Issues with DRL's and painted headlights
 

This is not meant to be a deterrent for anyone to do this, I would do it again in a heartbeat. If you are one of the poor souls like all us Canadians that have DRL's I have discovered a rather nasty issue with painted headlights. It appears that the heat from the ballast (which sits right under this area) will cause damage to the light under the turn signal. The heat must get trapped between the ballast and the paint. This most likely happens on really hot days in the summer combined with the fact our hid's are on all the time.

I originally thought it was just paint bubble, not a big deal. But it appears that the heat is high enough to cause the plastic to bubble. The housing on the left has been sanded significantly more then the one on the right to show the damage. The one on the left will still require more sanding as what you are seeing is pitting.

I am going to try a heat resistant material on the underside of the shroud this time after I finish the repair. I would suggest trying the same thing if you are doing this mod to avoid this issue if you have DRL. Unless someone can finally figure out how to disable the DRL's.

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1...pswtgbfv2y.jpg

Is it a legal requirement to have one's HIDs on at the brightest of summer days?
Sounds a bit exaggerated to do. I pity you mate. Hope you find a working solution for ur heat problem :tup:

Did you replace the turn signal lens with projector lens? See here:
http://www.the370z.com/exterior-inte...eadlights.html

Yes I replaced the turn signals with lenses. There is another local guy who did his lights without the lenses and his paint is bubbling too. He has not opened them up to see if it's bubbling plastic though.

Yes, they are on all the time and it's ridiculous.

u can have them turned off thru consult3 i had it done and i have contol over my headlights now which is awesome
however i am in the process of doin my lights and i alredy have cut my turnsignals to mount the clear lens when i read about that heat issue
has anyone a fix for that yet?
this also is the second time i am doing my headlights and first time i just had paint and no turnsignal mod and never had an issue
so i dont think the bubbling is caused by the ballast or bulbs but from the turnsignal clear lens like lot of members experienced!

I don't have DRLs, but with the projector lens the sun hits the lens and melts the housing. It happened to both sets with the projector lens. Some OEM headlights have this issue as well (e.g., Prius).

This happens to all who do the lens swap for the turn signal. I have found that it is not heat from the halos or hid bulb, it's actually from the sunlight. Just like a kid with a magnifying glass burning ants, the sun reflects the light through the lens on to the plastic causing it to burn holes. For yours to have burned it that bad it must have been left outside a long time. Only fixes I have found are to use a 60mm halo with a diffuser cover and mount the lens further back so the sun doesn't hit it as much.


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Issues with DRL's and painted headlights
 

what about the 70mm halo and diffuser I know u said u need to cut more but would it work?
cuz I already have my order from TRS :(
also how big was the diffuser u used I didn't seem to find anything smaller then 70mm at tmart

Damn, Karma caught up with me and my headlights lol. Thanks for the info, if this is the case i know exactly when it happened. Worst car show I ever attended too.

Damn.. Same thing is happening to mine and like Jmac88 I assumed it was the ballast. Good to know the real cause anyways, I'll make sure I'm not parking in the sun then, or I'll make a little cover for it lol. I really don't feel like opening them up, I sent them out for work in the first place cause i was too worried to do it.

Vrfreak -
Do you know the process they used to disable your DRL (assuming it was at the dealer)? I'm having this done as well soon and rather than experimenting it would be nice to know the steps.

Yeah you can still use the 70, just mount the lens as far back as possible so it doesnt popout too much. Mine scarred a little bit but not too bad. A headlight cover of some sort is a good idea for those hot days left in the sun.

Hey if I bake my headlight is it ok if I use a gas oven?


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yes thats what i use. 250 degrees for 10min.

Alright thanks I'll post a pic after I get them finished.


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Issues with DRL's and painted headlights
 

ya it was done at the dealer but they usually don't do that cuz well u know why lol
u gotta find one that does it and it takes about 1 minute and it's in the drl settings can't tell u how to get there but it's probably self explanatory
and only cost me a bottle whiskey ;)

oh and @VDC I got one more question for u u mentioned to not forget to put auto goop or glue Inside the diffuser so does that mean it won't harm the halo if they get in touch with it
sorry but as of right now I dont have my diffusers yet so how i fasten them to me is a little like a guessing game right now :/

what I do is after I drill the hole in the shroud and feed the wire through. I then fille the shroud with silicone sealant. Then I push the halo in place and lightly clean the edges. Dont push the halo all the way to the bottom, you want a slight gap so the glue is still exposed. Then you snap the shaved diffuser over the halo until it touches the glue and the inside of the shroud. The glue under the halo will keep the diffuser from falling off. Clean up and continue your wiring. If you really want to be sure its glued put a small dab on your finger and run it along the inside edges of the diffuser. Its clear so you cant see it.

Issues with DRL's and painted headlights
 

mhm ok I see what ur saying well I'm gonna b In trouble there I guess cuz I did my lights in like steps kind off and I have my halo already mounted in the big shroud a long time ago so that goop in there is hard! probably have to figure out another way then if I only had my shipment then it would b easier to picture everything!
guess I should have waited for everything to arrive first

Someone suggested a uv clear tint. Might try it out this summer.

Ed, if you find a dealer let me know. I still want my drl's off so my Halos actually have a purpose

Agreed James. And I have someone here in Edmonton that will do it he has said we will try mine soon as it's on the road and I'm sure he would do more.

I plan to use the acrylic covers (blacked out) at shows from now on, it'll match the rest of the car anyways lol

Updates:
http://www.the370z.com/members/edcon...gnal-fix-2.jpg
http://www.the370z.com/members/edcon...gnal-fix-1.jpg

More to follow...

As promised:
http://www.the370z.com/members/edcon...turn-fix-3.jpg
http://www.the370z.com/members/edcon...turn-fix-4.jpg
http://www.the370z.com/members/edcon...turn-fix-5.jpg

I think everyone gets the idea of what is involved here, the metal plate will protect the plastic housing from being melted by the reflected sun. The plan is to use this fix along with some tint on the headlight to keep the paint from flaking on the metal in the hottest of situations.

^do not let this deter you from doing your own, it's easy!


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Nice fix, thats outside the box for sure.. I finally converted mine back to stock turn signal. I couldn't figure out away to fix that issue. Good job.. :tiphat:

I want custom lights pretty bad, but Imma scared to bake and reseal :icon17:

Not to mention I am not all that great with paint.

I was nervous about baking too but it's way better than you think. If you decide to do it and want a hand, let me know :tup:


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Good fix. That's pretty much the same thing that I did couple months ago except your metal plate is a nicer design

Yup, you were the inspiration for the plates. Credit where it is due :tiphat:

Similar to traffic lights, you'll need a "lid" placed above the lens. You already can see the bright light casting through the lens onto the housing from edconline's pictures.

A second 'phase' of the fix was implemented that doesn't involve a lid up top, pretty much eliminates all that reflected light. I'll post pics/details tonight when I get home :tup:


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Ok, took a while, but here is the second part of the fix. So the metal plate reflects a lot of the light and will keep the plastic housing from melting. There is still a small chance of the paint melting or burning a bit on the steel plate however, which wouldn't look too good. In our quest to permanently remedy this issue, the other member working on this with me suggested that night shading the back of the turn signal lens would likely yield the result we were looking for, as well as add a cool look to it. Results:

http://www.the370z.com/members/edcon...e-signal-2.jpg
http://www.the370z.com/members/edcon...e-signal-1.jpg

That is two coats of nightshade on the back of the projector lens for the turn signal. You may be able to tell, the stock HID projector lens has a bit of a tinted/darkened look already so it fits in nicely. Any heat that will be transferred to that lens/through it won't affect the nightshade, it handled the baking in the oven no problem and the spot at the back of that lens doesn't get very hot anyways. Even less so with the nightshade on there.

Turned out great, the turn signal is still plenty bright and as you can see there is next to no reflected light onto the shroud even when the sun is shining right on it. It is even possible that nightshading the back of the turn signal lens alone would be enough to stop the issue from happening, but with this two pronged approach you are dead certain it is fixed. I hope some others find this useful as it will allow people to keep doing this awesome looking mod without any fear of issues down the road.

Very nice but personally I think using a 60mm diffuser and halo works and just mount the lens as far back as possible. If you really want to get legit with it you can creat a metal bezel that holds the lens to the turn signal instead of gluing it to the shroud. Then it will be further back just like the main projector is. We all know the main projector doesn't burn holes


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Wow I have never had an issue... Then again I dont have DRL's... That sucks man

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/05/26/yjahuga5.jpghttp://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/05/26/y8aquqa6.jpg

Just thought I'd share what happens when you add a diffuser cover. You can see the light on the table dissolves.


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VDC, do you have a part number or link for that 60mm diffuser cover?

Can you fit a 70mm halo ring around the turn signal