Did My Headlights This Weekend!

[anemo]

I ripped my headlights apart, removed the irritating orange plastic piece and painted the boring gray plastic black. It did a big visual improvement and here is the result:

Before:

After:

[Woody27]

That looks much better! Is it easy enough? Have you just sprayed a black spray (matt?) Straight onto the original grey inner? Prep it at all? Regarding the orange indicator bit, is the bulb still orange in there and you just can't see it or did you replace it with a silver one?

Looks really good mate so congrats :D Any pics of it on the car?

[anemo]

That looks much better! Is it easy enough? Have you just sprayed a black spray (matt?) Straight onto the original grey inner? Prep it at all? Regarding the orange indicator bit, is the bulb still orange in there and you just can't see it or did you replace it with a silver one?

Looks really good mate so congrats :D Any pics of it on the car?

I think that it was quite easy but removing the headlights can be a little bit tricky. I didn't remove the front bumper. I just removed the plastic pin in the middle (on top) of the bumper and the two screws in the wheel arcs and pushed down the corners of the bumber to be able to remove the headlight.

The rest of the process:

* Put the headlight in the oven (100 degrees celsius) for about 5 minutes. Pull it apart gently and make sure that the "sticky stuff" is in one piece. This is the stuff that keep the moisture out of the headlight.

* Cut away the top of two small plastic pieces that holds the orange dome and the repeater reflector in place. Be careful so that you don't damage the reflector with the blade! Remove the two pieces and save the reflector i a safe place. Throw away the dome or keep... :)

* Mask the main reflector with masking tape (be careful and make it right the FIRST time). Mask the "sticky stuff" and make sure that there will be no paint on it.

* Clean the gray plastic with alcohol to remove dirt, grease and other nasty stuff.

* Spray the headlight with a couple of thin layers with plastic primer (I did this to really make sure that the black paint would stick). Make sure that the paint dries for a couple of minutes between each layer. Let it dry for 20-30 minutes.

* Spray the headlight with a couple of thin layers of your choice of spray paint. I found a black one that is somewhere between matte and glossy and it looks good. Let it dry for a hour or so. Remove the masking tape.

* Put some superglue on the plastic pins that holds the repeater reflector and put the reflector back in place. Let it dry and make sure it stays in place!

* Put the plastic lens on and put it back in the oven (100 degrees celsius) for 5 minutes and remove it from the oven. While hot, press gently in the lens edges to make the headlight housing tight.

* You're done! Cost: $20 (one can of plastic primer and one can of black paint). Time: ~3-4 hours depending on how long you let the paint dry... =) Sorry for the dirty car! I cleaned it right afterwards! :D

The bulbs I use are LED bulbs bought from this guy on Ebay. They are called " 1156 Halo Refractor 48 LED (Amber) Indicator Bulb". You will also need to connect a 7.2 ohm 20 w resistor in paralell with the bulb to make the repeater relay work as it's supposed to. It will flash way to fast without the resistor!

[Chuck04]

looks good, far better

[vitz06]

looks good

[Yaris SR Kid]

looks immense mate!

[anemo]

Thanks! You guys with T-sports do only have to do 1/3 of this because you already got the black plastic in the headlights. Removing the orange dome (from hell?) is really recommended! It looks much better WITHOUT that fried egg effect! :) Just make sure that you replace the clear bulb with a silver or led bulb.

My next projects are probably to paint the rear view wing mirror housings in the same color as the car (silver 199) and maybe the grill in black (not sure yet!).

[Woody27]

Awesome now with pics but think you mean paint the wing mirrors :P O and looks much better WITHOUT the fried egg effect you also mean :P

[anemo]

Awesome now with pics but think you mean paint the wing mirrors :P O and looks much better WITHOUT the fried egg effect you also mean :P

I hope that I'm excused since english isn't my native language! :D

[Lenry]

Wow that looks spiffy, Nice job

This is what I've been looking for, I was saying to Woody how I wanted to Spray the inner of the head lamp.

I'm going to give it a go on the dodgy one first (the near side, with moldy green in it )

Girl Friend: *sniff sniff* Lenry what you cooking?

Lenry: Yaris Head Lamp with a hint of mold, Why, you want some??

Girl Friend: *Walks out*

[Blue84]

Wow that looks spiffy, Nice job

This is what I've been looking for, I was saying to Woody how I wanted to Spray the inner of the head lamp.

I'm going to give it a go on the dodgy one first (the near side, with moldy green in it )

Girl Friend: *sniff sniff* Lenry what you cooking?

Lenry: Yaris Head Lamp with a hint of mold, Why, you want some??

Girl Friend: *Walks out*

Oh yeah that would be such a tasty dish

Anemo that looks a lot better, top marks ;)

[DaveSR]

Top work fella - nice guide you have put together !

TBH im not sure that the black really suits any other colour appart from black, but that's my oppinion.

However removing the orange dome is alot of effort but well worth it

[anemo]

Top work fella - nice guide you have put together !

TBH im not sure that the black really suits any other colour appart from black, but that's my oppinion.

However removing the orange dome is alot of effort but well worth it

Thank you! I think that a black grill will make the black headlights "blend" into the car better. I will try go get a used one and spray it. :)

[Yaris_Tsport]

think i will have a go at doing this today. i saw a red yaris with red inside the headlights a while back and thought ''how the hell he do that''!!!!now i know lol

[Matty]

Well worth it IMO, I did it but used some "Iridium" side repeaters instead of Silvertecs.

May swap to silvertecs though.

[knightrider]

yes matty iridiums suck, even betta get LED's (also congrats on getin some HID's)

[alanbradley]

Anyone got a spare set of P2 French headlights hanging about? This looks worth doing (well, apart from the indicator - I don't mind it. Honestly!)

A

[Yaris SR Kid]

This does look really interesting but knowing me i will mess it up even with this good guide! So on the hunt for headlights now :P