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| Forum name | Interior/Exterior |
| Topic subject | Taking apart clear bumper lights. How in the hell!! |
| Topic URL | https://forums.2gnt.com/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=i7&topic_id=81240 |
81240, Taking apart clear bumper lights. How in the hell!! Posted by LeJeune123, Feb-02-05 06:22 PM
I have had water in my clear bumper lights for some time now and when I took them off to dry them out and reseal them I looked through the lightbulb hole and I saw the reflector paint on the inside had washed away. Now I want to take them apart and paint the inside white to make it go with my car better. I have tried putting them in the oven at 200, 225, 250, and 350 degrees but to no availe. I even tried soaking them in paint thinner for a couple of hours but still the glue is hard as a rock. Any tips would be extremely helpful in this process. Thanks in advance!!!!!
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81245, RE: Taking apart clear bumper lights. How in the hell!! Posted by MCubed45, Feb-02-05 09:26 PM
umm don't make it too hot... i melted my first set trying to open them up so i could clean and reseal them. it sucked ass. they looked funny as hell though. wish i took pics :P
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81246, RE: Taking apart clear bumper lights. How in the hell!! Posted by LeJeune123, Feb-02-05 11:22 PM
WHOOPS!!!! To late!! I put them in the oven and then got on 2gnt.com and forgot about them for about 20 min. At least it was only on 200 degrees so they didn't melt too bad. I can't put the bulbs back in so I just painted them white and glued them in the holes cause they were a little too warped to fit tightly.
P.S. Mcubed45 where did you get yours cause I would really like some like that.
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81277, RE: Taking apart clear bumper lights. How in the hell!! Posted by bigmcell, Feb-03-05 05:57 PM
heres the easiest way: i did at 275 for about 2-3 mins tops. pull them out they will be hot. use an oven mit. use a screw driver to pry apart. clean, and then re-seal. very simple
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81282, RE: Taking apart clear bumper lights. How in the hell!! Posted by MCubed45, Feb-03-05 07:23 PM
Originally posted by LeJeune123 WHOOPS!!!! To late!! I put them in the oven and then got on 2gnt.com and forgot about them for about 20 min. At least it was only on 200 degrees so they didn't melt too bad. I can't put the bulbs back in so I just painted them white and glued them in the holes cause they were a little too warped to fit tightly. P.S. Mcubed45 where did you get yours cause I would really like some like that.
i THINK these were from cardomain... they're called euroclears on some sites. i like the look better than my old ones which were clear but looked like the stock ones.
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81304, RE: Taking apart clear bumper lights. How in the hell!! Posted by scothern, Feb-04-05 06:51 AM
yeah i think it was sounddomain.com. I have a set too. shipped was like $30
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81438, RE: Taking apart clear bumper lights. How in the hell!! Posted by LeJeune123, Feb-08-05 01:02 PM
I ordered the Euro Clear ones and the traking # said it should be in on the 10th. I also ordered all my turn signals from velocity LED's so I hope they work well in my corners as well.
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81443, RE: Taking apart clear bumper lights. How in the hell!! Posted by MCubed45, Feb-08-05 04:38 PM
Originally posted by LeJeune123 I ordered the Euro Clear ones and the traking # said it should be in on the 10th. I also ordered all my turn signals from velocity LED's so I hope they work well in my corners as well.
you didn't order the same bulbs though, right? the corners take 194 like our footwells. you might wanna get regular incandescants for the corners too. especially with euro clears. LED"s give a very directed light pattern usually - which is fine if the bulbs is behind a lense like in the turn signals and tail lights. but if you have euro clear corners, it's essentially a clear piece of plastic. i guess it depends what kinda light pattern you're looking for but with most LED's you're gonna get a concentrated beam.
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81444, RE: Taking apart clear bumper lights. How in the hell!! Posted by Shockeclipse, Feb-08-05 05:53 PM
I suppose I am the only one who just cut along the glue line with a dremel and then resealed it? Less of a lip left after that but it see,ed fine up until they started leeking again, but I think the leakage is coming from the bulb insert. Paint the insides the same color as your car..looks sick imo. Oh and I had 4 bulb blue LED's in mine and they were fine
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81448, RE: Taking apart clear bumper lights. How in the hell!! Posted by MCubed45, Feb-08-05 09:27 PM
yea it's most likely the o-ring around the bulb that's leaking. i know b/c i sealed my corners with silicone when i first got them in the mail as a precaution. sadly one side started to get mucked up. the crappy thing is that once water gets inside it breaks down the chrome backing. no more shiny. :(
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81457, RE: Taking apart clear bumper lights. How in the hell!! Posted by Shockeclipse, Feb-09-05 09:46 AM
Originally posted by MCubed45 yea it's most likely the o-ring around the bulb that's leaking. i know b/c i sealed my corners with silicone when i first got them in the mail as a precaution. sadly one side started to get mucked up. the crappy thing is that once water gets inside it breaks down the chrome backing. no more shiny. :(
Yeah, thats what happened to mine and the reason I painted them. I really like the way they look though painted to match, I wish this was my computer so I could post up a pick.
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81471, RE: Taking apart clear bumper lights. How in the hell!! Posted by LeJeune123, Feb-09-05 07:01 PM
When I ordered the LED's I did get the 194 for the sidemarkers and 1157 for the blinker ones. I did not order the forward firing LED's though, for the Blinker one I ordered the halo ones that the LED's are placed around the base and pointed sideways and create a halo effect that shines off the chrome reflector. I also got the 194 that are just about the same as that so I hope it lights up pretty well.
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81472, RE: Taking apart clear bumper lights. How in the hell!! Posted by LeJeune123, Feb-09-05 07:19 PM
Also if I get the LED's in and the light is too pointed how much should I cut off and using what tools would let me make the beam wider. Thanks.
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81480, RE: Taking apart clear bumper lights. How in the hell!! Posted by MCubed45, Feb-10-05 09:29 AM
Originally posted by LeJeune123 Also if I get the LED's in and the light is too pointed how much should I cut off and using what tools would let me make the beam wider. Thanks.
the easiest way is to carefully sand the tip. if you look at the different types of LED's they sell you'll get an idea about what shape directs the light in which direction. if you want just a general soft dispersion without any spotting just sand the LED but do not fine sand. leave it 'foggy'. this is what i did for some of my dash buttons. i think the rear window defroster needed the most bulb modification to get the icon to light up evenly.
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81499, RE: Taking apart clear bumper lights. How in the hell!! Posted by LeJeune123, Feb-10-05 07:21 PM
Would the light output on the LED's be dimmer if I sanded them with 2000 grit sandpaper.
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81522, RE: Taking apart clear bumper lights. How in the hell!! Posted by sonikbewm, Feb-11-05 02:48 PM
I have amber LED's in my euro clear sidemarkers and they look badass.
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81525, RE: Taking apart clear bumper lights. How in the hell!! Posted by MCubed45, Feb-11-05 05:39 PM
Originally posted by LeJeune123 Would the light output on the LED's be dimmer if I sanded them with 2000 grit sandpaper.
it really depends how 'rough' you leave them. if you just want to reshape the plast to direct the light differently then you can use really fine paper to finish it and polish the plastic after you're done. if you just want the bulbs 'foggy' use a rougher sand paper and leave it like that. the scratches reduce the output and focus of the LED.
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81527, RE: Taking apart clear bumper lights. How in the hell!! Posted by sonikbewm, Feb-11-05 06:21 PM
I didn't do anything to my LED's and they look perfectly fine.
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81528, RE: Taking apart clear bumper lights. How in the hell!! Posted by Shockeclipse, Feb-11-05 07:06 PM
Originally posted by sonikbewm I didn't do anything to my LED's and they look perfectly fine.
Same here
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81532, RE: Taking apart clear bumper lights. How in the hell!! Posted by LeJeune123, Feb-11-05 09:50 PM
I just left them as they were and the light output is alright during the day but it is great at night. The only thing I noticed was that my blinker now blinks faster. I love the color too it is a nice orange/amber kind of like the S2000.
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81545, RE: Taking apart clear bumper lights. How in the hell!! Posted by Shockeclipse, Feb-13-05 08:13 AM
Originally posted by LeJeune123 I just left them as they were and the light output is alright during the day but it is great at night. The only thing I noticed was that my blinker now blinks faster. I love the color too it is a nice orange/amber kind of like the S2000.
Your blinker is faster?
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81546, RE: Taking apart clear bumper lights. How in the hell!! Posted by sonikbewm, Feb-13-05 01:23 PM
Originally posted by Shockeclipse Your blinker is faster?
Yeah because I believe he is using LED turn signal bulbs as well.
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81548, RE: Taking apart clear bumper lights. How in the hell!! Posted by Shockeclipse, Feb-13-05 06:07 PM
Originally posted by sonikbewmOriginally posted by Shockeclipse Your blinker is faster? Yeah because I believe he is using LED turn signal bulbs as well.
Oh I see
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81550, RE: Taking apart clear bumper lights. How in the hell!! Posted by LeJeune123, Feb-13-05 08:56 PM
Yea my turn signal is faster so I guess I won't be replacing my taillight bulbs with LED's. Then they would blink a little too fast.
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81551, RE: Taking apart clear bumper lights. How in the hell!! Posted by MCubed45, Feb-13-05 11:46 PM
you can get a flasher made to handle led bulbs. those ones aren't affect by the different resistance a LED bulb puts on the flasher.
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