PPLAPW

Finally got around to blacking/clearing out my headlights. At first I didn't want to touch them since I didn't want to deal with sealing them back up. But it actually turned out pretty easy.


First you need to decide what color your going to paint the chrome, or if your just going to remove the amber to leave them clear. I decided to remove the amber and paint the chrome a glossy black. I purchased it from a Autozone. Make sure that you get heat resistant paint, I used engine paint.


As most of you know, you need to remove the front bumper in order to take out the headlights you can find those instructions in this thread.




Once you have removed the headlights you need to bake them!





I stuck the ENTIRE headlight housing as well as all the HID componets. Make sure you don't pre-heat, 20 minutes at 200 degrees. Once they are out you might need gloves to remove it. Begin in the inner corner and pull till it opens. It should come off fairly easy.


Now depending if you are going to remove the amber you need to break the plastic holding it in place......





Doing this will loosen the chrome line. So what I did was I used epoxy to hold in place. Now I have my housing that needs to be painted....




I painted about 5 to 7 coats and let it dry 15 minutes between each coat.





After I let them cure for about 2 hours I began to put back together the lights.


Now to seal them back up. I purchased some black heat resistant silicone from Autozone. With a caulking gun I put a little silicone in the wedge in the housing where the lens sits. Then I put the lense on and positioned it to be flush and for all the clips to clipped. Since I'm very picky, I took my time to make sure everything was nice and even. Once I finished this I baked the headlights till the oven was pre-heated to 200 degrees. Once I took it out again, I positioned the lens to be even. Once I did that, With my finger I applied the silicone all around the edge of where the lens and housing meets. So far I have not had any moisture get in, and I hope it doesn't.

When you have complete one headlight do the other.

Before I began this project I was not so sure on what color to paint it. I thought about leaving it chrome like this



I'm glad that I didn't leave it chrome because it turned out like this....



This project was pretty simple. I find that removing the bumper is really easy, especially with the instructions. I still need to change my foglights and turn signals. Any suggestions? I was looking at these blue Nokiya bulbs..... I will have a another thread of some pictures of my car and of the lights. When done well you know but the car back together and enjoy!

Tell me what you all think.........




More pictures to come.......

baysic tl

looks clean thats what i want to do but am affraid i won't get it right and end up haveing to buy new headlights...but good job on the d.i.y.

04teinTL

great job.... black on black looks really good, I might have to try to give this a shot too...

bluenoise

Good, informative photos. Thanks for the good read.

It looks sharp. I'm on the fence about clearing my headlights, but I like your results.

nYmALu86

Blacked-out headlights on a black car Looks good bro, thanks for the informative pics and and info it will really halpe me out in the future. now...more pix plzzzz


edit by mod Ron A: Quote removed because that's a lot of pictures and they are just a little ways up towards the top of this page.

ewbuster

How does cleared headlights look on the silver TL's?

NFLblitze1

i think it looks good


on the other hand its about preference....sometimes a silver TL can look great with blacked out headlights and tints...and black rims and smoked tails...it depends how u set up ur car

yohan81718

ah~~ these kind of thread makes me wanna put more things on my list..
but yea... it's very nice thread yo

PPLAPW

Thanks for all the comments. Also thanks to teh Jatt since thats the first car I saw with smoked lights, then it was Lokius......

I will for sure post more and better pics. I'm glad on how it came out. Also taking my bumper off was good because before it was slightly off, but now its perfect....

TL-CrAzIe-05

Looks great!!! What type of paint did you use to color the inside with??? Was it painted on w/ a brush or a spray can. Thanks.

PPLAPW

Spray paint and heres a pic.........

baysic tl

let us know if you end up having any problems with your lights... i think thats holding me back cause i know guys with rsx that did it and they got condisation and the front of the headlight would get a wierd film like on it you could see little spots on them

nYmALu86

PPLAPW, do you have any pics of the bumper back on? I'd like to see how the finished product looks on the car. Thanks.

PPLAPW

Give me a minute and I'll take a pic right now......

subinf

that looks awesome...im glad you had so many pics in the write up...i might consider it now.

if you do get condensation, like my friend did when he baked his headlights, just do it again in the oven and reseal them...hopefully second times a charm

PPLAPW

It dark so I couldn't really get a good pic. But here this for now......



It looks bad there but hey.....

PPLAPW

I promise some pics up by tomorow night.

aznbo187

iTrader: (1)

Nice! I love it.

When you placed them in the oven for 20 minutes, were you able to get the front cover off the headlight with one heating session per light, or did you have to put it back and re-heat it several times?

nYmALu86

Thanks for the pics PPLAPW. I thought you were just being sarcastic about takin pics at that time. lol But those last two pics convinced me that I really want to do this. Now if I can get the courage to take my bumper off and cook the headlights. lol

PPLAPW

No I didn't have to reheat. You really need to pull, but they come off.

tallfuq

wow man good job that looks serious!!

TL-CrAzIe-05

PLAPW- Thanks for the write up and pictures. Once I saw this I said to myself I have to do this. I had the stock lights with the smoked Rockblocker film and liked it at first but at night when I would turn on my headlamps the output of the lights was drastically reduced. I wasted the $49.95 and rip the stuff off and then pulled the car apart and blackened out the headlamps. I will post some pics tomorrow when I take them during the day.

Unlike your headlamps the only thing that is different is that the ring around the projectors are completely black. I did not remove that part of the light and leave it silver. I have a WDP so I like it a lot better that way. I kind of stripped some of the silver off of the silver strip on the sides since I got some over spray on them but good thing I had some silver touch up paint handy to fix it. Unless your right up on it being very picky to see it it isn't that noticibale.

PPLAPW

Wanna see more pics? As promised.......

https://acurazine.com/forums/showthr...06#post1374206

SGT SLAUGHTER

I'm sorry, but did you have the headlight in the oven while it was preheating to 200, or did you wait until the oven was at 200 to throw them in?

A SiQ TL

I think he means don't pre-heat. Put the light in, turn to 200, set timer for 20 mins. I think it looks great PPLAPW,good job. Wish I had the sack to try this on my 06, but I just can't bring myself to try. If I knew of a northern Cali shop that had done it before I would definately have it done.

aznbo187

iTrader: (1)

Will doing this affect it if it is a lease?

TL-CrAzIe-05

aznbo187- I wouldn't say it would affect the lease if you plan on purchasing new headlamps before you turn the car back in. I know that the dealer would make you pay for the change and would not take the loss on that since it would depreciate the car to an extent.

XjoEnX

iTrader: (2)

ill be attempting this project soon. what do you guys think: smoke the housing for the projector and fog lights but leave the amber alone? i kinda like the amber on my nbp

PPLAPW

That would look good but I think no amber would look better. Although I considered that combo as well. Or just leave a small piece of amber by cutting it.

invincible569

Great write up!!

Ka0tik

pics with the lights on plz, especially could you try to get a pic of the turn signals on

ililillilillilil

do u lose light from the turn signals w/o the diffusers?

PPLAPW

Ka0tik- I'm planing on posting pics when I either put LEDs or just a different bulb.

ilililililililililil- Do you mean the yellow reflector? If yes then you do. All you can see is a white bulb that I need to change so it can be noticed.

zax123

PPLAPW,

Let me know what you chose to replace your turn signals with. I'm still undecided after clearing and blacking out my headlights. I bought some cheap silver/amber bulbs but they aren't bright at all. I have LEDs too, but need resistors and haven't tried them yet. Let us know what you chose for bulbs. Thanks!

TCBaby

Great job!!!! I really want to do that but I am too afraid of messing something up. Outstanding write up though.

ted shen

wow u r good man !! i was thinking to clear head light and change it to all blue but than i m afraid to mess up ... so yea thank u for the direction..... cus all the ppl i ask outside they do not ganrantee to do it ... thanks

ndnboy

Looks great man,Did it change your light output in any way, I'm not sure if I trust myself to do even the smallest thing to my car w/o messing something else up...past experiences, i wish i could find them as replacemnt part, so far no luck... yor lights really look nice though man

ndnboy

I think it will look nice either way, the smoked housing does a lot for front, is that a pinted grille on the pic of the blk TL?

PPLAPW

No this did not change my light output for the HID, if you noticed in the pics I left chrome around the fog lights, I left that like that to maintain the reflectiveness. However the turn signal bulb is weak. Since there is no amber its just a dull white. I soon will be changing this to LED or just a better bulb.

TLyoung'un

danng looks pretty stealthy! Props.