A while back I had the passenger-side headlight lens glass take a walk on my XK8, and unfortunately it was on a highway...and even more unfortunate, I didn't even realize it was gone till I was a good 100 miles away. I looked at a lens housing replacements for months and I can't say the price was too appealing. Just by pure chance however, I DID come across just the glass lens on Ebay a little while back, $75.00! The reflective interior was very spotty by this time though, so it wasn't just a "pop it on and go" proposition. Did a little research on GOOD chrome-like spray paint, and figured for $20.00 it was worth a shot. I have mixed feelings now about how it turned out, but at least she doesn't look like she has a black eye anymore.

I used and the
Something I learned...while prepping the inside of the housing, I found that Isopropyl rubbing alcohol (91%) took the silver RIGHT off! Had I known that, I may have just gone with a smaller "chromed" area around the projector and left the rest of it black.Oh well, live and learn.

Anyway, I took the glassless housing off, washed it down and prep'd it with the alcohol to degrease it...


Sprayed a coat of black backer and a few coats of the chrome over that..

...and was rather underwhelmed with the results. It was windy as hell here when I sprayed it, and even though I did it indoors, I had to have a window and door open to vent the fumes, so unfortunately dust particles are pretty evident.

Broke out the trusty 3M double sided auto grade tape and stuck the lens to the housing. I left a few little voids to allow it to "vent" condensation away, although here in the bone dry desert it's really a non issue. It's amazing how well this stuff sticks! I thought about some kind of permanent adhesive, but wanted something that I could remove in the event I wanted or needed access to the inside again.



And...no more black eye. It blends in pretty well with the driver side, untouched headlight, and 99.9% of people probably wouldn't spot the disparity in reflectivity.


If I had to do it all over again..I probably would have cleaned most of the silver off except in the projector area on both, and just sprayed the small area around the projector on the bad one. Maybe instead of the spray chrome ( which I'm not too impressed with ), some type of mirror-like foil glued down with a high temp adhesive.

Anyway, that's how I wasted my Saturday afternoon

 

Db, lots (and lots) of great info here. Thanks for posting it.

John

 

Well done, especially for a first attempt! I sprung for a replacement headlight in mine due to delamination of the reflective coating, but am glad to know that I can save several hundred dollars if it happens again!

 

Thanks John!

 

Thanks Redline! It did save me quite a bit, and the $$ I saved doing it this way is going to go into new shocks

 

Just out of curiosity how did you seperate the front of the headlight from the rear? What self adhesive "mirror like foil" is out there? Thanks!

 

Many thanks for posting this dbtk44 - very useful and informative .. As Frankc has mentioned, I would be interested to know how you separated the glass from the plastic body because that is the bit I'm nervous of! It looks like you have made a very good job to me - and those of us who live in less sunnier climates appreciate the work. I suspect most UK lenses will end up with water streaks (as one of mine has) and if we can refurbish rather than replace, that is good.

cheers

 

Yes your right. I am from UK and have some minor marks inside. Certainly not going to use the alcohol to remove them though! I have heard of people baking their headlights in the oven to seperate them. Somehow sticking plastic in an oven does not thrill me. I am intending to do mine by the application of a heat gun and a few levers. Just wondering if there is a different solution out there.

I can't see a foil being stuck down working either, but hopefully I will not need any!

 

I actually didn't have to separate the glass piece from the plastic, as it had separated itself already on a nice sunny stretch of California highway. Apparently, the glass is held on to the plastic by double stick Foam-type tape from the factory; it degrades and gets weak with time and exposure to heat, expansion and contraction, etc. I'd be willing to bet the separation operation would be relatively simple with a heat gun and non-metal pry devices. I believe it's tempered glass, and a metal object along the edge could cause the glass to explode into a thousand pieces. As long as the heat source was kept moving and didn't stay in one spot too long, it would make quick work of the old tape I'm sure. I've also read of people just using an oven on a relatively low temp...honestly, it makes sense, as the plastic used is pretty stout and has to stand up to a lot of engine heat, halogen bulb heat, etc. You'd have to crank the oven up quite high just to even soften the plastic at all, much less melt it. I'd probably start at 95-105c ( 200-225 f ) and I bet the old crumbling adhesive will give up pretty easily in short order. And the tempered glass can take as much heat as a home oven can put out, and much, much more. I'd start low, give it ample time to heat up, and gradually work your temp up if it insists on holding.

Just to qualify my answers...I once worked in a plastic injection molding plant, and I remember the temps used are quite high. Also worked in a glass shop and dealt with many types of glass, including tempered. I busted a lot of tempered glass by hitting the edge with a screwdriver shaft. Hence my advice to use non-metal prying devices.
I'm giving serious thought to replacing the foam tape on the driver side glass in the coming weeks, and when I do I'll be sure and update this thread.

EDIT: XKRacer did it at 120c for 30 min.. See his post here

 

Thank You kg7657! See my reply to Frankc above. Honestly... just take your time and don't rush it, and you'll do great. Like I said, just avoid the use of metal prying devices around the glass, and start at a lower temp, and you should have no problems!

The problem with cleaning the inside of the housing, is that the silver deposit layer is micro-thin and shockingly easy to rub off ( unevenly, I might add ) with just finger pressure. Perhaps a stream of distilled water ( so no streaking or deposits ) might help clean the streaks off, but I honestly can't say for sure.

 

I can't remember what the process is called to apply the "chrome-like" layer inside the housing, but I did research it and as I recall, it involved relatively high heat. The oven idea is a sound one for what we are trying to do, I believe.

What kind of foil...good question! I hope you don't need it either Frank!
I know there are self-adhesive foils out there, I'll do some research when I have a moment and see what I can find.
It MAY sound hillbilly or bogan, or whatever you call 'em in the UK, but...aluminum foil and a suitable spray adhesive, if very carefully applied, would probably look more than decent and hold quite well. I would only do it in small sections though, not the entire inside of the housing.

 

A few things I should add...
when reattaching the glass to the housing, I used 3M 1/4" tape, would be 6 or 6.3mm in the UK I believe.


The glass has a ridge around the parameter, and the housing has a matching indentation; after cleaning the ridge and indentation with 91% alcohol, I applied the tape to the ridge of the glass, cutting it at the "tabs" ( you'll see them once you have the glass off ) and then continuing to the next tab, and so on. Centering the tape is a bit of a challenge, but working slow helps a lot. Pressing the tape down once it's where it should be, is something you need to do to help the adhesion to the glass. Getting the backing off the tape once it's placed, can be a REAL challenge. I suggest some high power reading glasses or a magnifying glass, and an Exacto knife with a nice sharp, fine tip. Even a sewing needle or pin would work, just has to be a very fine, pointed end.

Placing and adhering the glass to the housing isn't hard, but you have to make sure you're lined up just about perfectly..not hard to do, just take your time and make sure it lined up. Once it's properly placed, you'll need to give a good strong squeeze completely around the parameter, several times around; this helps the tape adhere much better. It's a "one shot" deal though, once the pieces are together you'd have to use heat to separate them again. I wish I'd thought to take pics of this part of the process, but when I do my other headlight I'll be sure to take some to post here.

 

Thanks for all that. I suspected that it was just double sided tape or foam holding the glass in place. I have a set of plastic trim removers. My plan is to heat up an area and try separating with a pry too and to leave it in place whilst I try the next area. Working my way around. I was even going to clean the insides with rubbing alcohol, NOT going to do that now Tried distilled water to no avail to get rid of some tiny interior marks.

Thanks for the info to about the 3M tape. I work in inches, too old for this silly metric stuff.

 

Sounds like a great plan Frank. WISH I knew a cleaning solution that would ignore the silvery layer!

It occurs to me that, absent the plastic trim removal tools, someone could make good use of guitar picks in this situation...I work on laptops and occasionally phones, and cheapo ( or just worn out ) guitar picks are indispensable in separating glass screens from double sided tape. By the dozen on Amazon, they're dirt cheap.

 

I had a similar situation when I was trying to remove the surround on my gear/shift stick. No guitar picks available so I used some old plastic hotel key cards, a plastic store card and an out of date credit card to push into the gaps when they opened up. Worked wonders

 

Much better option for the non-musicians