Black inner headlights

[Dallen75]

Hi there, I've been looking at these for a while now and have been wondering if anyone has attempted to open the headlight up and remove or leave In situ and spray the inner black ? Obviously it would take a few hours to do it with cleaning and re sealing required, so may well be worth a go. I have seen a thread on another site mk5golfgti showing it can be done. It requires baking unit in hot oven for 90-120 sec to help loosen glue, which I am a bit suspect about. New lamps are £160 on fleabay. Good silicone and a can of quality spray £20 ? Another thought is how reflective will the inner then be ? Does anyone have aftermarket black inner headlights fitted ? Do they reduce beam ? Uprated bulbs will be fitted afterwards.

[VrsStebuzz]

It won't affect the visibility as you will be spraying the plastic casing, what your talking about is also spraying the reflector housings. DO NOT do this. Unfortunately you won't get the lights fully blacked out but the casing will darken the unit enough. Very common mod on a lot of cars, I'm planning on doing it with mine.

[Dallen75]

Yeah I haven't really inspected properly yet to see what can be sprayed but will do this weekend hopefully. Maybe worth posting a step by step how to guide with some pics for future reference. Let me know how you get on !

[dohboy78]

Will be interested to see how you get on with this... Did it with my MK4 mondeo... Was a total pig of a job! Octavia lights look a lot easier.

[JaVa^]

Will be interested to see how you get on with this... Did it with my MK4 mondeo... Was a total pig of a job! Octavia lights look a lot easier.

 

The glue is really strong on the Octavia lights. When i did the joey mod to my previous VW Bora it was much easier than when i did it to Octavia headlights.

[VrsStebuzz]

Had a closer look at the lights before and I'm not sure if it would look right on pre-fl the way the sidelight is it would reduce the light output. Never seen a design like it to be honest, without doing the sides it would look daft though.

[Dallen75]

Hi JaVa did you bake them in the oven ? Or use another method ? VrsStebuzz if you look up black inner depo brand they are not blacked out where side light/ indicator is. There are other brands I.e with DRLs built in but these aren't to my taste. I currently have fli eye on my headlights just to see if it suited the dark / black headlamps so I'm confident that the black inners will suit my car. Night time driving at the moment is a nightmare with fli eye foil on. Can't see much even with full beam on ! The sooner I sort this out the better !

[JaVa^]

Hi JaVa did you bake them in the oven ? Or use another method ? VrsStebuzz if you look up black inner depo brand they are not blacked out where side light/ indicator is. There are other brands I.e with DRLs built in but these aren't to my taste. I currently have fli eye on my headlights just to see if it suited the dark / black headlamps so I'm confident that the black inners will suit my car. Night time driving at the moment is a nightmare with fli eye foil on. Can't see much even with full beam on ! The sooner I sort this out the better !

 

Used the oven. It's very hard to get the "glass" off from the headlight without damaging the plastic when you pry it off. Basically you can't do it without leaving marks on it. I struggled an hour with the first glass.

 

Here's a pic when i painted them:

 

[VrsStebuzz]

Ahh that pic helps a lot, I assume the clear plastic indicator cover comes apart?

Any pics 're-fitted on the car?

[dohboy78]

Ahh that pic helps a lot, I assume the clear plastic indicator cover comes apart?

Any pics 're-fitted on the car?

Hmmm... Looks interesting! Would like to see them on a car.

[JaVa^]

Ahh that pic helps a lot, I assume the clear plastic indicator cover comes apart?

Any pics 're-fitted on the car?

 

The indicator cover doesn't come apart.

 

Here's a crappy pic of them fitted in the car:

 

[Brimma]

There's a picture on the first page of my project thread

[Rossvrs]

how long did you put them in the oven for ? and did painting the reflector housing affect the lighting ? 

[Dallen75]

I ran a Stanley knife around the edge a few times first then removed bulbs and baked them for 2 mins at 100 degrees. Still a pig to seperate but managed. Didn't wanna bake much longer in case I damaged units. You have to clean as much glue off both light unit and cover to aid better resealing. I also just masked the indicator lense/ glass off with tape then sprayed inners black. Then care fully re assembled dry to get the feel for how it goes back together. A small bead of silicone on outer edge of the cover, pushed in, then a smear of silicone all the way around. Leave to dry overnight near a radiator then re fit and enjoy !

[Rossvrs]

thanks alot , tkink i'll give it a go !

[Dallen75]

Yeah it's a bit tedious but worth it, I had to do mine late at night when kids were in bed and mrs out on the drink ! Before removing masking off indicator lense run a blade around it. I didn't and it pulled a little paint off under the clear lense, not visable from 2ft but right up close you can see it's not 100% perfect.

[Rossvrs]

job done! well worth it.

[Rossvrs]

vrs rear caliper sticker as a finishing touch  

[Rossvrs]

[dohboy78]

Looking good. Any tips??

What paint did you use etc etc?

[Rossvrs]

dont do what i did and put the first one in the fan oven with the lens at the back  , one new headlight needed lol , after the first woopsie i just heated the oven too about 150c and swithed it off then put the light in for around 3 minutes . i just used plasti-kote super primer and super matt , (already had it from painting the grill)  seems ok so far but will just need to wait and see , sealed them back up with black sikaflex. cheap job (apart from a £30 light  ) 

Edited 7 April, 2014 by Rossvrs

[dohboy78]

dont do what i did and put the first one in the fan oven with the lens at the back , one new headlight needed lol , after the first woopsie i just heated the oven too about 150c and swithed it off then put the light in for around 3 minutes . i just used plasti-kote super primer and super matt , (already had it from painting the grill) seems ok so far but will just need to wait and see , sealed them back up with black sikaflex. cheap job (apart from a £30 light )

Brilliant. Have to say I wasn't impressed with Plastidip when I used it... Peeled within 24hrs. Will give then to my bro to spray panther black... He's a spray tech.

*Just seen you used plastikote... That is better.*

[Structures]

 

Damn that looks good...I was concerned that doing my grille black would look a bit 'Barry' but that looks really tasty! Nice work!

[Rewriter2]

Does anyone know if this can be done with a hair dryer/heat gun to heat the edges? Or does it have to be an oven??

[JaVa^]

Does anyone know if this can be done with a hair dryer/heat gun to heat the edges? Or does it have to be an oven??

 

Hair dryer no but with heat gun yes. Only problem is that the quality of disassembly of the headlights is not as good when using the heat gun as with oven... You can't open them without leaving some marks on the edge of the lights but you can't see those marks when the lights are installed on the car.