ApexTwin
expert knob twiddler
- Location
- Sydney, OZ
Something similar on a certain black GTI... :wink:
V
Blacked out the HIDs
- Thread starter azmcs
- Start date
rideroyals
Go Kart Champion
- Location
- San Ramon Ca
- Car(s)
- UG MKV
cuts. very nice!!!
azmcs
FIA World Rally Car Champion
- Location
- Arizona, USA
Yep that's the MINI sneaking in there. Good eyes!:thumbsup: She's headed to Cali here in 10 days for major surgery. Supercharger delete and turbo conversion. Gonna be about 300whp on pump gas and on 101 race....well...let's say north of 400
g60_corrado_91
Go Kart Champion
- Location
- IL
- Car(s)
- 2006 GTI 6MT Pkg 1
Yep that's the MINI sneaking in there. Good eyes!:thumbsup: She's headed to Cali here in 10 days for major surgery. Supercharger delete and turbo conversion. Gonna be about 300whp on pump gas and on 101 race....well...let's say north of 400
Holy shit. That will be a terror on the highway. I really like the headlights. Have you noticed any scratches or anything from the bra? I already have a few salt/rock chips from the winter.:thumbdown:
azmcs
FIA World Rally Car Champion
- Location
- Arizona, USA
I ONLY use the bra on long road trips. I make sure the car is clean underneath before putting it on too. I have rally reduced the rock chipping with its use I think. I use the hood portion if I am going just for a day, but use the whole thing if I am going 500-600 miles for a weekend. Works great, fits great and no problems so far:thumbsup:
g60_corrado_91
Go Kart Champion
- Location
- IL
- Car(s)
- 2006 GTI 6MT Pkg 1
Cool, may I ask where you got it?
ApexTwin
expert knob twiddler
- Location
- Sydney, OZ
MINI has a special place in my heart. The turbo conversion sounds awesome mate - are you still on NAM?Yep that's the MINI sneaking in there. Good eyes!:thumbsup: She's headed to Cali here in 10 days for major surgery. Supercharger delete and turbo conversion. Gonna be about 300whp on pump gas and on 101 race....well...let's say north of 400
**EDIT**
I just found your thread... Definitely keeping an eye on that one. :drool:
Stasis
E-Thug
- Location
- Now: MTL, Jan: LA
- Car(s)
- MKV GTI
Yep that's the MINI sneaking in there. Good eyes!:thumbsup: She's headed to Cali here in 10 days for major surgery. Supercharger delete and turbo conversion. Gonna be about 300whp on pump gas and on 101 race....well...let's say north of 400
Nice!
What wheels are you rocking now btw? The rolling shot is HOT.
ApexTwin
expert knob twiddler
- Location
- Sydney, OZ
Last edited:
azmcs
FIA World Rally Car Champion
- Location
- Arizona, USA
azmcs
FIA World Rally Car Champion
- Location
- Arizona, USA
Straight from Driver gear. Like $100.
azmcs
FIA World Rally Car Champion
- Location
- Arizona, USA
Yeah it's beena big job. The MINI is blacked out now too. Actually was easier than the GTI!:wink:
azmcs
FIA World Rally Car Champion
- Location
- Arizona, USA
So for those who have asked I am gonna put this together as best I can. This whole process took myself and a buddy a good full day worth of work and head scratching. Doing it again I could do a set in under 1/2 a day considering paint drying time here in the desert.
I want to say again this is NOT a mod for the faint hearted. Even if you have done a Joey before this is a bit different and involves bending back parts of the light housing. If you break them, you will need new housings and the cheapest these run is about $440 for a set. You can not get seperate parts from VW, you have to buy the entire assembly, minus igniters and bulbs.
1-Remove the housings from the car.
This involves disconnecting the wiring harness from them in the back. There is only one connection. You then need to remove the center mask section of the grill. There are several DIYs on how to do this with pictures so I won't hash it all out here. After getting the center mask off you then need to drop the rest of the bumper cover. There are about 6 torx screw on the under side that need to come out, a couple in the wheel wells, and a couple up on top. The front bumper will then come off. You don't need to pull it away from the car, just set it down on the ground and leave the fogs and other lower grill stuff connected. Once this is done, you can get to the 3 torx bolts holding the lights in the car. One on top, one under the housing and one towards the center of the grill. Once done, you need to lift and turn the housing out to clear the bumper rebar and radiator.
2. Remove the bulbs
You have to remove the Xenon igniters from the backs of the bulbs and take the bulbs out. Be careful with these, they are VERY expensive to replace. Set them in a safe place. Also pull the halogen flash to pass bulbs. I left the turn signal bulbs in as they are incandescents and should not be damaged by the heating levels appplied in the oven.
You also have to remove three pinch clips. These are metal and located around the housing. They help hold the lens on the back of the housing. They just pop off with a small screwdriver.
3.Time to heat them up!
Set your oven to 260 degrees. You need a timer too. Place the housing in there on a cookie sheet and let it heat for 5-6 minutes. Make sure you and your helper have some gloves to wear as it is hotter than hell when they comes out.
4. The hard/scary part
Now it's time to get the lens off. Unlike silicone sealant the stuff on the Mk5s is not heat sensitive. You are only heating the housing to soften it up so you can bend the outside lip back. You are gonna need a small tool with a bent tip to get under the sealant. I think a curved dental tool would be best. I used one of these I had around the house:
The lens basically sits in a groove running the entire circumference of the housing. You have to GENTLY bend back the outside lip of this to get to the sealant under the lens and on the inside edge. I first cut around the edge of the lens with a utility knife to get this out of the way. Then, while bending back the outside housing lip, I slid the hemostat (or other small curved tool) under the edge of the lens and through the remainder of the sealant on the inside. I found the best place to start was along the edge that is up against the front quarter panel. Move the tool back and forth under here, bending back the edge of the housing and breaking up the sealant. It will be hard to do and scary, but as long as you work slowly you won't break it. Keep working until the housing edge starts to cool and doesn't bend back easily.
5. Reheat and repeat!
Once the housing starts to cool and get hard, you will need to reheat it for 3-5 minutes to get it soft again. Then continue to work your small tool around the edge. After freeing the outside edge near the quarter panel, I then freed up the bottom edge as it was the next easiest, then the top, and finally the curved edge that is near the center of the grill. The toughest places I found to get the lens off were close to where the mounting points are that connect the assembly to the car. The plastic is thick here and doesn't like to bend very well. Just keep at it and work on the easy areas first leaving these for later. The two points on the bottom edge hold it up the most.
During all this, your buddy needs to be pulling the lens away from the housing so you can work the sealant apart easier. The best place to grip them and pull easily is the again the side that butts up against the quarter panel. Once you get 2 or 3 sides freed up you can get the lens far enough from the housing that it will get easier to use the small tool or a utility knife to cut the rest of the sealant off.
6. Clean out the groove and bend back to original position.
Once the lens and the attached front assembly parts are off you need to heat the housing one last time. You can then mold the lip of the housing back to its upright and normal postion where it is still buggered up. You also need to run a small flatblade screwdriver in the groove all around the housing to get all the old sealant out. Using a utility knife also helps. This will allow you to easily lay a bead of silicone sealant in here for reassembly and get the lens back on all the way. If you skip this step you won't get the lens seated back in the housing squarely.
7. Disassemble and paint parts.
Now carefully remove the chrome trim rings and "base" of the light housing/lens from the back of the housing. There are 3 small torx screws you need to pull off to get the parts off the lens. You can then disassemble to pieces by carefully compressing the plastic pinch lips and connectors. DO NOT break these otherwise it won't hold together right when you reassembly. Also trim what sealant is on the clear housing off with a utility knife at this point. This, like the step above, helps you get everything back together well, and seated squarely.
You can paint whatever parts, whatever color you want. Let em dry well before reassembly or you will leave finger prints on them. I used Krylon Fusion plastic paint. No primer per the instructions on the can. Be very careful of touching any of the chrome you might not be painting. The heating process will make it VERY easy for this to flake off the plastic and even a gentle glass cleaner and microfiber will take it off. Don't touch what you aren't gonna paint!!!!!
8. Reassembly.
Make sure you gently clean all the pieces with a microfiber of finger prints before you put them back together.
Reverse the process to put the rings and "base" back on the lens. Replace the three retaining screws. You are now ready to put the lens and your painted parts back on the housing itself.
I used black high temp RTV silicone sealant. Lay a bead in the groove of the housing and carefully set the lens assembly back into this. Press it down onto the back of the housing and let them sit for an hour or so for the silicone to dry. You can also re-attach the three retaining clips to help pull it all together at this point.
Now replace the bulbs and covers. Put the assemblies back in the car, reattach everything, and the bumper.
You're done!
Congrats on your serious Joey-mod!!
I am sorry I don't have pictures of this. I never really intended a DIY and we were rushed as we needed to get the job done in time for a show the next day. IF we do another set here soon, I will edit this post with pictures so you can see better what I am talking about. Feel free to IM me about this if you need/want help. I am happy to do my best to talk you through it, and if you are local, I am more than willing to help you do it, bearing in mind it is a CRAZY job to do and even more insane considering how much these buggers cost to replace. Last time I looked at TMTuning's website they were like $1500 for a full Xenon setup, and as I said, like $440 for just the housings from VW. Not to mention, this puts you back to square one, with unpainted, fully assembled lights!
:beer: :thumbup:
I want to say again this is NOT a mod for the faint hearted. Even if you have done a Joey before this is a bit different and involves bending back parts of the light housing. If you break them, you will need new housings and the cheapest these run is about $440 for a set. You can not get seperate parts from VW, you have to buy the entire assembly, minus igniters and bulbs.
1-Remove the housings from the car.
This involves disconnecting the wiring harness from them in the back. There is only one connection. You then need to remove the center mask section of the grill. There are several DIYs on how to do this with pictures so I won't hash it all out here. After getting the center mask off you then need to drop the rest of the bumper cover. There are about 6 torx screw on the under side that need to come out, a couple in the wheel wells, and a couple up on top. The front bumper will then come off. You don't need to pull it away from the car, just set it down on the ground and leave the fogs and other lower grill stuff connected. Once this is done, you can get to the 3 torx bolts holding the lights in the car. One on top, one under the housing and one towards the center of the grill. Once done, you need to lift and turn the housing out to clear the bumper rebar and radiator.
2. Remove the bulbs
You have to remove the Xenon igniters from the backs of the bulbs and take the bulbs out. Be careful with these, they are VERY expensive to replace. Set them in a safe place. Also pull the halogen flash to pass bulbs. I left the turn signal bulbs in as they are incandescents and should not be damaged by the heating levels appplied in the oven.
You also have to remove three pinch clips. These are metal and located around the housing. They help hold the lens on the back of the housing. They just pop off with a small screwdriver.
3.Time to heat them up!
Set your oven to 260 degrees. You need a timer too. Place the housing in there on a cookie sheet and let it heat for 5-6 minutes. Make sure you and your helper have some gloves to wear as it is hotter than hell when they comes out.
4. The hard/scary part
Now it's time to get the lens off. Unlike silicone sealant the stuff on the Mk5s is not heat sensitive. You are only heating the housing to soften it up so you can bend the outside lip back. You are gonna need a small tool with a bent tip to get under the sealant. I think a curved dental tool would be best. I used one of these I had around the house:
The lens basically sits in a groove running the entire circumference of the housing. You have to GENTLY bend back the outside lip of this to get to the sealant under the lens and on the inside edge. I first cut around the edge of the lens with a utility knife to get this out of the way. Then, while bending back the outside housing lip, I slid the hemostat (or other small curved tool) under the edge of the lens and through the remainder of the sealant on the inside. I found the best place to start was along the edge that is up against the front quarter panel. Move the tool back and forth under here, bending back the edge of the housing and breaking up the sealant. It will be hard to do and scary, but as long as you work slowly you won't break it. Keep working until the housing edge starts to cool and doesn't bend back easily.
5. Reheat and repeat!
Once the housing starts to cool and get hard, you will need to reheat it for 3-5 minutes to get it soft again. Then continue to work your small tool
around the edge. After freeing the outside edge near the quarter panel, I then freed up the bottom edge as it was the next easiest, then the top, and finally the curved edge that is near the center of the grill. The toughest places I found to get the lens off were close to where the mounting points are that connect the assembly to the car. The plastic is thick here and doesn't like to bend very well. Just keep at it and work on the easy areas first leaving these for later. The two points on the bottom edge hold it up the most.During all this, your buddy needs to be pulling the lens away from the housing so you can work the sealant apart easier. The best place to grip them and pull easily is the again the side that butts up against the quarter panel. Once you get 2 or 3 sides freed up you can get the lens far enough from the housing that it will get easier to use the small tool or a utility knife to cut the rest of the sealant off.
6. Clean out the groove and bend back to original position.
Once the lens and the attached front assembly parts are off you need to heat the housing one last time. You can then mold the lip of the housing back to its upright and normal postion where it is still buggered up. You also need to run a small flatblade screwdriver in the groove all around the housing to get all the old sealant out. Using a utility knife also helps. This will allow you to easily lay a bead of silicone sealant in here for reassembly and get the lens back on all the way. If you skip this step you won't get the lens seated back in the housing squarely.
7. Disassemble and paint parts.
Now carefully remove the chrome trim rings and "base" of the light housing/lens from the back of the housing. There are 3 small torx screws you need to pull off to get the parts off the lens. You can then disassemble to pieces by carefully compressing the plastic pinch lips and connectors. DO NOT break these otherwise it won't hold together right when you reassembly. Also trim what sealant is on the clear housing off with a utility knife at this point. This, like the step above, helps you get everything back together well, and seated squarely.
You can paint whatever parts, whatever color you want. Let em dry well before reassembly or you will leave finger prints on them. I used Krylon Fusion plastic paint. No primer per the instructions on the can. Be very careful of touching any of the chrome you might not be painting. The heating process will make it VERY easy for this to flake off the plastic and even a gentle glass cleaner and microfiber will take it off. Don't touch what you aren't gonna paint!!!!!
8. Reassembly.
Make sure you gently clean all the pieces with a microfiber of finger prints before you put them back together.
Reverse the process to put the rings and "base" back on the lens. Replace the three retaining screws. You are now ready to put the lens and your painted parts back on the housing itself.
I used black high temp RTV silicone sealant. Lay a bead in the groove of the housing and carefully set the lens assembly back into this. Press it down onto the back of the housing and let them sit for an hour or so for the silicone to dry. You can also re-attach the three retaining clips to help pull it all together at this point.
Now replace the bulbs and covers. Put the assemblies back in the car, reattach everything, and the bumper.
You're done!
Congrats on your serious Joey-mod!!
I am sorry I don't have pictures of this. I never really intended a DIY and we were rushed as we needed to get the job done in time for a show the next day. IF we do another set here soon, I will edit this post with pictures so you can see better what I am talking about. Feel free to IM me about this if you need/want help. I am happy to do my best to talk you through it, and if you are local, I am more than willing to help you do it, bearing in mind it is a CRAZY job to do and even more insane considering how much these buggers cost to replace. Last time I looked at TMTuning's website they were like $1500 for a full Xenon setup, and as I said, like $440 for just the housings from VW. Not to mention, this puts you back to square one, with unpainted, fully assembled lights!
:beer:
:thumbup:
Last edited: