Hi Guys,

So this is something i have been planning for a while and am finally getting around to doing, however was just wondering if anybody had done the same/had some advice.

I currently have LED bulbs in my headlights, which, yes, i know, i shouldn't because the beam pattern is non existent but can we please ignore legalities for 5 minuets

I have purchased some projectors to install so it creates a focused beam pattern, i just need to open the headlight unit itself. has anybody got any experience with baking headlights? It looks so easy on YouTube but i can just imagine the mrs coming home to me scraping melted headlight out of the oven.

U V11NNY said:

I have purchased some projectors to install so it creates a focused beam pattern, i just need to open the headlight unit itself. has anybody got any experience with baking headlights? It looks so easy on YouTube but i can just imagine the mrs coming home to me scraping melted headlight out of the oven.

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You need to be careful not to exceed the safe temperature of the plastic. Be wary of trusting the dial on the oven, and be aware that when first switched on, ovens generally go over the set temperature and then cool down to it.

Get a suitable thermometer, such as the sort used for jam making, and put it into an empty oven. Turn the oven on, and wait until the temperature has stabilised to a value you're comfortable with before putting in the headlight unit. (btw irons work the same way, which is why you should never try to iron anything with a freshly turned on iron - you need to let the temperature stabilise first).

And before you ask, I don't know what the safe temperature is - you'll have to work that out yourself. There'll likely be recycling marks on the housing to help you figure out what type of plastic it is; google should do the rest.

Good luck.

This has gone right over my head! [emoji848]

I have opened headlight units in the past, albeit on other makes. I used a heat gun & appropriate screw driver with great success. The heat gun method is far more controllable as you can gauge the heat right in front of you. Best of luck.

If you have projector lights then convert to hid my Mazda projector non hid are converted and the beam pattern is the same as before and the mot tester couldn't even tell.

How much testing has been done with the 500 and these hand glued in projector lenses? If the answer is less than several thousand by an experienced automotive lighting engineer then you should probably stop.

306maxi said:

How much testing has been done with the 500 and these hand glued in projector lenses? If the answer is less than several thousand by an experienced automotive lighting engineer then you should probably stop.

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“less than several thousand” what, exactly? Hours? Lumens?

FIAT fit projector lights to some versions of the 500, particularly in the USA and I think your Abarths in England have projector lamps (mine doesn’t, unfortunately). As long as the beams are set correctly and the right colour, I don’t see the problem. I quite like the idea of baking them to get them open! You could put in some hideous BMW-style Angel Eyes too...

On a related note I’ve seen Angel Eyes in red and it looked so dumb. I remember the Road Code saying that lights to the front must not be red - and a diagram showing a car with red headlights - I remember thinking “who would ever do that”, but twenty years later, there it was.

-Alex

alexGS said:

“less than several thousand” what, exactly? Hours? Lumens?

FIAT fit projector lights to some versions of the 500, particularly in the USA and I think your Abarths in England have projector lamps (mine doesn’t, unfortunately). As long as the beams are set correctly and the right colour, I don’t see the problem. I quite like the idea of baking them to get them open! You could put in some hideous BMW-style Angel Eyes too...

On a related note I’ve seen Angel Eyes in red and it looked so dumb. I remember the Road Code saying that lights to the front must not be red - and a diagram showing a car with red headlights - I remember thinking “who would ever do that”, but twenty years later, there it was.

-Alex

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Hours obviously!

Also, how do you “set” the beam? Presumably you’ll glue the projector lens in somehow and then it’s not adjustable?

The OP has said from the outset that they know what they're doing is illegal, and asked us to ignore that for 5 minutes.

They've now had their 5 minutes of fame, and we're not going to condone what I'm sure everyone who's posted knows quite well to be against UK & EU law by continuing to discuss this here.

Thread closed.