I notice that each light is gasketed/glued with 3-4 metal tabs slots. Has anyone been able to take these off w/o mangling them?

 

I know that awsm66 (Michael) has taken his apart because he put in the clear headlight Maxima covers on his E36's. So, he prolly knows how to do it the best? Good luck man!

 

well I was not concerned about the factory bmw lens on mine so I just cut it out with a dremel. I tried to get the glue out. heat it with a hair dryer etc. The only thing I didnt try was bake it in the oven. I have taken my factoy lenses off by doing this so it would probably work with the bmw lens. Just dont overdo it since its all plastic.

 

Paul got hairdryer
Paul used hairdryer
Paul almost burnt finger
Paul had no success
Paul gets frustrated
Paul gets dremel
Paul makes big mess and loud noise
Paul gets the job done

 

well ... I cooked mine in the owen ...

anyway ... what I did is the following:
1. cut off edge with dremel tool
2. keep 'em in the owen for a little while
3. while glue is still hot, seperate lenses from housing with L-shape tool (enything L-shaped will do). just move it around the lense and housing with a little pressure.

Good luck!

 

Thanks. Good info. I was talking about the individual lenses. ie.. the low beam lens and high beam lense. Sorry for the confusion.

 

ohhhhh....

I started to one day but I was afraid of breaking them so I didnt.

If you want to do that to clean them its not necessary. I cleaned mine (were clouded when I got them) by using hot water and a rag stuck down in there. They came out looking brand new. Now if you still have the lens on then I wouldnt recomend this because the water will get in there and will probably be hard to get out.

That may not be why you were wanting to take them apart but figured I would share if that is the reason.

 

posted on BMW forum:

"... cleaned all the glass pieces thoroughly in really really diluted dish washing detergent, put them above the boiler to dry and left them over night.
note: don't use detergent on the chrome it will wipe it off, trust me. (luckily i didnt do too much damage!)"