in the middle of bhlm

Just joined last night and have done fog light mod and am in the middle of bhlm. Once apart do i need to try and remove any of the factory gunk from the assembly to allow for easier reassembly or just leave it alone and silicone over and around it?

 

I'd remove all the old crap and make sure everything is clean before applying a new silicone bead for re-installation.

 

Any suggestions then on what i can use to get that stuff off there easier?

 

i used a flat head screw driver and a utility kinfe. it was a PITA. but i found the knife worked better cuz you dont have to continually head it to get it out, just slide the blade under the adhesive and it should come up.

 

Ill give it the old college try. Do you suggest sanding what is to be painted or just paint over the chrome.

 

i did a light sand then cleaned with alcohol to get the gritty dust off, then used black plastic paint and clear.

it gives it more to stick to if you sand it

i think i used somethin like 1500 grit sand paper

 

Thanks a bunch guys. Ill have my significant other who is good with cameras and whot not put up some pics. Great site. Thanks again.

 

hope it turns out good!

just remember to leave it fully seal when u reseal it.

 

I left all that shit on there. I put the parts in the oven for a couple of minutes before reassembly, then stuck it back together while it was still tacky. I then ran a healthy bead of silicone around the seam and it was all set. I've never had any fogging/leaking issues. I think its advantageous to leave it in there, because its an adhesive, while silicone is more of a flexible sealant. Just my $.02

 

Sorry for all the ?'s but just want to make sure i get it right the first time. Do i need to tape off anything or can i just paint the whole thing?

 

Tape off under the orange and the light yellow lenses

 

x2 big time. Its strong stuff when it cools.

And you can tape off whatever you want. search around for different methods. on mine, i taped off the blinker lens, parking light, and reflector, but a lot of people take the blinker and reflector lenses out and paint everything. depends what look you like best

 

I did not remove the OEM adhesive. I simply lined everything up and pushed the lens back on. Then I put it in the oven for ten minutes and took it out and pushed it together some more until all the tabs were locked back in place and put the screws back in. Then I clamped the two sections together for thirty minutes. No leaks or fogging.

I did not sand anything. I used adhesion promotor and Krylon Fusion. No problems.

I masked the turn signal lenses and then put them back in the housing. Then I painted. I then removed the lenses and removed the tape. I did not mask off the sidemarker light areas. I wanted a black corner.

 

i painted everything and only replaced the side reflector, not the turn signal thing. the bulb is plenty bright with the reflector area for the signal painted.

i also used krylon fusion

and i had some fogging from the silicone i used to seal it not fully drying. its fine now, but i had to take them back out and set them inside the garage overnight with the caps and bulbs off them. when i would take that little breather cap off a lot of fumes came out from the curing silicone/paint when they were still in the truck before i took em out and let them dry correctly

edit: i used silicone because it would be a lot easier to get off again if i needed to do some tweaking, and my friend who had done this before to his headlights said it would be hard to prevent fogging if i reused the sealant

edit 2: i used a heat gun to get them apart not the oven, it was not hard to separate once it got started, but getting it to start coming up was tricky.

i recommend the heat gun, that way you do not have to dis assemble all the light, just the screws holding the lense on have to come out.

if u use the heat gun, u can pry on the parts of the light that are not heated and can concentrate the heat to the area where the sealant is