Adriftoc

So I cleared my headlights....it was a scary process but I did it and had only a few issues. 1st issue - Taking the lamps apart was not easy. I did 280 degrees for 8 minutes and it was like pulling teeth. As soon as a made the initial split I got it apart..putting it back together was pretty hard to. I could only get them together right after I reheated. 2nd issue - I kept getting mysterious smudges on the chrome reflective part around the lamp. I tried a little damp cloth action to pick it up but wound up whipping some of the chrome right off 0.0 I stopped before it got too bad and left it. Other than that it was a smooth sail (so far). I should have pictures after I get some silverstars and put the lamps back in. p.s. - for those of you who have seen my other posts about not being able to get the headlights out of the car due to the stuck bracket screws. The way I managed to get them out was a fair amount of WD-40 and a socket wrench. Gave me the right amount of leverage and the WD helped with the initial loosening.

As soon as the summer hits...I decided I am going to start this little project.

In terms of taking out your headlights... The metal bracket that the headlights rest on...If I take out the screws on top and on the bottom of the headlights can I slip the fixture out WITHOUT removing the metal bracket? The screws are rusted and will not budge and one of my friends at a garage sad that the bracket shouldn't have to be removed.

Thanks for the responses. Basically after a trade my 05 headlights for 07 ones I simply want the orange piece removed. Plain and simple. I just don't want to have to spend another $300 2 years down the road with moisture destroys them. Thats why I want to make sure I do it right.

alright...confidence slowly building haha....what about the people who got the moisture. What happened? not cook long enough? added extra silicone? did it on a REALLY humid day?

Alright...so I told myself I wouldn't clear my headlight because I didn't want to deal with moisture. Yet I keep coming back to this forum being thoroughly impressed with the look of the cleared headlights. Since I am extremely concerned about ruining my headlights and that the guy at the garage (earlier post) is correct I was wondering.... Of all you people who have had cleared headlights for a while...what did you do that the others didn't? how'd you manage to not have moisture problems? And to all you who have moisture issues...what did you do wrong? why didn't it work 100% for you?

I tried the first obvious choice...Philips head screw driver. No dice. I tried a c-wrech...worked on the bumper screws...but not these. I tried a multitude of pliers, wrenches, hammer O.O Nothing will make the screws budge. I am going to take to a friend who owns a garage tomorrow and see if he can replace them with new "loose" ones so I can take my lights out with ease. EDIT: Went to my friend at the garage. and I have some REALLY bad news...He first told me that the part I was trying to take off didn't need to come off, and that taking out the headlights after the bumper is off should take less than 20 minutes according to his schematic...grr. BUT I told him what I was trying to do and he stopped me dead in my tracks. He said that if you undo the silicone, you are also undoing a vacuum seal. He said his daughters cleared there headlights and he warned them and that the lights looked cool...but after one too many rainy days moisture got in and slowly deteriorated the light. He said unless its a vacuum seal...no amount of silicone with save the lights. You're only buying time. ^^^worse news I have heard in a while. Looks like I gotta retain the stock look...maybe just changing the bulbs will be cool enough.

I am really angry right now. I got through the grill and bumper and unscrewed all the screws on the top of the headlight....went to unscrew the screws for the bracket and they are all rusted and wont budge. I think they are all cold welded. I am soo close to getting my headlights out. Unless any of you have a better idea...I am going to put my car back together, take it to a garage, and have them dremel and replace all those screws so I can finally do this cool mod.

thanks for the response. Yeah a direct trade would be the best, but unlikely I will have much luck with that, although I will try ebay as well as some friends who go to the car graveyards a lot. In terms of paint is there anything close? obviously a light extremely glossy silver would be close as possible I would think, but is there any "mirror" paint out there? EDIT: I actually just looked on ebay for headlights...I was actually surprised to find a good amount but all of them seem to be $100+..each. A little too expensive for a little more chrome, although I also looked up paint and found a lot of different chrome paints. Although not perfect...it may be the cheapest "decent" solution....the black has gotta go!

Hey all! I am relatively new to the whole mod scene. Now that I finally have time I wanted to undergo this little adventure, but I have a potentially stupid question... My stock car has headlights like this... http://img380.imageshack.us/img380/8031/notclearedlk5.jpg While some of you have headlights like this... http://x92.xanga.com/f35a87f4d043281159890/s55351469.jpg So basically I want that stock black plastic under the headlight to be chrome like what I believe the later models have. How would I go about doing this? chrome paint? I just love how the whole light fixture gives a chrome vibe...that plastic black looks ugly. Any words of advice would be awesome. Again sorry if this is a dumb question that makes you want to slam your head against the wall. I get dumb questions a lot and know that feeling all too well.

I don't know if any of you have had the same experience, but before the Jazzy I use to keep my EQ at +1 Bass, 0 Mid, and +2 Treble....Now with the Jazzy I have everything set at 0 with almost truer lows and highs. The overall volume is a little bit lower, but the quality seems better. Even with CD's. Don't know if the differences are all in my head. But I am VERY happy with the quality of the audio.

!~Fixed It~! Apparently the silent CD that Jazzy gave me had an issue with it. As soon as I inserted a silent CD I made everything was 100%. the iPod sounds just like a CD, but has to be turned up slightly more than a CD. No ground noise or irregularities of any kind! Installation was very easy to follow...and being as though I had to do it twice since I was an idiot and didn't test out the board before putting it back together like Jazzy suggests (I would recommend EVERYONE test before putting it all back together) the second time I took everything apart in less than half the time it took me the first time. To future installers the only notes of warning I have are be VERY gentle with the screws on the actual head unit. Make sure you have the EXACT sized screw driver and you apply enough pressure with your initial loosening of the screws so that you don't strip them. Also be very careful with your positioning of the Jazzy when you install it. The first time I installed it I had the board at a weird angle and it wound up pulling the ribbon cable out after i put it all back together...hense doing everything twice. Other than that it's awesome. Jazzy is the man! The quality is awesome, product is awesome everything is awesome. I would recommend this to anyone and everyone! ...assuming they have a subaru this mod works on ;-)

Hey guys...Just installed the Jazzy mod and it took me...well lets just say longer than expected. Had a couple issues with my own stupidity...like not noticing the Ribbon cable wasn't in all the way and fell out when I put it back in the car...grr. But I have everything hooked up and have a problem. I am using an iPod hooked up to a Berkin car charger/audio out. It hooks up to the dock port on the bottom of my iPod and I have absolutely NO signal. When I put in a real CD, it plays 100% fine. When I put in the silent CD Jazzy sent me...it's silent but the time keeps going. So that means it has to be something to do with the iPod end of things. The Belkin piece I bought new and literally opened the package for the first time today so I doubt that has issues. Also I have messed around with the volume control on it. that doesn't effect anything including the noise floor. (EDIT: Bypassed the Belkin and connected the audio cable directly into the headphone jack on iPod...no dice. Pure silence) The radio shack groud-loop cable the connects the Jazzy to the Belkin isn't new, but I have been using it up until yesterday in my room with no problem. I also e-taped the connections. My iPod volume I don't believe matters with line out...but I tried it at all different volumes to see if anything would change..nothing. Just pure consistent silence. Anyone know what the issue could be? am I missing something simple? Any help would be great. I plan to investigate this all further on Tuesday when I get a day off. Thanks in advance. ~ Mike

Just got my Jazzy Mod in the mail to day. I am anxious for the snow to melt so I can go outside and get this bad boy installed! Thanks Jazzy.

awesome. I'll be purchasing from you soon! Thanks Jazzy.