Yikes!!

I thought about doing this my self, but after seeing what it would cost if I screwed things up.....probably not...lol

Ive owned several BMW E46's and those headlights are serviceable, you can unclip the lens from the housing and paint anything. Ive done this on all the ones I owned so I have a bit of experience painting headlight parts.

One thing I can say about the out-gassing, it is most likely the type of paint they used or it could also be the silicon sealant.

 

In that case... As I am contemplating putting mine together.

Any recommendations infamous dew ?

As far as silicone or sealing?

 

If my memory servers me correctly, it was a small diameter butyl tape.
This is what a lot of OEM manufactures use.

 

How was the separation of the lens from the housing with the factory sealant? was it just Like Steve's video or do you have any additional comments or tips?

 

I didn't watch the video. I did one at a time. oven at 215 for 20 minutes. I use a small prybar, an exacto type flip open pocket knife and then I have one of those plexiglass cutters...used that too.

It took a couple times baking each one to get all the way around.

I was able to cut out a lot of epoxy too, so thats good.

I saw one thread where someone used window weld to glue them back. I like the idea of silicone bc if I don't get a great seal, I can redo it.

Im not sure about the tape idea, because there is still some remanent of the epoxy and I don't see it flowing well around to seal it.

 

Thanks for the feedback might try this this weekend.

 

I have a body shop putting 4+ hours into each headlight to try and make them right. He is telling me they will eventually come out great, but he had to strip all the paint and do a ton of work. Still havent seen them yet. In the meantime, I got a set of used lights that are in...

After all this, honestly, I may not even end up using the painted lights. Stockers look great!

 

After more research...maybe I will try the tape. Apparently it flows a bit when heated up and does not put off the vinegar type gas that some silicone sealants do.

 

I used simple black silicone and have had no issue with the lenses fogging. This is after being installed on my car for four months.

The channel that the lens sits in is pretty large and takes a lot of silicone to fill the channel before assembly.

For reference, one tube of silicone was not enough.

Later, Steve

 

That is an accurate statement.
This is why people use it instead of silicone.

 

Is it better if I put the tape on the edge of the housing that goes into the slot, or the slot itself?

Then what? push it in and then heat it up in the oven for a bit to get it squishy?

Any tips?

 

I do NOT recommend using black silicone, I unfortunately will have to take mine apart AGAIN. I subsequently did a alot of research, you want to use the Butyl sealant tape to reseal the headlights. The haze on the inside of the lens can be caused by not only paint gassing but the silicone. I waited about a MONTH before resealing, and I still developed a light haze which was caused by the silicone sealant. If you are picky, you will NOT be happy. Use Butyl tape, my research showed that others had issues with silicone as well.

This has ended up being a complete pain in the *** for me, still hoping to salvage the lights, but I'm not so sure. Hopefully I don't have to repaint again.

 

Done. I'm about 85% happy. I think the turn signal tint is too dark. It shines orange through but not much.

 

If you're looking to eliminate the orange from peeking through, try these...

 

Not at all. The lenses are tinted. I need a bright bulb to shine through the tint.