plastic lens removal?

can the plastic lens on the outside of the headlights be removed safely for cleaning? mine seems to have quite a bit of road grime inside? odd? what a person to do?

Originally posted by siegeliv
can the plastic lens on the outside of the headlights be removed safely for cleaning? mine seems to have quite a bit of road grime inside? odd? what a person to do?

I dont believe it can be removed without cutting it off then re attaching it. I may be wrong though. I have quite a bit of grime in mine as well. As well as some spider webs

[mohrds]

<<can the plastic lens on the outside of the headlights be removed safely for cleaning? mine seems to have quite a bit of road grime inside? odd? what a person to do?>>

It cannot be removed easily. It is epoxied on to the assembly.

You can clean the outside with Novus or Brasso and some say the inside can be cleaned with spray in electronics cleaner. You have to remove the assembly from the car, remove all the bulbs, spray in the cleaner and shake it around.

I am working on a replacement glass headlamp assembly. I'm hoping that I'll have a prototype ready by April.

Doug

[Never2phat]

Doug,

I know very little about epoxy. Does it chemically bond the two together? Does it "relax" if heated? Sort of like tar on a hot day?

With my passenger side headlight assembly being replaced with a new one I thought I would/could experiment to see if the two could be safely seperated and then rejoined w/o damage. Any thoughts? Do the clips around the two parts atleast come off easily?

B.C.

P.S. It's kinda funny....... On my original insurance estimate the adjuster gave me $369.95 to replace the ever so slightly scuffed "right lens and housing" (w/ .7 hour to install and .6 hour to aim = an extra $40.00+) but would only give me $365.00 for the windshield and nothing figured in for labor. Makes ya wonder where they get their price lists from sometimes

[Beav]

I've noticed for years that the windshield biz is pretty flaky. Most insurers have deals worked out with various suppliers and installers. I believe it all started with the glass companies advertising the 'We'll cover your deductible..." routine. Now it's grown into a payola type situation where the larger insurance companies dictate to the glass and body shops how much they'll pay for the work. If you, as a shop owner, don't like it, fine, we'll not steer any business your way and you'll find it next to impossible to file an addendum to your estimate. Just a few years ago St**e F**m got busted big-time in Texas for all kinds of wrong-doings, telling customers they had to take their car to XYZ for repairs, using cheap, unsafe body parts, etc.

Beav

[vkykam]

Not to be defending St**e F**m, but St**e F**m DID give me $4k CDN over and above what the car was actually worth.

So I've got no gripes against them.

The car? A 95 Legacy FWD that was written off in August 1999.

VK

Originally posted by Beav
Just a few years ago St**e F**m got busted big-time in Texas for all kinds of wrong-doings, telling customers they had to take their car to XYZ for repairs, using cheap, unsafe body parts, etc.

Beav

[Beav]

I've done biz with them for years, mostly without problem. I was just using them as an example.

Beav

[mohrds]

<<Not to be defending St**e F**m, but St**e F**m DID give me $4k CDN over and above what the car was actually worth.>>

It completely depends on the adjuster. Some adjusters understand and appreciate people's bond with their cars, others don't.

Back when I was in the body shop, the St**e F**m adjusters were on average the most ruthless in price cuts. They had a *policy* that once a car is 2 years old, it requires aftermarket parts whenever available. According to the adjusters, it was what was in the policyowner's contract.

I had a simple method for dealing with the adjusters.

I would call the customer and explain to them what needed to be repaired to ensure their saftey, then tell them what the adjuster considers a "good enough" repair, then tell them that if they want a safe repair, to call their agent and let their agent deal with the adjuster.

It is still my opinion to this day that your agent should be your ONE point of contact no matter who is at fault for the accident.

For example, when I was rear ended several years ago, the corporate office contacted me giving me the responsible parties insurance adjuster's contact info. I called my agent and said I'd prefer you to handle this. He took action, had MY insurance company repair the car where I wanted it repaired under my collision coverage, then simply sent an cross company transfer request to get fully reimbursed from the other company.

He said (my agent) it is a pretty common business transaction, if you know enough to ask your agent to do it as most are too lazy to offer up that service for their customers.

Doug

[mohrds]

Originally posted by Never2phat
Doug,

I know very little about epoxy. Does it chemically bond the two together? Does it "relax" if heated? Sort of like tar on a hot day?

I haven't looked at the headlight epoxy lately, but I recall it being a hardened type. The factory process involves heating the parts while curing to form a very hard substance that will not stretch or relax.

As for the clips, they are installed while the epoxy is still wet and are designed to hold the lens in alignment until cured but often get epoxied to the assembly. So, sometimes they pop right off, other times they have to be cut off.

The best chance to separate them is with an abrasive cutting wheel. I'm planning to use a pneumatic cut off tool with a 0.045" thick fiberglass wheel and see how that does.

Doug

[wawazat??]

Originally posted by mohrds


I haven't looked at the headlight epoxy lately, but I recall it being a hardened type. The factory process involves heating the parts while curing to form a very hard substance that will not stretch or relax.

As for the clips, they are installed while the epoxy is still wet and are designed to hold the lens in alignment until cured but often get epoxied to the assembly. So, sometimes they pop right off, other times they have to be cut off.

The best chance to separate them is with an abrasive cutting wheel. I'm planning to use a pneumatic cut off tool with a 0.045" thick fiberglass wheel and see how that does.

Doug

The epoxy adhesive is thermosetting or crosslinking type whihc will not soften with heat.

Doug,
If you've ever tried to cut plastic witha Dremel tool it can be interesting. The material melts around the blade and then re-freezes and solidifies on the back side of the cut. A thicker wheel will help with the cut.

[mohrds]

<<If you've ever tried to cut plastic witha Dremel tool it can be interesting. The material melts around the blade and then re-freezes and solidifies on the back side of the cut. A thicker wheel will help with the cut.>>

I'm not using a Dremel. I'm using a 3 inch pneumatic cutting tool with a trailing blade. I should take a picture of it because it is hard to explain. Basically it is a standard pneumatic rotary cut off tool that has a metal blade attached to the rear of the shield.

It looks like a razor blade that is attached to the rear of the tool. It follows through the line you cut and keeps the material from fusing back together while it cools.

It is designed for cutting off plastic panels on the Saturn type cars. It works very well on most plastics. I think it's made by Chicago Pneumatic.

Doug