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Headlight help


scott87
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Ive had a scroll through the headlight refurbish post (although i cant find it again now.....:innocent:) and have seen people spraying theres etc. The problem i have is i also seem to have surface rust on the chrome rings as well. So i cant paint the rest black for example with chromed rings left.

 

What is the best way to refurb them from here? Are the plastic headlights dirt cheap to buy? Does chrome paint work? Any pics or advice would be great as they look quite bad now i cleaned the outside of the lenses properly.

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Its not so much rust, its more where the chrome has come off of the material the inserts are made out of.

 

Chrome paint - dosent really work to the extent of making the rings look like "chrome", it makes it more a shinyish satin silver colour.

 

There is currently potentially a group buy on some aluminium chome rings being run by one of the members on here. Will see if I can find the post, else sure someone else will link it

 

The Pre-facelift ones can be quite cheap to buy the whole light, so you could split and use the insert from that, but it depends if your headlight is facelift or non facelift (indicator in the light or not)

 

 

A few members on here have fully satin black'ed their headlight insert, which looks pretty good - up until this potential aly ring buy, this was the only thing you could really do with damaged chrome inserts as to get them professionally rechromed costs a rediculous amount, if you can get a company to do it >

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b;3517783']Its not so much rust, its more where the chrome has come off of the material the inserts are made out of.

 

Chrome paint - dosent really work to the extent of making the rings look like "chrome", it makes it more a shinyish satin silver colour.

 

There is currently potentially a group buy on some aluminium chome rings being run by one of the members on here. Will see if I can find the post, else sure someone else will link it

 

The Pre-facelift ones can be quite cheap to buy the whole light, so you could split and use the insert from that, but it depends if your headlight is facelift or non facelift (indicator in the light or not)

 

 

A few members on here have fully satin black'ed their headlight insert, which looks pretty good - up until this potential aly ring buy, this was the only thing you could really do with damaged chrome inserts as to get them professionally rechromed costs a rediculous amount, if you can get a company to do it >

 

Brill thanks. Um i dont know whether my lights are facelift or not... Here is a pic:

image

 

So i may take the inserts out and all the rust will just clean straight off. But i wont know until i take them apart!? So has anyone painted the entire insert in sating black, including the rings. Id love to see a pic of this, guessing it would work well on a red car. I assume any paint would be suitable too.

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Pre-facelift light (high beam scatter pattern is on the plastic lens in front of the main beam):

 

http://mooch.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/supra/headlights/pre-facelift.jpg

 

 

Facelift light (the reflector is "patterned" to scatter the beam on the high beam):

 

http://mooch.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/supra/headlights/facelift.jpg

 

 

The inserts are also slightly different shaped & on the facelift inserts the high beam has a chrome ring around it.

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Also:

 

UK spec headlight - all are pre-facelift but lens is glass:

 

http://www.jdm-online.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/5e06319eda06f020e43594a9c230972d/f/i/file_96_10.jpg

 

 

Refurbished J-spec pre-facelift

(silver insert painted black)

 

image

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b;3517802']Also:

 

UK spec headlight - all are pre-facelift but lens is glass:

 

http://www.jdm-online.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/5e06319eda06f020e43594a9c230972d/f/i/file_96_10.jpg

 

 

Refurbished J-spec pre-facelift

(silver insert painted black)

 

http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn205/2jzsupra/Leftheadlightphoto.jpg

 

My problem is the two smaller chrome rings also have rust discolouration on them too, so would not be able to have any part chrome.

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Ok ta. Well i still need to fix em anyway. :) Will painting the entire unit, chrome rings and all not affect the function of the lights? I also dont want them to look naff :innocent:

 

Wont effect function, as its just an asthetic facia.

 

Depending on how bad the chrome is, determines if you paint over them or not.

 

One thing i would say "from my opinion" is if you do paint them, do them matt or satin, (not gloss) - looks more 'oem'. Again, thats just my personal opinion from refubring about 6 sets of headlights in various fashions. ^^,

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b;3517814']Wont effect function, as its just an asthetic facia.

 

Depending on how bad the chrome is, determines if you paint over them or not.

 

One thing i would say "from my opinion" is if you do paint them, do them matt or satin, (not gloss) - looks more 'oem'. Again, thats just my personal opinion from refubring about 6 sets of headlights in various fashions. ^^,

 

Hmm i think i will try and buy the chrome inserts from somewhere. I cant see them looking right without the rings :-( Polishing the plastic im not fussed about but im trying to not stray from oem....

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b;3517821']Did a bit of searching &;

 

All black pre-facelift headlights on a red car:

 

http://i892.photobucket.com/albums/ac122/agm84/P5080012-1.jpg

 

http://i892.photobucket.com/albums/ac122/agm84/headlight1.jpg

 

- ignore guy in hat ^^,

 

http://i892.photobucket.com/albums/ac122/agm84/rice2-1.jpg

 

 

hopefully that gives you an idea of how it would look.

 

How did you find that? :blink:

 

That does help thanks. Not sure though whether i like it as much as standard. But i guess thats the only option i have unless i buy new! :-/

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  • 4 months later...

sorry to bump this again guys, just split my headlights again! 3 set now, i tried to spray the rings silver and spray inserts satin black but as usual i cant seem to mask the rings off 100% so it looks not good. do i

A) spray the whole insert satin black.

B) spay the rings silver let dry and try and mask off again to spray insert black

C) moan to noz about getting these bloody rings made!

 

but seriously any help folks, would be much appreciated.

 

and when you wet and dry the lenses is it just the outside you sand or inside as well, i tried searching but no luck or it seems elusive.

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Only just seen this, but for future reference, you have to put loads of sealant in the join, certainly more than I thought I needed

 

Mine are fine after I did them a 2nd time and used what I thought was excessive amounts

 

O and you have to make sure you get out all the old sealant as well

Edited by DodgyRog (see edit history)
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