DIY: how to make your headlights black housing with 20 bucks...

henryy370z · 11-16-2012, 09:46 PM

I'm sooo scared anyone in jersey wanna help lol

dmhenderson · 11-17-2012, 04:14 PM

Trust me on this one. Pay a shop to to it. My headlight misadventure cost $900

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Dzel · 12-05-2012, 02:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dmhenderson

Trust me on this one. Pay a shop to to it. My headlight misadventure cost $900

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

If I do do it I'll do it this way.

henryy370z · 11-17-2012, 06:05 PM

How much you think they are?

Westbrook711 · 12-05-2012, 01:54 PM

Good thread, I might be trying this.

dmhenderson · 12-05-2012, 02:03 PM

I would still recommend against doing this yourself unless you are extremely "handy". It is extremely easy to mess your lights up beyond repair.

b1adesofcha0s · 12-05-2012, 02:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dmhenderson

I would still recommend against doing this yourself unless you are extremely "handy". It is extremely easy to mess your lights up beyond repair.

It shouldn't be if you do it the right way though, which I've found out we didn't. Temp was too high. Safer to go with lower temp and longer time in the oven. I think we were supposed to be around 200-210, but we were doing it at like 250. If we had it at the right temp, we wouldn't have had to put it in lens down.

dmhenderson · 12-05-2012, 02:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by b1adesofcha0s

It shouldn't be if you do it the right way though, which I've found out we didn't. Temp was too high. Safer to go with lower temp and longer time in the oven. I think we were supposed to be around 200-210, but we were doing it at like 250. If we had it at the right temp, we wouldn't have had to put it in lens down.

Even so - most of us are college-educated, fairly intelligent people and we had lots of problems.

b1adesofcha0s · 12-05-2012, 03:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dmhenderson

Even so - most of us are college-educated, fairly intelligent people and we had lots of problems.

Well the only real problem was the melting....which was caused by the high temp. The temp we set based on experimental evidence from the previous time we did it and it went smoothly. Seems logical to me. Still don't know why ours melted that day and not the first day.

dmhenderson · 12-05-2012, 02:58 PM

For reference in case you think it's just me being a klutz (which I am) - a bunch of us in the Mid Atlantic forum thought it'd be a good idea to do this ourselves for fun. Of the 5 sets of headlights we attempted to mod only 1 set came out unscathed.
List of problems we encountered:
-Scorched & melted headlight lenses. It's VERY easy to melt the housings when you're trying to soften the sealant. The damage is very ugly, very visible, and cannot be repaired.
-Broken HID "clips". For some reason, the little metal clip thingy that holds the HID bracket in place is very fragile.
-Busted up HID bulbs
-Constantly running out of daylight. The process is long, time-consuming and messy as hell.

dmhenderson · 12-05-2012, 03:05 PM

The thread in here said 250 as well iirc. I checked after we had the first mishap.

The first day was still really fun. Not sure it was worth $900 for the experience though haha.

b1adesofcha0s · 12-05-2012, 03:41 PM

Last time I talked to Khoi he said we should have been closer to 200.

dmhenderson · 12-05-2012, 03:46 PM

Well the point is, it's very easy to screw up.

eastwest2300 · 12-11-2012, 12:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dmhenderson

Well the point is, it's very easy to screw up.

Grindkiezer · 12-16-2012, 11:08 PM

Is there any issue with the bulb temperature and the paint?

11-17-2012, 04:14 PM	#2 (permalink)
dmhenderson A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: Maryland Posts: 5,930 Drives: AWD TT 370z Rep Power: 28	Trust me on this one. Pay a shop to to it. My headlight misadventure cost $900 Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk __________________

12-05-2012, 02:03 PM	#6 (permalink)
dmhenderson A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: Maryland Posts: 5,930 Drives: AWD TT 370z Rep Power: 28	I would still recommend against doing this yourself unless you are extremely "handy". It is extremely easy to mess your lights up beyond repair. __________________

12-05-2012, 02:58 PM	#10 (permalink)
dmhenderson A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: Maryland Posts: 5,930 Drives: AWD TT 370z Rep Power: 28	For reference in case you think it's just me being a klutz (which I am) - a bunch of us in the Mid Atlantic forum thought it'd be a good idea to do this ourselves for fun. Of the 5 sets of headlights we attempted to mod only 1 set came out unscathed. List of problems we encountered: -Scorched & melted headlight lenses. It's VERY easy to melt the housings when you're trying to soften the sealant. The damage is very ugly, very visible, and cannot be repaired. -Broken HID "clips". For some reason, the little metal clip thingy that holds the HID bracket in place is very fragile. -Busted up HID bulbs -Constantly running out of daylight. The process is long, time-consuming and messy as hell. __________________

12-05-2012, 03:05 PM	#11 (permalink)
dmhenderson A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: Maryland Posts: 5,930 Drives: AWD TT 370z Rep Power: 28	The thread in here said 250 as well iirc. I checked after we had the first mishap. The first day was still really fun. Not sure it was worth $900 for the experience though haha. __________________

12-05-2012, 03:41 PM	#12 (permalink)
b1adesofcha0s A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: MD Posts: 40,963 Drives: HypeTrain Choo Choo! Rep Power: 143	Last time I talked to Khoi he said we should have been closer to 200. __________________ Project: b1adeZmobile (2009 370Z) \| Uprev Tune by AAM Competition \| Berk Exhaust Project: b1adeZmobile 2.0 (2014 C7 Z51) \| Corsa Xtreme Exhaust

11-16-2012, 09:46 PM	#1 (permalink)
henryy370z Enthusiast Member Join Date: May 2012 Location: nj bergen county Age: 34 Posts: 380 Drives: 2011-black-manual Rep Power: 15	I'm sooo scared anyone in jersey wanna help lol

11-17-2012, 06:05 PM	#4 (permalink)
henryy370z Enthusiast Member Join Date: May 2012 Location: nj bergen county Age: 34 Posts: 380 Drives: 2011-black-manual Rep Power: 15	How much you think they are?

12-05-2012, 01:54 PM	#5 (permalink)
Westbrook711 Base Member Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: Houston Posts: 24 Drives: '10 370Z Touring MT Rep Power: 14	Good thread, I might be trying this.

12-05-2012, 03:46 PM	#13 (permalink)
dmhenderson A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: Maryland Posts: 5,930 Drives: AWD TT 370z Rep Power: 28	Well the point is, it's very easy to screw up. __________________

12-16-2012, 11:08 PM	#15 (permalink)
Grindkiezer Track Member Join Date: Sep 2012 Location: San Diego Posts: 824 Drives: A Car Rep Power: 15	Is there any issue with the bulb temperature and the paint? __________________ Z

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