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Hightower HELP!!!

Q

qbcsvt

Hard-core CEG'er
Joined
Oct 12, 2006
Messages
3,145
Location
Up North New Jersey
Hey guys I cant seem to get the headlight apart into peices! I tried baking it to loosen the silicon. But while i try prying between the lense and the back cover the screw driver is going into the plastic feeling as if its going to break. Anyone have any advice on an easy way to do the hightower. Baking is not working for me any other ways I can do it????
 
You can do it the old fashioned way, with a dremel and a reinforced bit. Where you see the glue oozing out, you just cut along that line. It's basically a tongue and groove type fit, where you have to cut into the glue, but not through the tongue. Once you cut enough glue, you'll be able to pry the lense off.

Mark
 
I don't ahve the link anymore, but a search on the old forums under "hightower" should pull up a pic of exactly where to cut. Thats what I used, it's a pic of the light w/ a red line drawn showing exactly where to cut. And get the fiber reinforced cuutting wheels, they'll help alot.:cool:
 
the dremels coming out now this headlight is super faded and broken at the mounting tabs i just wan to do it as nice as possible so i can do it the right way on a pair of new headlights. Ill keep yall posted!
 
1. Well i got my drivers side Hightower light almost done. Sry its taking so long but HEH. What exactly do i use to put this crap back together. I was recommended DAP clear silicon from HOME DEPOT that holds n seals windows??? I have some and a caulking gun but need some more advice on how to close this HL up without worrying its gonna get water in it.

2. I tried hand wetsanding the passenger HL with 1000, 1500 and 2000 grit 3m auto sanding paper from Autozone(sanding with 1000,1500,2000 paper for about 20 - 30 minutes each) Rinsing and polishing with PLASTX and also tried Blue Magic or sumthing. It seems as if the HL "yellowish" haze came out but it still looks hazed in a form of clearish haze if that makes sense:shrug:. I would probably say looks frosted. Am i doing something wrong. Is there a machine that can speed up the process if im too quick. What to do what to do. Its a new CSVT and i wanna get the HLs on so i can take pics and post em up. I bought it from Rayn in NY.
 
You've got to do a LOT more sanding with the upper levels (smoother) than with the courser paper. Being smoother, it takes a lot less "material" off the headlight lense itself than the rough stuff will. equal time on each step is not going to cut it.

You will need to "even the playing field" with the rough grit., step up and "even the playing field" with the next grit (so that there are no "bigger" or "deeper" grooves anywhere.. they are all uniform)

Then move up again, and sand until there are all uniform scratches (that is, if you could use a microscope and look) you want to get rid of all of the deeper/longer gouges left by the rougher step before it. It will take progressively longer and longer with each step.
 
that along with spraying clear coat over it. my headlights looked hazed from the sanding but a good two coats of clear got rid of the lines now the just look "wet" all the time haha
 
Alot of people seem to forget that you need to go over the light with a mildly abrassive polish to smooth out the hazing left by sanding. There is where owning a buffer comes in handy.
 
qbcsvt said:
Hey guys I cant seem to get the headlight apart into peices! I tried baking it to loosen the silicon. But while i try prying between the lense and the back cover the screw driver is going into the plastic feeling as if its going to break. Anyone have any advice on an easy way to do the hightower. Baking is not working for me any other ways I can do it????
Click to expand...

If your screwdriver is going into the plastic your baking it tooo long. Go in intervals of 3min, 4min at the most. Use the screw driver to break the lense away from the housing. If the lense stops pulling away at any point you need to put it back into the oven for an additional 3min. It can be a fairly long process, but most of the time I can get the lights seperated in 4-5 bakings. Follow the how-to I posted and you should be fine. Many people have used it with success already.

The only problems you may run into are if you are baking apart aftermarket headlights, like DEPO lights for instance. DEPO lights use a TON of adhesive to keep the lense attached to the housing. When I did a set of DEPO lights it took about 10-15 bakings to get all of the glue out of the housings before I resealed the lense back on.

Don't rush it and you'll be fine.

qbcsvt said:
1. Well i got my drivers side Hightower light almost done. Sry its taking so long but HEH. What exactly do i use to put this crap back together. I was recommended DAP clear silicon from HOME DEPOT that holds n seals windows??? I have some and a caulking gun but need some more advice on how to close this HL up without worrying its gonna get water in it.
Click to expand...

DO NOT use window silicone. It will not work. I tried it in the past and after about a week the light started to show condensation in the lense. I use high temp RTV silicone to seal the lenses back up.
 
Jason43 said:
Alot of people seem to forget that you need to go over the light with a mildly abrassive polish to smooth out the hazing left by sanding. There is where owning a buffer comes in handy.
Click to expand...
Bingo. After sanding with 800 up through 2000 grit, I then used rubbing compound followed by polishing compound. Came out clear as glass.
 
you can alwyas try a heat gun instead of the oven method. I think I'm going to try this way when I do mine.
 
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