DIY amber lens for civic

[newmski]

Disclaimer: The following is provided as a GUIDE ONLY, and neither myself nor Ozhonda take any responsibility for the outcomes of someone else doing the following. You follow these steps at your own risk!


Aim: To get your corners amber for 15$

Required: *Amber lens dye. (i got this from autobarn)
*oven
*silicon
*somthing to pry with

Steps: ok this is for and eg,
1. pop your bonnet and remove the bulb with assembly with a simple twist and the screw holding your corner in.

2. slide out your corner by pulling foward

3. Preheat your oven to 120 and while your doing this get a tray and a damp cloth. place the damp cloth over the tray and put your corner (do one at a time) on it. chuck it in the oven for about 10 minutes. note i say 10 minutes but you need to keep a constant eye on it if you notice the lens warping take it outa thur.

4. ok take her out and somthing like a butter knife and try to pry one corner of the coner lens from its housing. Once you pry a little bit the rest comes of easy (kind of a tearing paper sound). if you cant pry it off chuck it in the oven for a little longer. important : dont apply any great force to the lens face while really hot as it can warp. so hold it with mittens or somthing by the housing.

5. now we can start painting. If you want you can give the inside a quick clean but i didnt bother. shake your lens dye really well and apply even lights coats leaving 20 or so minutes in between coat. when tac dry. place it over your housing again to reveal it true colour.

6. when ur happy with the depth of colour apply silicon to the edges make sure you get a decent amount and no gaps and hold it in place ( i wrapped in in a towel tightly)

7. repeat for other lens matching the colour to ur 1st one and refit them to your car when dry.

8. reattatch bulbs and check they both work.
http://img85.imageshack.us/img85/5140/amber001smallad0.jpghttp://img81.imageshack.us/img81/1756/amer002kp5.jpg



Other comments

mine turned out better than i had ever hoped oh and dont go washing ur car straight away eather let them dry for at least a day.

[VTC-8OY]

looks hella sweet. gona do it to my stock sidies now

[bigjo5]

great d.i.y dude.. now pplz dont have to buy them for $50 a pair lol.. *thumbs up..

[L-Plates]

ahhh thats good....
nice writeup

[AsH_]

hmmmzzz... im still contemplating doing that 2 my EG...
i got clear lenses and my car is a dark metalic blue w/light pearl... i was told its a bmw m3 dark blue...

wat do u finkz ppl???
i need some ppl 2 persuade me in doin this... cant decide...
pix might help...

[aimre]

What happens if u do it to the outside?

[G-Stick]

nothing will happen. it does the same job, but u have to put clear coat on

[jdmlvn]

Beautiful.

[TYPE-ONE]

looks good. now to source the dye.

[AsH_]

any1 done thiS?? wanna hear some resultz...

[G-Stick]

yea ive done this a couple of months back. but i did it on the outside. it was a 2 min job. but i didnt put a clear coat on it and now its starting to fade abit. but if u add clear coat on it, it should be fine

[AsH_]

awesome!!

[G-Stick]

just remember to clean it with metho . espically where the words are

[honda_ek4]

are we able to remove the plastic part of the headlight using a blowdriver and a flat head screw driver? just like how they did it in the ek9 headlight style thread?

[AsH_]

use a hairdryer???

i got clear lenses on my EG, still duno wat 2 do...
its like a big decision 4 me...

[honda_ek4]

i did this diy today for my friend..
didnt even need to use an oven, just shoved a flat head screwdriver into the gap and poked it around (did this around the cover) and just opened it out slowly..
-be careful if you do it this way tho because you may easily crack or chip the cover..

the result was great in the end..
pix will be up sometime tomorrow

[dundas]

when silicon it.. what type of silicon did you guys use?

[honda_ek4]

when silicon it.. what type of silicon did you guys use?

some random one
roof and gutter..had it lying around my house so didnt wanr waste money buying some other hektic one...lol
as long as its waterproof it should be fine i would say..
i used them on my diy ctr headlights to

-sealing the cover up for the eg amber corners was easy as:thumbsup:

[TYPE-ONE]

Is anyone willing to ship a few cans of that stuff to perth?

[bigjo5]

did this on the weekend .. came out great. but i sprayed too many layers of the orange dye.. so it looks really bright orange then the usual yellowish orange.. but i still like it.. doesnt bother me.

[zel05]

i tried it on the weekend too and cracked my lens...Needless to say, i suck and will be buying them now instead :p

[bigjo5]

i tried it on the weekend too and cracked my lens...Needless to say, i suck and will be buying them now instead :p

lol i sprayed the outside but i did it properly... sanded it down abit wiht some 400 sand paper slightly so then dye will stick on to it and not flake off

[zel05]

got pics?

either way i will have to buy a new set, so i might as well buy the finished product...lol

[Honda_EG5VTi]

Is dere nefing dat i can use 2 remove the lens dye? i "DIY"ed the corners bak in january n i wanna remove d lens dye bak 2 d stock clear corners, any suggestions???

[blu3illusion84]

have anyone done this to the ek?

[baeshin]

i jus went autobahn n got some amber dye but the only thing they had was the one with the brush so i thought the hell only 12bux ill jus grab it

only 13ml it lasts but the lil brush they giv u fahh hard to get even coats

better to get the spray if u can get a hold of it

[dzyn3]

i think this is what my mate done to my del sol for me. *points to his dp*

[hai]

Hey top-stuff dude

I tryed it on my friends eg5 but instead of a spray,
we had the liquid one's where you use the dye like nail polish
but although it looked abit darker but it worked out fine


keep up the good work !

[VTEC@14.7psi]

what do you use to stick the lens back on? the silicon is for water proofing too right? or is that making the edges sticky again?

Great DIY

[trism]

the silicons sticks the lens back on

[VTEC@14.7psi]

thanks :thumbsup:

[chickeneg3]

i did this the other day to my eg hatch, i think i put too many layers on so now its too dark, i want to take the dye off and do it again, i used the spray by the way, does anyone know how to REMOVE the dye? ( i just sprayed on outside and clear coated).

[na-118]

just buy new ones from shift man 50 bucks

[quangsuke]

i did this the other day to my eg hatch, i think i put too many layers on so now its too dark, i want to take the dye off and do it again, i used the spray by the way, does anyone know how to REMOVE the dye? ( i just sprayed on outside and clear coated).


Is dere nefing dat i can use 2 remove the lens dye? i "DIY"ed the corners bak in january n i wanna remove d lens dye bak 2 d stock clear corners, any suggestions???


heard petrol works pretty good removing the dye. hope that helps.

[chickeneg3]

thanks man but i think wet sand then polish will do the trick

[Latino CRX]

i had to sand( really lite grit waterproof sand paper) all amber off my crx parkers ... they went like shit afterwhile look like either acid was poored on it or someone took a piss on them ... but at first wen applied looked good just after while of constant re applyin got annoying and making them look worse ..

but awesome write up tho dude .. :)

[sPoOnD_]

yeah did this to me EG too, did it on the outside without clear coat, and now its fading and look shit. i used turps and metho, not getting off. what do u guys recommend?

[na-118]

recommend you invest 50 bucks and just buy it

[vodkashot]

recommend you invest 50 bucks and just buy it

Agreed upon.

[Spoon-Accord]

here is mine

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v216/spoon-accord/IMG_0394.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v216/spoon-accord/IMG_0395.jpg

advice would be, shove the can in a jug of hot water, to the paint inside breaks down,
i found it easier to spray and it doesnt drip or overspray much

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v216/spoon-accord/P1000953.jpg

[Latino CRX]

kenny bro always love ya crx brudda :)

[androo]

Hey guys,

I was thinking of spraying my DC2 corners amber (but the inside). How many of you have sprayed the inside of your corners and how have they held up?

I know that if you spray the outside they go bad pretty quick, but I'm more interested on the inside.

newmski how's your eg's corners holding up?

Thanks guys let me know!

[m.o.d.aus]

Hey man, did the inside of my corners, holding up great! No fading etc.
No clear coat or anything, just the lense dye.
Give it a good, should work out a treat :D

[androo]

Sounds good! That's what I wanted to hear. I've seen wayyy to many faded ones (painted on the outside). I was planning on picking some dye up tomorrow - What brand did you use? And how long have you had?

I'll do a write up for the DC2. Any other input from anyone would be great! If possible state how long you've had it done for and brand of tint!

Now... Gotta figure out how to open the lenses without breaking them! Thanks for your reply!

[butter]

heard petrol works pretty good removing the dye. hope that helps.

Hey all, i've got the same problem. Sprayed on too much and it came out red. (Painted the inside) I tried to sand it off, but no luck. This is the results.

HELP PLEASE!

Left: Non sanded
Right: Sanded
http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/3892/ambercornersdiyfix01.jpg

See how dark it gets?
http://img444.imageshack.us/img444/2255/ambercornersdiyfix02.jpg

Inside of the sanded one
http://img199.imageshack.us/img199/3662/ambercornersdiyfix07.jpg

Closer View of inside sanded one
http://img192.imageshack.us/img192/2817/ambercornersdiyfix08.jpg

Inside of Non-sanded one. You can see how badly I've over sprayed it.
http://img203.imageshack.us/img203/7976/ambercornersdiyfix09.jpg

Tips for anyone doing this - LIGHT COATS = LIGHT COATS! AS IT DRIES, IT GETS DARKER!

Any idea how to remove it? I've tried Methylated spirits and acetone with no luck. Where would i get suitable petrol from? I haven't tried petrol yet... What do you mean by petrol exactly? Pour it on, let it sink in and scrub it off? The problem I'm having is the shape of the surface (wavy), makes it hard to sand off in-between the dips.

butter

[xenonkuraz]

yo butter. did you swap the head lights already?

[butter]

xenonkuraz:
nah, just the corners - need to take off the bumper and diy black house the headlights. might go down to east side (pengas place) next sunday to get him to help me. you and namtaro down? :)

[xenonkuraz]

I'll in the south east on sundays so yeah why not

[cihanvtec]

try prepsol dude!! it removed the spray tint on my tail lights.. but if youve got a clear coat on it it wont work! a can of prepsol cost me 8 bux at auto1.

btw butter, whered u get the amber dye? i cant find it anywhere!! autobarn told me to go bristol!! loll

[butter]

cihanvtec: Super Cheap Auto (Highpoint) to me it was illegal to stock - so they told me to go to Autobarn. I got it from the Autobarn in Sunshine. For some reason, its in the same area as tail lights / bumper lights / fog lights. near the counter. Or ask for it. They only seem to stock just 1 random can on the bottom shelf at a time @ $15.99 per tiny lynx deo sized can.

Wheres auto1? I'll give this Prepsol a shot and i'll let everyone know how it goes.

[cihanvtec]

my luck i will never find it i spent my whole friday afternoon going from auto stores to bloody bunnings to bristol! loll!!
i was just on the auto one website looking for stores around highpoint or sunshine (assuming your from around there) but it seems the closest they have is Roxburgh Park and Broadmeadows.

Auto One Roxburgh Park
Shop 6, 195 Somerton Road, Roxburgh Park, VIC 3064

but you can get prepsol from pretty much anywhere. try autobarn again maybe, or supercheap! even bunnings paint dept. will probably stock it.. good luck

what brand is the dye? does it have a name? i just want to call up a few autobarn stores nd see if they have it in stock before i make my way down.. cheers mate

[butter]

Prepsol is also called wax and grease remover from super cheap to give you the heads up:)
detail paradise forum (http://www.detailparadise.com.au/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=1103)

So, wax and grease remover? Roxburgh Park isn't that close to me. Thanks for looking it up! Um, let me get you the name of it tomorrow morning. Its like 3am and i dont want to leave my warm room to venture off into the garage. From memory, it was just called Lens Dye. And it had some kinda "Specialist Importer" sticker on it. Autobarn has to stock it.

Would prepsol actually remove a layer off the plastic lens? Coz the lens dye from what im aware, actually changes the colour of the lens. So its not as simple as removing whatever was applied to its surface. As far as im aware, my only option is to soak it in some nasty chemical that will eat away as far down as the lens dye went. Then sand it down then plastic polish it?

[cihanvtec]

hmmm.. yeah ur right, now that i think of it, its a dye not a layer of paint. i dont think prepsol is tough enough to get into a layer of the lens but u might want to give it a shot.. if not, try soaking it in paint stripper or something.loll but i dnt know if that will damage the actual lens. or you could try cleaning it with a bleach like white king maybe, then sand it and polish like you said.. though sanding and polishing will be a bitch coz of the texture inside the lens.

worst case, pick up a pair from the wreckers and try dying it again. a mate of mine got it for 5 bux each..

[cihanvtec]

just finished my ambers today.. it looks okay imo but maybe a little too dark??

my default pic is the 'before' loll which one looks better?

[butter]

Looking good! That's the colour i was after myself. But obviously f*cked up. Where'd you end up getting your spray from and how much? Did you dye the inside or outside of it?

[cihanvtec]

cheers matee.. i got it from autobarn in airport west. i did it from the inside and put a clear coat over it to make sure it doesnt fade..

how did you go butter? were u able to try anything on the lens?

[butter]

It should fade if its on the inside. Unless the UV rays from the sun start fading at it. But i highly doubt it would fade. Haven't tried anything to the lens. I might just tough it out - and hand sand it down a few more mm's. See how that goes. Otherwise im gonna rage quit and soak it in the nastiest chemical i've got.... Coke ;)

[cihanvtec]

hopefully it wont fade, ill be shattered!! loll i think you should give white king a shot! thats probably the nastiest chemical (bleach) i can think of. it should do the trick!

[Vicks]

I got mine from the fleebay. It's holding up well and it was only sprayed on the outside with night shade under it.

http://i921.photobucket.com/albums/ad52/dd-w/DSC_0487.jpg