cut a strip long enough to cover the piece in one shot. Got it done and thought it looked decent...then put it in the car to see the comparison...wow, looked like a stripper at a retirement home dinner. It was SUPER chrome looking in comparison to the rest of the interior. So I scrapped it.

Now, here's where the brainstorming (and drinking) begin. I was so annoyed. The only thing worse than a mod gone wrong is a mod gone wrong and money wasted. So I started playing battlefield III to get some of my frustration out. Had 2 vodka crystal lights (calorie counting?!?, YEP) and it came to me....this is a metal piece...what would happen if I...

You guessed it...started sanding that motherfcker...so I did...did it quickly at first just to see what it would do. Sure enough, 50 grit got the crappy design that was peeling off OFF permanently and exposed the metal beneath...then a shot of 150...finished with a scotch pad and voila...not brushed aluminum vinyl....REAL BRUSHED VINYL!

Wow...for free...and looks great...one of my better moments. Hope you all enjoy, figured I'd put the option out there.


-rockstar

So here is what it looked like...yuck.


and here is the vinyl wrap I originally got, but decided not to use. No pics of the one time I got it install because I hated it.

Quick attempt to sand last night in a bout of buzz and desperation



Today, got out my Ryobi Corner cat with a 150 grit and took off the majority of the dark pattern...then finished with the 50 grit, then 150 by hand, scotchpad, then 1000 wet/dry and 2000 we dry. Washed it all down and put some meg wax on it, just to give it a little gloss/protection.

Here's a side by side with the old one



Threw em in the car to see the difference



This evening I finished up...my plan is to wait and see if it holds up, and if it does, I'll do the rest of the silver strips around the dash and door panels. I'd rather wait and see though before I go sanding down all the ones that still look ok.




Hope this helps someone out!

-J

 

i like it !!!

the brushed aluminum look flows well...

 

Thanks swoosh, and best part, it was FREE!

 

Now THAT is brushed aluminum LOL

Looks great buddy!

 

Thank you, my friend.
PS...swoosh, I got something with a little black and blue on the horizon. I think you'll dig it. and NO, it isn't the brakes...I put that project on hold.

 

damn....its always so tough to guess what you working on since u pretty do anything and everything....

any hints ?

 

lol...I think that's a compliment.

sure...hint: they go in the oven and are delicious.

 

I like the brushed look as well. Have you thought about doing all of the other trim so that they match?

 

I have, and will, probably do it. Just want to make sure it holds up without issue.

 

yes it was a compliment....

you are redoing your headlights cant wait...i am thinking of redoing mine as well....once I get back from the Philippines....got some crazy ideas LOL....

btw never ever use Stoners Tarminator (to remove bug and tree sap) on the headlight lens....it turns it into some white stuff....thats why i need to switch my headlight lens....

 

wow...great to know, thanks man. yes, you're right. nothing too crazy, but after not closing them properly last time, figured it'd be a good time to try something I'd been thinking about.

I think I'm going to get a new roll of butyl, and probably try this crystal view product to protect the lense from UV rays.

can't you sand down and bring the shine back? it couldn't have eaten through the whole light thickness (lens)?

 

Cool. I really like the work you have put into your car.

 

Thank you Ravin, I appreciate it.

 

Excellent stuff Jeremy

 

Thank you Tyler! You having this issue too?
PS...loved your recent shots with the other WDP's!

 

Mine are fine Plenty of other shit on my car is wrong though

And thanks dude! I'll be posting a few in my progress thread within the next day or so. I've been too busy enjoying the added power from the j-pipe and race pipe

 

Oh yeah, man...jpipe is the best! Well, I have the RV6 one so I don't think I need the race.

I've been on the fence about the PCD's but can't stand rasp.

Actually, in the mail right now, I've got the thermal IM gasket and the TB spacer and gaskets too. XLR8 has a package deal on it right now.