How To: Black Head Light mod

Did it today. Took about four hours to bake paint dry and reinstall. Looks greatM

 

Great how to! I did mine last night and I must say I was a little sketched out putting headlights in the oven, but follwed the steps and it worked perfectly! Took me about 4 hours from start to finish, but I'm very pleased with how they turned out. +1 for you my friend

 

How To: Black Head Light mod
I made this one because all of the previous ones have NO PICTURES. This is to show a step by step instructional after the headlights are off of the vehicle.

**Disclaimer**

If you can't spray paint, I don't recommend even starting this mod. Please do yourself a favor and have someone with experience to help you out.

Tools:

1. Flat head screw driver
2. Torx bit (#15)
3. Gator Clamps
4. Adjustable pliers

Materials:

• Krylon Fusion rattle can spray paint (color of choice)
• 3M Windo-Weld
• Masking Tape (if masking off reflectors)

Can be picked up at local auto part store:





1. Remove headlights from vehicle:


2. Remove all rubber, plastic, and bulbs:


3. Remove 3 torx screws on the side of headlight:


4. Place oven grill to lowest adjustment.

5. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.

6. Once it reaches 300 degrees F, turn the oven OFF.

7. Insert headlight facing up on top of a piece of card board so that none of the headlight is touching the metal grill. Time it for 10 mins.

8. Once your timer is up, remove the headlight (be careful, it will be HOT). Start prying the headlight apart with your flat head screw driver where the yellow circle is. As you are prying, unclip the tabs circled in red:


9. Once the headlight has come apart into 2 halves, remove the 2 torx screws:


10. To remove the bezel, hold the lens with your left hand, and with your right hand, hold where the turn signal bulb goes through. Push it to the right, then up.


11. Once the bezel is out, it is time for paint. You can mask off the turn signal reflector and/or the side marker. To remove the turn signal cover, just simply stick a ratchet handle through where the bulb goes in and hit it out (don't tap it out).

Prepping is optional, since I have had no issues using Krylon Fusion. Just give it proper drying time.

Since the bezel has a lot of indentations and crazy angles, you can't just spray it laying down or sitting up the whole time.

What I do is: Spray it sitting up (I used an empty spray paint can). Then put a plastic bag over your hand and arm, then use tape to wrap it tight on your arm. Hold the bezel in the air and spray at all angles possible. Allow proper drying time between coats. To check if you've hit all of the areas, just turn it a bunch of different ways under a light or the sun. The light will show the chrome that's still showing.

12. While the bezel is drying, preheat the oven to 300 degrees, then OFF.

13. Place the gray half of the headlight back in for 10 mins.

14. Once the timer is up, remove the headlight half. Use the flat head screw driver and remove as much of the factory sealant as possible since it will harden very quickly.

15. Once it is all dried, remove all of the masking tape. Place the turn signal cover back in (I tinted mine):


Preburning: After you have painted the bezels, place them back in the oven at 250 for 5 minutes with the oven ON. This will unify your spray paint and make it look nicer and the way it is supposed to look. (this also glosses up overspray).

16. To put the bezel back in, align the bezel's nubs with the lens' hooks, then reverse the force the same way you took it out (left hand pull the lens out, and right hand goes in and together with the lens:


17. Screw the 2 torx screws back in:


18. Place a 1/4" bead of the rubber butyl in the channel of the headlight. To make it smaller, just stretch it:


19. Preheat the oven to 300 again. Then OFF. Place the gray half back in the oven. (This softens the rubber butyl). Time it for 10 mins.

20. Remove the gray half from the oven, and grab the lens with the bezel in it. Start putting the 2 halves together starting from the fender corner. Firmly press the rest of the headlight together. Use the adjustable pliers to squeeze the halves together.

21. Screw the 3 torx screws back in:


22. Use gator clamps to hold the headlight together for curing:


23. Repeat all of the above steps for the other headlight (if you have confidence, do both at the same time to save time).

24. Once it is cured, put all of the rubber, plastic and bulbs back in. And you're done with the black head light mod! Just install the headlights back on the vehicle and plug in all of the harnesses. Pull up to a wall and adjust the headlights, they will be slightly off.

*Viet2100's pic's have been revived and with mjp2's help they'll be restored to the OP.

 

Good stuff!!!

Glad to see the pics back up.................GL to all you guys out there. Great mod and super happy I did it.

 

Well covered!! I am not very handy but now my lights look pro! Thanks.

 

I am anxious to do this mod. Maybe when i get some time off work. Has anybody experienced any difficulties doing this on a 2012? Ive seen a few pictures and they look clean!

 

One more success story here. This is actually my second set. I also blacked the ones on my last Tacoma (08 model).

 

did mine silver

 

Is their a way to do them like the factory shiny black
like this

 

Just an FYI, when selecting card board make sure it is not colored or anything. I used a piece that was white on the outside and it lit on fire. Other than that it went ok

 

and don't put it on the lowest setting

 

Not the greatest pic sorry.Very pleased with the results! Thanx for the write up!

 

eyebrows look awesome

 

^^^^Thanx man!

 

About to try it out I will post pics on how it turns out.

 

Ok I just ordered all the stuff to off Amazon to do this mod. I looked around Auto Zone and Wal-Mart for the window weld and krylon and couldnt find either. So I just ordered all the stuff from Amazon.

Now I aint gonna lie either, Im skeered chitless to do this mod but im gonna try it anyhow. I remember I was feeling this same way before I rooted my HTC Thunderbolt and it turned out it wasnt that bad. I just followed step by step directions and it worked out great. So wish me luck, I have to wait for all my stuff to come in, I dont even have any clamps and I ordered those too, but once its all here Im gonna take a crack at it.

 

went from silver to black, shit ton better

 

I agree.

 

.....and done! I started this mod on Sunday late afternoon and finely got around to finishing it this fine Tuesday morning. I am a bit of a perfectionist. I had to redo the paint on the driver side head lamp.

Once I seperated the lens from the housing, I used a heat gun instead of the oven to remove the excess "goop". That made it much easier and made the housing tolerable to hold and manuipulate since the whole housing wasn't boling hot.

Will post pics later this afternoon.

 

Bought some all clear lenses off ebay......put em in and after a week or so they both had moisture inside.

I'm going to try to put some silicone seal around whole edge of each light.

Any other ideas or should i just give that a try?

Any silicone better than the rest?

Thanks