Hey forum so i recently ordered a fresh set of taillight lens to replace my smoked/black ones that are currently on the car.
I was wondering what would be the steps required to swap them out? Oven temperature,Tools required,and what type of sealant would be recommended to seal them back up? Thanks guys!
Some place in an oven under low temp. to separate,but I found that soaking in a laundry tub filled with hot water worked pretty well. I used 5/16" ribbon of glass setting butyl tape from NAPA to seal the two halves back together.
Fix the reflectors, change to 2357 bulbs (40cp to the 30cp of 2057) and use butyl. You can get rolls at a glass shop. I used very little heat from a heat gun and used several very wide screwdrivers at the same time. I had one minor chip in the lens edge this way.
I like the hot tub of water Idea better.
Have a look at this site for all the information. But trust me on the 2357 bulbs.
I used the brightest red LED's from http://superbrightleds.com The foil tape mod has been around forever,and works well. Little tedious compare to spray paint,but to each their own. This last set I used red caliper paint,and black around the back-up bulb location. It's an interesting effect especially w/sequentials,and these bulbs (though pricey) are bright af....
...and I can check with our engineers to see what they do when taking apart housings. We make vents for headlights and they often take the capsules apart for testing.
Also, once you get things apart, check this out to see about improving the inside of the housing....
I managed to get the taillight lens apart.. The only issue i had was removing the silicone the previous owner used... i used wd-40 to help soften it up and then slowly scraped it off as much as i can and then used degreaser and alcohol to clean it after.. now im in the market for some sealant.. trying figure out if i should use black rtv silicone or butyl tape..
Went to a local autozone and picked this up.. will this work? And do you first lay the strip around the housing, heat it up, and then press the lens on the housing? Do you clamp it aswell?
3/8" seems a little large,but once it's installed into the groove in the housing. Simply squeeze the two together. Gentle use of some channel-lock with padded jaws may be helpful to get the latching points to seat.
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