Front foglight refurb

[AliBongo]

Morning all, I have an '03 Elegance with front foglights .  While the front of the car appears quite tidy the reflectors in the foglights have gone all scabby and yellow.  I realise they're not massively useful but would like to retain them so I want to try and tidy them up a bit

 

My idea was to split the lamp and just reline the reflector using foil (purely for appearance rather than lighting performance).  I took one off yesterday and put it in the oven at 100 degrees for around 10-15 mins, then tried to prise the lens off first with a screwdriver then with a wider woodworking chisel - but no joy.  I was wary of turning up the heat or leaving it in too long as knowing my luck it would have resulted in a sticky snotty mess in the bottom of the oven and the wife would have killed me!

 

Has anyone managed to split one of these before, and if so how ?  I know I can pick up a set on ebay for around £60 but I'm struggling to justify it when a) they work and b) its just the reflector thats tatty

 

Picture of offending item for info, thanks in advance for any help

[sepulchrave]

They're a sealed unit to prevent water ingress, even if you could split them you'd never keep the water out which would mean constantly blown bulbs.

 

Putting form above function is always a bad idea.

 

Forget about it since they work and stop using them as DRL's, the constant heat from overuse has mullered the reflective coating.

[AliBongo]

Thanks for the reply Sepulchrave

 

In the past I have successfully split  the headlights on my B5.5 Passat using this method to rebuild them with new bi-xenon units rather than the standard halogen.  Resealing is fairly straightforward using a silicon gun so I have no concerns about that

 

Functionally front foglights are, in my opinion, not worth a carrot.  In foggy conditions I don't find them a massive help so I'm not particularly bothered about their performance

 

I have never used them as DRL's - in fact the incorrect use of foglights is something which really boils my pi55.  I believe the reflectors have tarnished due to condensation within the unit

 

I have no real use for them other than they are there - and whilst they are there I would at least want them to look a little more presentable than they are  

[Lofty]

The Fabia Mk1 (non vRS) foglights generally go tatty as the coating on the reflector bowl deteriorate readily.

 

The way i look at it is this. A new pair of non genuine ones will cost you, as you say £60. The time it will take to seperate the old units and do whatever it is you propose to do with foil, then re-seal them will easily be more than £60's worth, so buy a replacement set.

 

To do a proper job you'll need to have the reflector bowls re-metalised, which as i know full well will cost you approx £120 for a specialist to do them.

 

If you are hell bent on splitting them, easiest way is with a hot air gun, as you can localise the heat better than in the oven