I'm thinking about baking my headlights AND taillights to black out the chrome.
Do it! the tail lights on the STI/WRX suck, can't bake them open you have to cut them.
We'll start with Bumper removal don't mind my broken factory bumper. I know 2010/2011 have a different front end but all the mounting hardware should be in the same place because they are interchangeable.
Start by removing these two clips from the underside of the bumper. There are two on each side right in front of the tire. They just pop down with a flat head screw driver then pull out.
Next go inside the wheel well you might need to turn the wheel for each side to get there out. There are 3 clips with a phillips head pattern on the top. Turn them 1/4 turn then they pop out. Above that there is one small push clip not pictured, but you have to push the center of it in then pull it out.
Again this is the same for both sides.
There are two more clip on the bottom of the bumper about where I put the two red dots on the lower portion center portion of my front bumper. They are the same as the rest of the underbody clips they just pop up and come out.
Now open the hood undo these four clips, they are the same as the ones on the underbody they just pop up and come out with a flat head screwdriver.
Now all of the hardware is removed from the front end. If you have fog lights don't forget to unclip the connector from the bulb. Pull on each side of the bumper outwards to unclip it from where it meets the fender by inside the wheel arch. Then pull from the middle grill area straight out and it should come right off now problems.
I didn't pull the bumper so I don;t have any pictures of the mounting screws for the headlights but right about where the four red dots I placed around the headlight there are 4 10mm black bolts. Remove those.
On the top of the headlamp you'll have 1 clip off to the far corner and one bolt circled that need to removed.
On halogen headlamps there is only one connector that needs to be unplugged to remove the headlamp.
There are about 4 or 5 of these silver phillips headed screws around the outer edge of the lamp on the back side. Remove those.
I don't bake my headlights since my oven is not big enough so I use a heat gun set to around 350*-400*. Go around the outer edge of the headlamp and continue to heat it. I use these areas where the clips are to get an idea as to when the glue is ready to come apart. There should be some exposed adhesive inbetween those areas on your unopened headlight. Keep an eye on it and keep heating untill it becomes tacky. Then I start by prying on those areas using a twisting action with some different interior body tools like these.
Once you have the clips loosened so you don't break them I start from the top of the lamp where its pointed and I can just pull them apart. It will most likely be very tacky I try not to remove any of the adhesive that is there on the headlamp for resealing purposes so I just go along the stuck areas with the heat gun and it will shred right apart.
After you open it up this is what you will get. There are 3 screws holding the plastic portion to the lens cover.
Again they are all around the endge of the plastic portion. Just unscrew them and pull the plastic from the lens cover.
Then you are left with this. The orange marker that is on the side is only held in by one or two screws you will see it if you want that removed.
As far as prep work for the paint since there are a lot of small grooves I just went over the entire portion with a fine steel wool. Washed it up let it dry then hit it with primer, paint, clear. No sanding in between I didn't see it being needed since you only need to do a light coat or two.
When you put it back together I initially did not use any additional adhesive I just used what was on there since I did not remove much at all. Just heat up the two edges again with the heat gun untill its good and tacky. Press them together, insert the screws that hold the lens cover to the headlamp and if you want just press them together for a few minutes untill everything is dry.
And a quick one with the new Greddy TiC fart cannon