Carbon Fiber Wrapped Side Reflectors

[Jones2012s4]

Big thanks to Mike!(drob) for helping out with this mod.

Remove Headlight
Place in oven at 250 degrees F
Take out after 12 minutes
Separate housing from plastic lamp cover
Wrap reflector
Reverse steps

[drob23]

Looking good! Don't forget to remove electronics

Thanks right back at you for getting off those evil downpipe bolts...

[Okan509]

look good, I vote for heat gun, as opposed to baking though.

[JACKPAC]

look good, I vote for heat gun, as opposed to baking though.

I couldn't imagine doing that with a heat gun. Haven't taken apart my S4 lights, but did in my old RSX type S. It was hard enough to pry it apart without breaking anything. You need the seal around the entire light to be hot at the same time to get it started.

[Okan509]

I couldn't imagine doing that with a heat gun. Haven't taken apart my S4 lights, but did in my old RSX type S. It was hard enough to pry it apart without breaking anything. You need the seal around the entire light to be hot at the same time to get it started.

I wouldn't know anything about it.

[infinkc]

Big thanks to Mike!(drob) for helping out with this mod.

Remove Headlight
Place in oven at 250 degrees F
Take out after 12 minutes
Separate housing from plastic lamp cover
Wrap reflector
Reverse steps

Looks great, how hard was it to open up after heating in the oven? ive only used a heat gun to open the lights. Might have to try the oven now, but im scared.

[Epixman]

I wouldn't know anything about it.

Okan- that looks really good, any insight on what you did on your b8.5? I was thinking of buying e-codes, but I like the look of what you did.

[SteveYem]

Big thanks to Mike!(drob) for helping out with this mod.

Remove Headlight
Place in oven at 250 degrees F
Take out after 12 minutes
Separate housing from plastic lamp cover
Wrap reflector
Reverse steps

LOL, when I did my "j-code" reflector mod, the single most difficult part for me was removing the reflector from the housing so that I could paint it. I found the mounting clips very difficult to work with, and actually ended up cracking one of my reflectors when removing it.

Did you wrap the reflector while it was still mounted to the housing, or was the reflector removal step so easy for you that it doesn't appear as a step?
Not intending to insult or stir the pot, just trying to figure out why I had such a hard time removing those reflectors.

Finally - how does it look when the side marker light comes on? Completely opaque or does some light come through? Or did you VAG the side marker lights off?

[Jones2012s4]

Looks great, how hard was it to open up after heating in the oven? ive only used a heat gun to open the lights. Might have to try the oven now, but im scared.

Ridiculously easy, easier with two people. Remove from the oven using oven mitts, have one person hold the housing and the other pull straight up on the lamp cover, comes off so easily and evenly.

You have to remove the ballasts and the control module first from each housing. It saves a lot of time as we did both headlights in under an hour. We were taking our time to.

[SteveYem]

I couldn't imagine doing that with a heat gun. Haven't taken apart my S4 lights, but did in my old RSX type S. It was hard enough to pry it apart without breaking anything. You need the seal around the entire light to be hot at the same time to get it started.

I did mine with a heat gun. It takes a little while and some patience but it works. The problem I experienced, though, is that some areas of the black pastic outer housing surface got a little too hot and looked a bit wavy/crinkled (like the plastic melted a bit) due to holding the gun too close and/or for too long over certain spots, so you do have to have a somewhat steady hand to do the job with a heat gun and avoid any collateral damage. But, the affected surfaces are not visible from outside the car, and have no negative impact on the function of the lights, so I think it's a moot point.

[Jones2012s4]

I did mine with a heat gun. It takes a little while and some patience but it works. The problem I experienced, though, is that some areas of the black pastic outer housing surface got a little too hot and looked a bit wavy/crinkled (like the plastic melted a bit) due to holding the gun too close and/or for too long over certain spots, so you do have to have a somewhat steady hand to do the job with a heat gun and avoid any collateral damage. But, the affected surfaces are not visible from outside the car, and have no negative impact on the function of the lights, so I think it's a moot point.

This is why we opted for the oven. 250 degrees and everything is perfectly at home and comfortable at that temp.

[drob23]

I've done both methods for these headlights and think the oven is definitely the way to go. All the electronics/bulbs/ballasts...everything is removed. The only thing you *could* damage is the housing. But you're doing the same thing with the heat gun, arguably worse, because you have the gun turned up to a much higher temp. Even with the gun set to 400 on high, it took me about 40 minutes to remove one of my covers. It's annoying too because you have to always be moving it, so as to avoid melting a spot. It's also worse because the heat application isn't uniform, so some parts of the sealant will easily come off while another might be tricky. With the oven method, the whole thing slid off with about the force you'd need to push open your front door on a windy day.

[Webtoker]

Did you have to add anymore silicone in the reverse path? I remember doing this with my CL 10 years ago and had to add additional silicone to ensure a good seal. Otherwise the lenses would fog up.

[SteveYem]

I've done both methods for these headlights and think the oven is definitely the way to go. All the electronics/bulbs/ballasts...everything is removed. The only thing you *could* damage is the housing. But you're doing the same thing with the heat gun, arguably worse, because you have the gun turned up to a much higher temp. Even with the gun set to 400 on high, it took me about 40 minutes to remove one of my covers. It's annoying too because you have to always be moving it, so as to avoid melting a spot. It's also worse because the heat application isn't uniform, so some parts of the sealant will easily come off while another might be tricky. With the oven method, the whole thing slid off with about the force you'd need to push open your front door on a windy day.

Good to know.
Any tricks for easily removing the reflectors from the housings, or did you wrap them with the reflectors in place?

[SteveYem]

Did you have to add anymore adhesive in the reverse path? I remember doing this with my CL 10 years ago and had to add additional adhesive to ensure a good seal. Otherwise the lenses would fog up.

Technically it shouldn't be necessary to add more sealant because most, if not all, of the original black sealant remains on the housing when the lens is removed. Some will come off with the lens but you can either leave it there or remove it and stuff it into the mating groove in the housing. As long as you have a continuous bead of sealant in the groove when reassembling, and you use a heat gun to "reactivate" the sealing during reassembly, you shouldn't have any issues with moisture ingress.
That being said, I opted to add a healthy bead of clear automotive/marine RTV sealant around the outside of the housing-to-lens interface just to cover myself. It looks sloppy, but again it's all out of sight when the headlights are installed on the car (except for the top of the headlight which is visible with the hood open). I always keep an eye on the headlights, especially on humid/foggy days to see if there is any internal condensation, and so far I am ~16 months with no incidents.

[Jones2012s4]

Good to know.
Any tricks for easily removing the reflectors from the housings, or did you wrap them with the reflectors in place?

Very carefully, one clip at a time, in order. Then pull. They seem very weak but we managed to keep them all in tact, I used some decent force, obviously the warmer the better. Another reason the oven is good!

Did you have to add anymore silicone in the reverse path? I remember doing this with my CL 10 years ago and had to add additional silicone to ensure a good seal. Otherwise the lenses would fog up.

Honestly, I don't think we had to, but there was a single spot(different location for each headlight) where I thought there could be the possibility of a gap, so a very small amount was used.

[drob23]

Good to know.
Any tricks for easily removing the reflectors from the housings, or did you wrap them with the reflectors in place?

Jeff did it with a flat head and some careful patience, but I've read it can be pretty easy to break off tabs or crack the reflector. The B8.5 is another story, I did the wrap while it was stuck to a black trim piece, couldn't figure out how to take it off. You want to do the wrap with the reflector off if possible, so you can fold the vinyl underneath on each lower edge.

See this thread for a complete DIY (sans oven method) - http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...ont-reflectors

[Okan509]

I had no issues using a heat gun, and had each apart in less than 20 minutes. But whatever you feel more comfortable with.

Mine are wrapped in a brushed GM vinyl, for who asked.

[schirm]

Looks Great!!

[raudiace4]

How do you reseal the headlights?