Gen1 DIY OEM Black Corners UPDATE!!!!

[DSM_Lara]

All right I had an extra set lying around and I decided to take my chances taking them apart. Took some little tips from Kenny's thread. He sure is right that it's just plastic against plastic. I too just use my bare hands to take these off and a lot of patient. Quote from Kenny “Set your oven to 480 degree and waited 3-4 minutes to heat up. Then I just put them in for about 45 seconds...When the lens would not budge I would put them in for another 10 seconds until finally they were hot as hell and the lenses gently cracked apart. Just be careful not to bend the small plastic part on the other side where screw goes through...it gets flexible when heated.”

Update tutorial
While the corners are still hot. Start from the bottom of the lights. I would suggest gripping it somewhat similar to the photo below. Gently twist the lights (like you would do with a shammy) you should here a little separation in the center of it the lens. If it doesn’t budge warm it up again.

The lens should separate just like the photograph below. Where the arrow is pointing.

Slowly work your way towards the front of the lights.

Apply pressure on the bottom light housing to separate the lens. Keep in mind to warm it up if doesn’t budge. In the photo you can see a little separation between the housing and the lens.

Work your way around the lights to the top of the lens.

Now go back to the bottom of the lens where you first started. Then work the opposite direction to the top of the lens. Once you have reach the top. Start from the front and work your way back.

Congratulation you successfully separated the lens from the housing and now your ready to paint.


All waiting to be painted. The orange insert will stay to keep that OEM look. First try took me forever to figure it out but, once I got it. Second corners only took me about 10 minutes. I got a little technique on how to remove them. Hopefully you guys will be successful once with this photo tutorial. I'll keep you guys updated.

[SleeperSolara]

Sweet man.
Can't wait to see.

[Toy1mzfe]

I never got a chance to try this. Those friggin OEM ones look much better than the Clear ones i have on now. There so clear its kinda tacky.

[kenny6683]

yessss!!!...glad you were able to do it yourself
i cant wait to see them finished

[DSM_Lara]

Sweet man.
Can't wait to see.

I also can't wait to get them done. I'm so excited that I'm finally getting black corners.

I never got a chance to try this. Those friggin OEM ones look much better than the Clear ones i have on now. There so clear its kinda tacky.

That's the reason why I never plan on buying the clear ones.... they are tacky and on a black car it will stand out more.

yessss!!!...glad you were able to do it yourself
i cant wait to see them finished

Thanks Kenny got your PM... lol but, I decided to give it a shot. This was my first attempt taking apart any sort of headlight/corners. I have some questions though how's the light output on yours? I believe you sprayed the whole thing black even under the dome. I was thinking keeping what's under the dome thingy chrome to reflect more light and everything else gloss black around it (hopefully that makes sense). I know that you didn't sand it. You just primed it then paint? Also, how's your holding up?

[kenny6683]

mine still look the same...paint still looks good
the light output is actually not bad at all....especially for corner lights

IMO the dome thing should be removed and the holes which remain should be filled and sanded
I will be doing this soon. i think it looks better this way

i will show you pics if i get to do this soon

[DSM_Lara]

Bump for Updates!!!

[SleeperSolara]

Damn, like a pro at showin' a tutorial. lol.
Good job man.

[DSM_Lara]

Damn, like a pro at showin' a tutorial. lol.
Good job man.

lol thanks. I figure I be as detail as possible. I'm hoping other people who does this won't have any problems taking them apart.

[99BlackSandv6]

Really a nice write-up! You've got me thinking again...

[DSM_Lara]

Update!!!
Finally got them done. All I have to do is seal them. Before I painted them I mask off the parts I didn't want painted. Like the orange reflector and what's under the dome thingy. So, when it was done it still had its chrome to reflect more light. I took these photos with my cell phone so quality sucks a little. I'll get hi-res images later. Enjoy
I haven't clean them up when I took these photo (the corners has no dust painted within it. the area I took these photos has dust).


Lights off

Lights on

The photos of the corner on the car is just for test fit and are not sealed yet.

[1gSE]

Looks good! Now just do the headlights and you're set

[SleeperSolara]

Looks good man.
I tried to buy some of the blacked out corners on Ebay but they wouldn't sell me just the corners, they wanted to sell the whole set wit headlights......

[DSM_Lara]

:sweet: Looks good! Now just do the headlights and you're set

Finally sealed them last night and they are on the car. Right now that's the only thing throwing it off. Everything up front has the black housing fog lights and corners. Except for my headlights... Anyone has a set of headlights for sale?

Looks good man.
I tried to buy some of the blacked out corners on Ebay but they wouldn't sell me just the corners, they wanted to sell the whole set wit headlights......

Just buy a OEM one and make your own. eBay.... I tried looking for gen1 but could not find any. Mostly for gen1.5.

[1gSE]

Plenty of gen 1 oem corners on ebay. Speaking that, you'll pay half the price of oem for clear corners (i gotta order another pair cuz I keep hitting mine with stuff and breaking them lol) but I can't remember if anyone's tried blacking those out