I don't have a heat gun

 

I seriously doubt that a hair dryer will work. I did my own taillights (with a heat gun) and the adhesive on the lights is really thick and gewy. The heat gun only costs around $15 at Home Depot.

 

Thanks for the quick reply

 

Yeah i started using 2 hairdryers for my taillights, but it wasn't hot enough to melt the adheisve.. heat gun is your best bet..

goodluck..

 

the front lights are glued in too? WTF?

 

145 degrees in the oven, comes apart like butta' Hangem' with twist ties off the metal.

 

Yea just go buy a heat gun. They are not expensive. I thnk I gave $40 for the monster top of the line one.

 

He means the circle style tail-lights.

 

buy it use it return it

 

Thanks for the advice.. heres what happend.

First I went to Walmart. A friend told me I could get one there for the cheapest.. So yeah I did.

I went to the Tools section, then I was sent to arts and crafts, then i was sent to paints. Nothing..

Then I drove to Lowes because it was a block away. Home Depot was 10 miles away, so Lowes was the best bet. After walking around for 20 minutes trying to find one or at least someone that could help me I talked to this guy that worked there. He said they didnt carry them..


SO off to Home Depot. I get there, walk around for another 20 minutes trying to find someone that can help me. Then I just followed a worker around as he helped 3 people before he got to me. I said "I need a heat gun", and he just says "Go to isle 3, walk down 20 feet and look to your left. they are on the top shelf." Haha so yeah, I found one. $24.99

Soo when I got back I started working on the lights.. And of course, I got pics:

 

 

The last two pictures are what they look like as of now, 1:17 in the morning. 2 coats. Well.. time to go put on the 3rd coat

 

You could have tried boiling it. I used this method when clearing out my stock front turn signals. However, you might run into a problem trying to find a pot big enough to fit the tailights in.

 

I would never have thought of that.

It's 3:41. I'm done.


All ready to be put back together tommorow morning

 

Did you say your Lowe's doesn't carry heat guns? Does your town have no paint what so ever? I've used my heat gun a ton for stripping paint (refinishing windows, stripping furniture, etc), and I wouldn't shop at a home improvement store that didn't carry one.

Another thing, the server your images are on isn't up, and I'd love to see your pics (I've seen the tutorial pics, but I'm always looking for more). Any idea when the server will be back up?

Thanks.

 

Must have gone down last night.. it's working now isnt it?


If it's not i'll send them to you through AIM, my screen name is 'Frosting'

 

Just finished completely, here's the rest of the pics:







The image quality really takes away from the finish of the lights, up close they look great. I'll get some night shots later this evening.

 

Nice job man! I have been wanting to do that since the day I bought my car but the only thing I am scared of is the separation process with the heat gun. I thought that the glue might stick to both pieces so when you take it apart one of the hanging ribbons might fall on one of the lights and then be impossible to take off. How easy was it to separate both glued components without the glue getting everywhere? You know what I just thought of too:
I work at a car company and just today we saw a problem with a van that had been sitting outside for a while. This very same glue seems to have some sort of break in the seal and the light was all fogged up on the inside...and there was actually a bit of water in there. I guess when you put the two parts back together you have to be sure to have a uniform strip of adhesive...has anyone run into this problem of fog in the lamps???

 

That is the hardest part of the whole thing, seperating the tail lights. The adhesive is VERY stringy and of course if you try to move it out of the way it gets stuck to you. As long as you are watching yourself, you will be fine. I'm not too worried about fogging or water, but if it does eventually become a problem i can always take them apart again and put a nice line of GOOP! around the edge. I dont think anyone should have doubts about doing this project, it was very easy and I'm pleased with the outcome.

 

I did mine last week, took me 5 hours from start to finish. I also masked the back of the lenses and painted the back in metallic silver.

I was shooting a fresh coat on every 5 mins, I think I mist have laid down about 20 thin coats and 2 heavy ones toward the end.

I got my heatgun at Lowes though. Usually in the paint section.