chozn4service
04-27-2007, 06:53 PM
Ok, for anyone on this forum, I thought I'd share what I did to my already cleared out headlights. Last year about this time I built up the nerve to clear my headlights out. I did it the conventional oven method by heating the kitchen oven to 200 degree, putting my removed headlights wrapped in moist towels and placing them in the over for about 15 to 20 min's, once out you pry them apart with with a flathead screwdriver. It makes it so much easier if you have a box cutter and cut the sealer as you pry, they open right up. Once open, if you haven't removed the amber lens, this is a good time to do for this mod, if you don't want to remove, then leave it. The inside bezel that I painted is held in by a single phillips screw, undo it and pull out the bezel. I used a 3M scotch bright pad to rough the area up, then I shot it with Bulldog adhesion promoter and then a couple of coats of satin black and put it all back together. The OEM sealer is good enough to reuse but if you want, you can had some silicone to the mix and put the lights back together and reinstall. The finished results are JDM/ or '07 blacked out headlights. There has been discussion and I thought about doing it myself, by painting this same area the same color as the car which could be done. I suggest going to http://www.paintscratch.com to get the OEM paint for an exact match. It would look good depending on the color of your Element. I thought in Tango Red Pearl, it might be a bit much but in Galaxy Grey, or MM or some other colors that Elements come in, it may look to damn good!
To me, doing this mod gives the headlights a more defined look. The areas for the signals and headlights are pronounced plus I think it makes the lights better to be seen. sort of like some traffic signals you see in different cities where they are black all together or just the face of the light housing is black.
Anyway, if there is anyone on the board, here is what they once were and how they look now. Easy to do and what cost me all of about $25 in bulldog and paint, the rest was my time. JDM's go for around $174 on Ebay and no telling what the dealer would charge for the '07 lights x 2.
To me, doing this mod gives the headlights a more defined look. The areas for the signals and headlights are pronounced plus I think it makes the lights better to be seen. sort of like some traffic signals you see in different cities where they are black all together or just the face of the light housing is black.
Anyway, if there is anyone on the board, here is what they once were and how they look now. Easy to do and what cost me all of about $25 in bulldog and paint, the rest was my time. JDM's go for around $174 on Ebay and no telling what the dealer would charge for the '07 lights x 2.