S3 headlight painting mod

SwedeS3

SwedeS3

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Ok guys, i need some advice, while my car is in bits to fit intercooler, i was thinking of doing some modsand am sitting here with my lights on the kitchen table and trying to get the courage to paint them, has anyone painted the inside of their lights, like the picture in the link

220902-220902-Joey%20close%20up%20side%20%28Medium%29.jpg


Has anyone on here done this, and what do people think, would this work, my car is ebony black so i was thinking it would make the lights look good?

cheers

Swede:uhm:
 
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I painted the grey bits black on the inside of the headlight make them look a bit darker but not ott.
Imo the fully painted out lights look a bit tacky?
 
cheers, i was toying with just painting the front bit of crome and leaving the actual light back bit, ie the grey bits.
what would that look like?
 
SwedeS3 said:
cheers, i was toying with just painting the front bit of crome and leaving the actual light back bit, ie the grey bits.
what would that look like?
Click to expand...

This mite look different?
The lights are a bit of a pain to get the lenses of though, i found the best way was to put them in a warmed oven to losen the silicon.
Let me know how you get on.:thumbsup:
 
Any car Ive seen done look good but the indicators might look funny on the 8L mate.

mate of mine done it on his evo7 and it looks great.
 
Ive done this to my S3. Dismantled the headlight and sprayed all the chromey bits 'Audi silver'. In my opinion they look very good. Not OTT but nice and subtle.
 
Mo-S3 said:
Ive done this to my S3. Dismantled the headlight and sprayed all the chromey bits 'Audi silver'. In my opinion they look very good. Not OTT but nice and subtle.
Click to expand...

cool, how easy was it to take them apart and get to the bits to paint, mine are still sat on the kitchen table as cant decide to do it or not, as dont want to buy new ones if they look crap.

cheers

(ps do you have any photo's)
 
im interested in doin this too, so im looking forward to the outcome of this thread. good post! :)
 
Sorry no photos at the moment as im looking to get a new camera. There are 2 ways to disasemble the headlamps either put them in a preheated oven for about 3mins( dont wait until they go golden brown) or use a hot air gun and heat the seal up.
The seal becomes tacky and allows you to carefully pry the lens away from the back unit. You will need to use some wide blade tools to aid this.
Mark the tops of the inner lamps with a pencil as to where they sit in relation to the outer casing so that you can put them back together without having too many issues with the alignment.
Then unscrew the inner unit completely from the outer casing by undoing the 2 philips screws on top that are used to level the headlamps. Remember you will need to remove the motor before you do this.
Once the inner unit is out remove the bulbs and store them away in a safe place.
The chrome area can be removed easily by pulling three tabs along its edge out of its black seal.
Also remove the smaller chrome part by undoing 3 screws on the back of the lense area.
Rub down with a scotch pad or similar. Clean any residue and apply 2-3 coats of silver colour.
Reassemble the headlamp and heat the seal and push the lense back on.

Is this clear? if not then feel free to ask.

I will try to get some pictures for you very soon if you wish
 
Mo-s3, your a star :yahoo:

thank you, that sounds straight forward enough, i think i'll bite the bullet and do it, what the hell.

Cheers dude
 
Your welcome. A few other pointers..
1. Be careful when removing the motors and dont break the small clips like i did( had to make some new ones)
2. Make sure you clean the bulbs with white spirit when you refit them just incase they may have touched your skin.
3. Definately mark the orignal settiing when you have removed the lense so that you can refit them in nearly the same place.
4. Get the alignment corrected after they have been refitted in the car.

If you get stuck just ask me.
 
Just a quick one guys. Do you have to remove the bumper to take the head lights out?

If so how hard was it?
 
****** hell, that was scarey, first one came apart really easily, but second one was slightley undercooked so had to go back in oven again LOL :icon_thumright:

Mo how do you remove the motors? do they just twist round and out like the indicator bulb?

I have 2 headlights in bits all over my kitchen ( i must be crazy) and another one mate what did you do when sticking them back together, did you use silicon sealent or just heat them up again and stick together?

 
Bioharry: Dont need to fully remove the bumper. Just the top 4 clips and the torx screws along the wheel liner edge.

Yes untwist the motors and then tilt them to an angle and GENTLY pull them out. They are a ball and socket type fitting. What happens is if you pull them too sharply or hard the plastic fitting clip breaks in half. And no its not available seperately from Audi.
You will see what they look like when you take the back cover off and have a peer inside with a torch.
I didnt use silicone sealant to reseal them. Just heated them back up until they got very tacky and pushed the lense back on.
When you have done spraying the chrome parts. The one that sits back in the main unit and is held in by the rubber seal; make sure you put some seal back over the little tabs when you reseat it so that its fully sealed again when the lense goes back on.
 
LOL funny things is that i did both of mine in the kitchen too.
Do you have a Dremel??

@ Bioharry, the headlights are quite easy to remove. 2 bolts on the top and they will come out with a bit of jiggly pokery.
 
no mate don't have sremmel, why do you ask?

gas mark 4 and kitchen knife Lol
 
Just want to add in case anyone misunderstands: Dont spray the reflecters around the bulbs otherwise your fecked!
 
Reason why i asked was once you have the chrome parts out, using a dremel with a nylon brush fitted is brilliant at dulling the chrome surface in prep for painting. Otherwise it can be a bit tedious getting into all the little confined areas.
 
Mo-S3 said:
Reason why i asked was once you have the chrome parts out, using a dremel with a nylon brush fitted is brilliant at dulling the chrome surface in prep for painting. Otherwise it can be a bit tedious getting into all the little confined areas.
Click to expand...

good advice, cheers, trying not to do them now or it will be ****** late night, but cant stop tinkering, Lol
 
cheers Mo, they look good. did you paint all the crome parts?

I was thinking of just doing the main 2 crome parts but leave the actual lens bits that are grey as dont want to screw up the lenses by masking etc
 
No, i just painted the two chrome parts in the bottom left of the 2nd picture. Hence the reason why i used 'Audi Silver' paint so i didnt want to mask the reflector areas.
 
Mo-S3 said:
No, i just painted the two chrome parts in the bottom left of the 2nd picture. Hence the reason why i used 'Audi Silver' paint so i didnt want to mask the reflector areas.
Click to expand...

well im just rubbing them down now so there is no going back, im just goinbg to paint the same 2 peices black and see how the main reflectors look with it, i think they should be ok.

(wish i had dremmel like you said, god they are fiddly lol).

DSC00042a.jpg
 
Might be worth getting one of the cheaper ones from Argos or B&Q for around £15-£20. Save a lot of hassle and time.
 
Mo-S3 said:
Just been out in the cold(very) and taken some pics on the camera phone and added some pics to my gallery. See here: http://www.audi-sport.net/vb/vbpicgallery.php?do=hall&u=115

Hope they are clear enough for you to see.
Click to expand...

They look really good in silver.
Im tempted to spray the front chrome bit black to match the reflecter surrounds on mine now?
(plus if i mess it up ive got 2 lamps spare;) )
 
ok guys,i have finished the first light, but run out of paint for the second one doh!!

As you can see i didnt paint the actual grey bits on the lights as i didnt want to mess up the reflectors.

I really like them, What do you think??

:rockwoot:







 
ChriS3 said:
Top job mate. Now you have the headlights out, you might as well get some chrome indicator bulbs in there and lose the fried egg look :)
Click to expand...


I agree & the additional of some LED sidelights to.
 
Wow, how convenient is this post. Next week i will be taking my non-HID headlamps apart in an attempt to fit S3 projector units in the place of my non-HID ones so that the projectors accept the standard xenon bulbs, these pics will be very useful, i'll have to make sure i save the images when i get home later on! Very brave taking those expensive lights apart, good job though!
 
cheers for feedback guys.

Just got second light to do then there both done, wasn't that hard to do, just got the old black and decker sander out with a scotch bright attachment and dulled down all the crome, paint job could of been a bit better, but i dont have the patience to paint, rubdown, paint rubdown etc. gave them a good 3 coats.

Cant wait to get my car sorted and get them fitted to see what the look like, i also fitted led side lights and am seriously thinking of painting the crome grill surround and maybe fitting a splitter.

Just a couple of cheap mods, but makes front end a bit better.

:yahoo: :yahoo:

Ps. think ill also try to find some crome indicators aswell Lol
 
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