Hey, Ive been hearing about this new miracle...clearing tails with oven...but what happens to the rubber edge around the tail light? wont it melt? anyone know?

 

It would depend on the temperature...

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I personally did not have such good experiences using the oven. I set it to 250 for 15 min. I did not crack the tail as other people usually mess up in while pulling the lens apart but while pulling it off, the lens was so melted that it bent itself. However the glue melted just great and it came apart smoothly, just pull it slow and with not too much force and it will be fine. Also, if u decide to use the oven, put it in at 250 for no more than 10 minutes.. i suggest try 5-6, then check on it.. if it's not enough, leave it in for more... But yeah, it can be done. I did not have a heat gun so I tried this method. The lens was bent so when I was re-sealing it, it didn't seal tight all around, there was 3-4 millimeter gap at 1 place... I need to get a new tail and do it again.

 

Absolutely not! (depending on temperature of course!) I just did mine last week using the oven and it worked great! I didn't even set it to 250...I set it at 200 for 10 min. Just be careful of the glue when you pull it apart. If it get's on the lens or any other part, it can be a pain to get off. Don't forget to take out the screws and pull apart as evenly as possible. The rubber or wires won't melt.

 

sounds risky to me, but hey, if it works.

 

i just used a heat gun but hey if the oven works then fine.heres what i did.i placed a towel over the tail light to reduce the chances of over heated and melting it like i did the first time(oh well trial and era) new tail light cost about 90$. you just have to heat the tail evenly, not keeping it in one spot for too long.you will feel the whole assemly heated and you can actually smell the glue and plastic as it heats.by then it should be ready for you to pull the assembly apart make sure you remove all the litte screws around the tail light.if it doesnt come apart smoothly just heat a little more till it comes apart nice just take your time so it doesnt crack.i would trust the heat gun (about 15$from sears)more than putting my tail light in the oven.at least with the het gun you can attually see whats going on as far as melting anything.

 

In my opinion, the oven is actually better. If heating evenly is key, which it is, the oven does it without all the work. The oven by it's nature distributes the heat where as the heat gun concentrates it, hence the need to 'sweep' or go back and forth. At 200 degrees, you will not melt the plastic, rubber or wires. The heat gun is actually much hotter and the chances of overheating and melting are much higher. I have yet to hear someone melting the tail lights from using the oven but quite the opposite from using a heat gun.

I just placed them, one at a time, on a cookie sheet and I say again, it worked great!

 

man, I just did mine last Saturday, and I used the heat gun on the left tail and cracked, chipped and got glue all over the housing. So, I put the right one in the oven for 200 degrees for 10 minutes and it came off REAL EASY. But man, my other lense looks wack!! But the good thing is, if you don't have your contacts on and are looking at it from a mile away, it doesn't look bad. Sorry, had to vent....

 

man, I just did mine last Saturday, and I used the heat gun on the left tail and cracked, chipped and got glue all over the housing. So, I put the right one in the oven for 200 degrees for 10 minutes and it came off REAL EASY. But man, my other lense looks wack!! But the good thing is, if you don't have your contacts on and are looking at it from a mile away, it doesn't look bad. Sorry, had to vent....


im sorry to hear that you messed one up.heh i had the same problem but i completely ruined one and had to replace it.i used the heat gun, and at the time its the only way i knew how to mod my tails.using this method you have to have extreme patience and yes if you are not careful the glue can get all over the place.
it seems that the best method as stated earlier is to put them in the oven.i would have never thought of this but hey if it works more power to you and two each there own. peace..

 

where do you hold the lens/ housing when youre pulling it apart?

im tryin to do this and its not comin apart yet

 

If it's heated properly in the oven, it should come apart at the lense with nothing more than hand pressure. Just get your oven mitts, and gently pull apart.

IanS

 

So if you get the clear lens and put everything back together, do you have to put it back in the oven so that the glue will re-stick?

also do you place the actual light on a dish towel over the cookie sheet to avoid melting the outer lens?

Kevin

 

no you dont need a towel.
im actually in the process of making my own clears , and i guess im having a problem heating it properly (its in the oven but i guess im not waiting enough) either that or i need to push/pull a little harder. i dont wannt to crack these things

 

oh ok finally got the lens off. and the orange piece.
so the two pieces do need to be reheated after the clear lens is fitted , in order to rejoin them , correct? (i feel like such a newbie,)

 

just a regular cookie sheet? no barrier between the lens sitting on it and the metal of the sheet?

Kevin

 

nope, i jus put it on that sheet by itself. its fine.
the only thing is when everyone says it comes apart like BUTTA with the oven..i thought itd jus be super easy but you do have to put a little effort in to it. so be prepared for that.

and people arent jokin around when they say cutting the clear lens is hard

 

yeah put it back in the oven when you are putting it back together, do like 5 mins at 200 degrees, should be enough. if it doesnt stick all the way back together, dont worry about it, the pressure from the screws when u put it back in the car should press them together completely.

to cut the clear lens, i had to heat up the blade of the special tool that i bought for cutting the plastic light cover. It took about 30 mins to cut and sand each piece perfectly, so it takes some patience, but the end result is very nice

 

I put mine in the oven at 225 degrees for about 15 minutes. Some things that nobody seems to mention are that you NEED to pull the housing apart absolutely evenly or you'll crack the lens. I have cracked lenses to prove it. Definately use oven mits or rags but make sure that anything that you do use can be thrown away. Whatever you use and get that black sealant on, will be garbage when you're done. This includes the cookie sheet. Also, I couldn't help but make a mess in my kitchen with the sealant and that stuff is a real B@$ch to clean up. Luckily my mess was small enough so that I could clean it up to the point that you couln't notice the black sealant stains in my white kitchen unless you knew they were there. The stains are gone now but, seriously, it took weeks of scrubbing to get that crap off of my textured counter tops. The wife never even noticed

 

haha yeah i get you. i got the black stuff all over the mitts, and then in turn got it on the handle for the oven.
i used goof-off (the universal F*ck up saver) and it did wonders. but the mitts are a different story.

 

someone's going to burn their house down doing this, isn't there an easier way? You can't just take a hobby knife and cut the orange out?

 

getting the orange piece out itself is not the hard part.
thats not why the assembly goes in the oven, the oven is to seperate the housing and lens

 

hmmmm...how about microwaving it???

 

if you put it in the microwave you'l probibly burn it or melt the damn thing.