Seperating Glass From Headlight - R32

[BANGN]

Want to seperate the glass off the front of my R32 headlamps..

I pulled the clips off and tried to cut around the seal with a razor but the blade wont cut through without putting a mass amount of strength into it..

I have noticed people have managed to pull them off in the past, just keen to know if there is a trick to cutting it off

[funkymonkey]

oven, not too hot, just to get the silicone in the groove pliable. then while wearing gloves apply force evenly. carful, if you try to lever it out, the glass will break.

I posted up a DIY with pics about 7 years ago on how to do it. god knows where it is now.

[TUFF_350]

Could try a heat gun or hairdryer?

[BANGN]

I found the topic.. but nothing in there about using an oven

what temp and for how long do you think? just as a gauge.

Edited August 9, 2010 by BANGN

[ali-turko]

iv used the oven method bout 5 times

pull metal clips of headlight

preheat the over to bout 180-200 degress

stick headlight in there for bout 5-7mins keeping a close eye on it,

glass will be very hot so wear gloves and keep a flat ended screw driver handy

[BANGN]

thanks heaps! worked a treat!

[Mr Eps]

haha obviously you've already done this so it's irrelevent but if anybody else read this - DONT let it touch the walls. it will melt the plastic.

and please lay the oven with baking paper - dont put it straight on the racks. they will also melt it

[BANGN]

yeh I initially put it in and thought.. "wait.. I might comeback with lines on the bottom of the lamp"

needless to say the miss's wasnt overly happy when she saw me using her baking trays to support my headlamps lawl

[Mr Eps]

and rightly so - after all, it's her domain

[funkymonkey]

I put it on a cotton towel (not synthetic cos it'll melt) in the oven. done about 14 headlights this way, pulled it apart, painted the insides or installed HID upgrades and then put it back together. If you leave the silicone sealant pliable, then you can just use a heat gun to make it flow again and reseal the glass when you put it back in.

If you want to remove the silicone, then bunnings sells this putty that reacts with silicone and sealants and makes them go gelatinous, which makes it really easy to just brush it out after and reseal from scratch or install fibreglass/plastic clear lenses.

[BANGN]

just a silicone remover yeh? like you would use on bathroom glass? I have some of that at home...

I was just going to use some sikaflex to slap em back together

Edited August 10, 2010 by BANGN

[Mr Eps]

another thing...

never use "cheap crap" and just "slap em back together"

it's when you start thinking things like "oh better get this done quickly so i can catch that episode of Becker"

or

"better UHUstik my lights back together so i can go to bed"

think of the effort you've gone to to do this - the removal, seperating, cleaning, repairing, restoring etc...

think of all that

it'd be a shame if you did a rush job using "that'll do" products only to find out that they leak in about a weeks time

EDIT: not saying sikaflex is cheap crap necessarilly im just saying sleep on it - spend the extra 5 bucks on a product that you KNOW will work. take your time and do it right the first time...

Edited August 10, 2010 by Mr Eps

[funkymonkey]

not saying sikaflex is cheap crap necessarilly im just saying sleep on it - spend the extra 5 bucks on a product that you KNOW will work. take your time and do it right the first time...

sickaflex held my sideskirts on at 110km/h for 800km straight. I'd say it's safe.

[BANGN]

yep.. I dare say you havnt used sikaflex before LOL you will break the glass before you get it off again. Its the same strength urethane product used to holding down your windscreen.

I never rush things

btw funkymonkey.. have you got some pics of what your headlamps looked like on the car after you were done?

Edited August 11, 2010 by BANGN

[show.it.off]

So what would be the best way to put them back together?

[show.it.off]

So can you use the original silicon stuff thats alreaady there to seal it back up? Aand would this work on an r33? plastic headlights?

[funkymonkey]

So can you use the original silicon stuff thats alreaady there to seal it back up? Aand would this work on an r33? plastic headlights?

no. plastic warps when heated.

[show.it.off]

no. plastic warps when heated.

So whats the best stuff to use?

[Bliksem]

So whats the best stuff to use?

Actually you can use the oven, the guide on Skyline.se suggests 75deg @ 20 mins Projector Converstion Guide (requires registration)

[show.it.off]

that site is in a different language and i cant figure out how to make it english