[M@|ice]

Credit for this DIY needs to go to "Dom"...not me.
How-To Tint Your Headlight Housing

*-Note, these instructions are offered as a rough guide only. I recommend you read and review as much information in this sub-topic and other similar sub-topics on this bulletin board and try to obtain any other service manuals, information, etc., as possible prior to tackling this job. After you have read this and other sources of information, if you do not feel comfortable undertaking this project or are confused, DO NOT DO IT! The headlight housings are a critical part of your car and are very expensive to replace if you screw up. I am not responsible should something go awry.
Step One: (Optional)- Find yourself a used pair of headlight housings. I found a used set on eBay. You don't have to do this step but if you change your mind later or screw up, you will have a back up pair. You can use your current housings and you may be just fine. I like to play it cautiously, especially since the car is new! Your call.
Step Two: Gather up your supplies: Jack (floor jack is recommended), Jack stands (2), wheel lug nut socket/tire iron, heavy gloves, high heat engine enamel paint (your color choice), high heat engine enamel clear coat paint (optional), putty knife, large flat blade screw driver or second putty knife, metric socket set (10mm-13mm is all you should need, mainly just the 10mm), #20 torx bit, needle nose pliers, silicone sealant, WD-40, oven, aluminum foil, baking sheet, copy of these instructions and any other good topics you can find in the exterior section and lighting section on the headlights. You'll also need a sheet of paper and pen to document each step of the removal in order and the parts removed. I find if you have a garage put down numbered note cards that corresponds to the step number and put the corresponding part(s) by it.
Step Three: Disconnect the negative battery cable.
Step Four: Jack up your front wheels. Remove wheels. Remove screw-type push pins that hold wheel well splash guard in place. You want to remove all of these screw pins from under the front end to the top of the wheel well. Once you get under the car you will see all of the screw pins you have to remove. You do not have to remove all of the screw pins across the front of the bumper cover unless you plan to take off the bumper cover entirely. My method does not entail removing the bumper cover completely, just tilting it forward to expose the headlight housing. As a note, be careful in removing the screw pins as they are quite fragile and it is easy to strip/destroy the pins.
Step Five: Remove your grill (two screws on top and four (4) tabs on the bottom. Be careful as to not break the tabs on the bottom of the grill.
Step Six: Remove the pushpins that are located directly next to the screws holding in the grill.
Step Seven: You should be able to now the tilt the bumper cover away from the car. Standing facing the car, give the bumper cover a slight tug towards yourself. It should move towards you. If not, double- check to ensure all pins have been removed. (Also, it's been a couple of months since I did this, so I may have forgotten about a screw that is behind the bumper cover in the wheel well that is located about where the bumper cover meets up with the front fender on each side; I'm not sure if you remove this now or later when you remove the headlight housing.)
Step Eight: Remove air box and remove bolts on coolant reservoir tank so you have more access to the backside of the headlight assembly to disconnect the main electrical connector and other bulbs.
Step Nine: Okay, you're ready to work on removing the headlight housings. Take a good look at the housing. You should see on the top of the housing a push pin near the outside corner of the housing and there are about 5 bolts/screws that hold the headlight in. 2 screws are on the top of the housing, and 2 bolts are below the clear plastic cover of the headlight housing. A third bolt is on the far side of the housing. The ones underneath are hard to see, but just look for a minute and you’ll find them. The ones on the bottom in the front are behind some plastic lattice described below.l
Step Ten: Disconnect the large electrical connector on the back of the light housing. Remove the lamp covers for the low beams, high beams/fog/parking lights. Disconnect and remove all bulbs from the housing, including the turn signals, high beams, low beams, parking lights. Put them aside in a safe location. Note the location of each bulb you remove. You can see below a picture of the turn signal. It twists out. Be gentle or you can break tabs.


You should note how this goes in and out for later re-installation.
Step Eleven: Slowly pull out the housing away from the car. It should slide out easily. If not, make sure you did not forget any screws/bolts/pushpins. Here is a picture of the housing.

Step Twelve: Now, once you've pulled out the housing, you will see a lattice-type structure on the bottom of the housing that is held on by protrusions sticking out of the housing. Carefully (and I mean carefully!) remove this lattice work. It breaks easily as I found out. You will see a number of metal tabs connecting the clear plastic cover and the black plastic housing. Here is a pic:

Using the needle nose pliers, pull these tabs off.
Step Thirteen: You should now have the headlight housings out, all bulbs removed, ready to bake. Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees farenheit. While the oven is pre-heating, wrap one housing completely in aluminum foil. Once pre-heated, place one (1) headlight housing on baking sheet, put in oven and bake for up to six (6) minutes.
Step Fourteen: Remove headlight housing from oven using the heavy gloves. Unwrap aluminum foil. Next, using the large flat blade screw driver and putty knife, gently push into the silicone sealant between the clear plastic cover of the headlight housing and the black housing itself to begin separating the clear cover from the housing. The technique is to insert the screwdriver, pry apart a little bit, then move screwdriver one direction a little ways, insert putty knife behind screwdriver, remove screwdriver to behind putty knife, slide putty knife to "break" or "cut" the sealant between the cover and the housing. I would suggest you start in a top corner and work your way across the top of the housing, then around a side and you should, at that point, be able to gently pull the cover off the housing the rest of the way. Note, the sealant will be sticky and will get everywhere!
Step Fifteen: Now you have the housing separated from the cover, you should see something like this:

The housing (black), the cover (clear) and what I refer to as the bezel (silver). The bezel is held in place by six or seven screws and a metal plate. The top screws are normal Phillips bits and the bottom screws are removed with a #20 torx bit I believe.

When the screws are removed, the turn signal housing will come out. Additionally, you will have to remove a metal plate that helps secure the bezel. The metal plate is held in place by two plastic nubs. Using a small flathead screwdriver or needle nose pliers, gently pull the metal tabs away from the plastic tab.

Once the plate is removed, you can pull out the bezel and being painting it.

Step Sixteen: Paint. I applied three (3) coats of black high heat engine enamel paint. I painted the bezel entirely. You may wish to paint only portions of the housing to keep the inner reflector portions of the low beams and fog silvery, like the JDM part:
To get a less-bright finish, after having applied the black paint, apply a couple coats of high heat engine enamel clear coat. Be warned, the more coats, the duller the finish.
If you bought a second set of housings, you could have painted the bezels ahead of time, re-assemble the housing and slip in the new bezels and force the clear cover back onto the housing, as I did. Regardless of whether you have an extra set, you will need to ensure a tight seal around the housing and cover. This is when you need the silicone sealant. Don't worry if you get silicone on the outside of the housing, it can be removed with WD-40.

Step Seventeen: With the housing painted and re-assembled, do the other housing using the same steps (12-16).
Step Eighteen: Once the other housing is complete, re-install the housings, lattice work, bolts, pushpins, bulbs, electrical connectors, etc. My advice, re-connect the lights first to test prior to re-installing all the way.
Step Nineteen: Push cover back in place, put back in all screw-pins, etc. Put back on wheels and enjoy your finished product!

[Dom]

thanks alot Malice

[M@|ice]

Originally Posted by Dom

thanks alot Malice

hey your welcome!

[bb1mz6]

Thanks both of you!!

-Ive done this numorous times, but not on newer cars, basically my 93 prelude and my buddys 91 miata twice. So i was searching on a DIY for this exactly, i knew how to go about doing it, but i didnt know how the headlight glue was going to act. did the headlight seal good again after painting? did you have to heat it back up to get it to seal. any problems with water leaking? thanks for the DIY again!!!!

[Dom]

i didnt do the mod yet, im waiting for the warm weather. But as soon as i get it done, i will let you all know how it turns out.

[Marcus]

starting this "Mod" once my HID's come in since my replacement headlight is a mismatch for my OEM Pretty excited since I was never confident enough before to think about doing something like this

[theasianone1]

Malice i like all ur write ups. Keep up the good work!!!!

[M@|ice]

Originally Posted by theasianone1

Malice i like all ur write ups. Keep up the good work!!!!

glad to hear.

[dan200]

2 questions...

Anybody painted their bezels the same color as the body? Got pics? (if so link me please)

and...

How drastic is the difference in light out put if you paint the whole bezel vs. leaving the inner reflector portions of the low beams and fog silvery, like the JDM part? (If I add HID's (35's does it even matter) (I have angel eyes going in also and eyelids)

My six is dark grey (sorry i dunno the real name for the color but the door sticker calls it 26) and I am getting a few things painted to match the body, new grill, eyelids intake pipe, engine cover, and the spokes of my new wheels. It would make sense to have my painter do the bezels also to match the rest and wont cost me extra if I have him do it at the same time as the rest so I gotta time all this right...

Thanks...

[M@|ice]

i think you might have "steel gray" and i havent heard of anyone painting them to match the body before.

[dan200]

Originally Posted by M@|ice

i think you might have "steel gray" and i havent heard of anyone painting them to match the body before.

I might go for it but since I am getting surgery next week and will have only one good arm for a long arse time it will be a while before i can do all the work to get em ready for the painter. I think my car being a dark color it will look almost black anyway. I was inspired to do it after reading about the mod on here while researching halos and then I was in a casino all weekend and a red corvette was sitting on the casion floor with redbezels like the one in the picture... I bet it would look sick on a bright colored 6, red,blue, white,yellow etc...

The fact that it is an uncommon mod is cool too.

[M@|ice]

Originally Posted by dan200

I might go for it but since I am getting surgery next week and will have only one good arm for a long arse time it will be a while before i can do all the work to get em ready for the painter. I think my car being a dark color that it will look almost black anyway. I was inspired to do it after reading about the mod on here while researching halos and then I was in a casino all weekend and a red corvette was sitting on the casion floor with redbezels like the one in the picture...

The fact that it is an uncommon mod is cool too.

the fact that its an uncommon mod is all the more reason to do it. i think you should. closeup or standing in front of it your going to notice it, and it will look very nice.

[Egierda]

As soon as my car comes off the road this year, I'm tearing it down for some paint work...


My bezels will be going onyx black to match the body colour. I'll post pictures when it's all done. I might try to shave the rippled part on the bottom portion to that it's all flat too.

[M@|ice]

hmmm that may actually look pretty cool. you have the chrome ones now?

[dan200]

Originally Posted by M@|ice

hmmm that may actually look pretty cool. you have the chrome ones now?

MIne are chrome but inbetween the little ribs they look darker so the overall appearance is kinda grey. Not the same grey as the body though. Im gonna do it when i get all the stuff thats going to the painter ready.

Opps, u were talkin to Egierda huh?