Well, today was an interesting day. I finally did what I sooo much was afraid of doing in the past! (all in under 20 minutes per headlight)
I am in the process of installing EMS/Police strobes in my headlights and was disgusted with the way the headlights looked after drilling and spending a long time in cleaning them.
(cleaned for hours and still came out blurry and spotty)
So, being that I had a spare pair of headlights... I figured I give it a shot and try to disassemble them to clean them from the INSIDE!!
(or for anyone who is interested in getting rid of the turn signal reflector, this is what you'll have to do)
Here goes....
The following are the only two tools I used to do this:
heating gun and any device that will help you separate the lens from the back cover. (you can actually do just with the heat gun alone and your hands to do the separating.... but headlights get really hot and will need gloves (which I didn't have at the time, but recommend)
There are two steps in this whole process... that's it.
I actually breezed thru this when doing my second headlight!!
Probably 15 min.. or less!!
Step 1.
Heat around the headlight edges for around 10 minutes using the heat gun. (depending on what brand you use, time will vary.)
There is no need to direct any heat to the transparent lens cover whatsoever, so concentrate on the border of the back of the headlight. (black plastic) This is where all the black silicone is located that keeps the headlight sealed and you'll want to heat this area nicely. Once you think you have heated the border enough... proceed to step 2.
(you can see the headlight separating on its own in some areas once you have provided enough heat.)
Step 2.
Separate the front lens from the back of the headlight.
THAT'S IT!!
No screws, No Nothing!!
Just start at an opened, gapped area and start pulling the two pieces apart. simple as that. If you have heated enough... this shouldn't take you long at all. Have someone help you either by holding the headlight or by pulling. You'll see how incredibly easy this install really is.
P.S - I have friends who have done this to their headlights (not PT's though) and have suggested I put them in the oven for 3-5 minutes and that it's twice as fast and easier to separate....
I really didn't have the b^ll$ to do this, but just wanted to pass the thought along if anyone else did.
Good Luck!
(no need for luck... this was a piece of cake!! You'll do FINE)
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