Technical How To Remove Headlight Lense Cover - 04reg Punto

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Technical How To Remove Headlight Lense Cover - 04reg Punto

boothy01

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Ok then guys, this is probably going to be quite an interesting one for you...

Ive just bought some BMW angel eye CCFLs, which will go great in the car and shoudl work no problem....that is, if I can get the blasted lense cover off the car!

Its a mk3 04reg Punto Active Sport (with the giant headlamps), and I don't seem to be able to find a way to get inside the headlamps at all, as these things need to be mouted upon the outside rings (internally).....ur good if you know what I mean from that description!.

Basically, how do I get the see-thru plastic cover off the headlamps so I can get into the insides of the headlamps.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated as I am dieing to get these thigns in and working....stoopid obsticles trying to stop me!

Thansk guys,

Boothy01
 
I am not 100% sure but I am certain that the headlamp units are a sealed part. You can't take any of it apart without breaking it.

I may be wrong? Somebody else may have the right answer :)
 
I have to be honest, that was the same conclusion I was coming to as I could see black sealant all around the light - that puts a dampner on my problem. Do you reckon its something a decent car-modding shop would be able to take apart, fit these angel eyes and then put it all back togetehr perfectly?
Oh dear.....

Can anyone else confirm this before I go hit my heard off the wall?....
 
You could go to a scrap yard and buy a second hand unit and try your best at getting it apart. That way if you destroy the light unit it's only a 'practice unit' but if you find out how to get it all apart you can then go ahead and do it on the final unit.

Any good car repair shop/garage would (if it can be done) strip down the unit for you.
 
Well Im going to have a proper play with it mine tomorrow night n take the unit out n see if it is definately sealed, then work out the best option from there- Ill let you all know how it goes, cos lets face it, i bet I wont be the first or the last person to ever want to do soemthign like this....

Thanks for your help ne1l!
 
Ok then, so tried to get the headlights out today - absolutely no luck. We tried removing the driver side one (cos it looked the easiest - turns out it wasnt!), and we did a good job of removing 2 obvious bolts, but the far outside end wouldnt come out. Anyone got any ideas on how to remove these light modules because without being able to do this, I obviously can't work out if they're sealed.

Poo Poo - I was soo looking forward to getting these done tonight....
 
Right then, so we managed to get the stoopid bumper off now so we could get to the stupid hidden screw to remove the entire healdight unit.

Does anyone have any ideas how to break the seal on the lights without damaging them, and whats the best stuff to use to seal them up again?

I seem to remember reading somewhere that someone placed it in an electric oven for 10-15mins and that released the seal, then use some silicone sealant to seal them up again. Does this sound about right, or am I being VERY gullable and stupid here?

Any help appreciated...want to get cracking iwht it tomorrow.....

Thx :)
 
not sure if this helps. But heating the black glue will make it more gooey, you should be able to CAREFULLY remove the lense from it... I believe dave has a technique that envolves an oven!

TIP: Don't go to daves for sunday roast!
 
Great stuff guys - thanx.
Shall be giving it a try today....whats the worst that can I happen...I screw my lights up? LOL!

Ill let you know how we get on, and all I can say is, Id better have these flippin Angel Eyes in and working by the end of the day! (they look sooo good when we just tried them....it's teasing me!)
 
anyone had luck removing these plastic lens covers?

The cinq/seicento headlamps have glass fronts so maybe are more tolerant to the heat, though having just tried a heatgun on a spare Stilo headlamp, the black plastic stuff was melting before the transparent plastic. However, the black goo is different to the Cinq/Sei which has grey goo, not sure if other properties are different
 
anyone had luck removing these plastic lens covers?

The cinq/seicento headlamps have glass fronts so maybe are more tolerant to the heat, though having just tried a heatgun on a spare Stilo headlamp, the black plastic stuff was melting before the transparent plastic. However, the black goo is different to the Cinq/Sei which has grey goo, not sure if other properties are different

I put a chip of the punto headlight glue on the kitchen hot ring. It was smoking with no sign of it melting.


I washed the inside of my electric motor headlights with the clear plastic facing down - swirling it around for a while - and then dried them at 40C. had no structural/electrical problems with the headlights since then. They were cleaner but it could be better.
 
Ok then guys, this is probably going to be quite an interesting one for you...

Ive just bought some BMW angel eye CCFLs, which will go great in the car and shoudl work no problem....that is, if I can get the blasted lense cover off the car!

Its a mk3 04reg Punto Active Sport (with the giant headlamps), and I don't seem to be able to find a way to get inside the headlamps at all, as these things need to be mouted upon the outside rings (internally).....ur good if you know what I mean from that description!.

Basically, how do I get the see-thru plastic cover off the headlamps so I can get into the insides of the headlamps.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated as I am dieing to get these thigns in and working....stoopid obsticles trying to stop me!

Thansk guys,

Boothy01


Dremmel around the edges, then use silicone to seal up afterwards :)


 
have you installed projectors yourself? What type/brand etc?

Initially I just wanted to black out the ridged horizontal silvery bits at the front as they seem to cause most of the glare my LEDs bulbs are giving out, but in the search I discovered retrofit HID projectors, and then LED projectors either of which could be the answer (apart from self-levelling and lampwashers....).
 
have you installed projectors yourself? What type/brand etc?

Initially I just wanted to black out the ridged horizontal silvery bits at the front as they seem to cause most of the glare my LEDs bulbs are giving out, but in the search I discovered retrofit HID projectors, and then LED projectors either of which could be the answer (apart from self-levelling and lampwashers....).


Originally I just blacked them out which still transformed the look of the car (as below)





I made the mistake of having HIDs in the reflective housing but this dazzled other drivers so I removed them and decided to fit halos instead.


All I did was fit RGB halo rings and attached them to a Bluetooth controller so I could change the colours etc. These were the rings mentioned further back in this thread.


The black housing and the halos really changed the look of the car.
 
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