Headlight Removal

[Stock98camaro]

Hello,
I have reciently been trying to take off my headlight cover to clean it. I took off the metal tabs at the top of the plastic, what else is needed to remove them?

Thanks

[Question]

To get the head light apart? I know to do the whistler mod you have to bake the headlight in the oven, and then pry it off with a butter knife. I don't think this is what you are talking about though.

[Stock98camaro]

No senor, I am talking about just getting the plastic cover (the front of the light) off so I can clean it. Is there anything more than the top clips?

[dmw319]

yea thats still what you need to do though. put that sucker in the oven and pry it off!

[Stock98camaro]

*eyes get huge real quick* I need to take the WHOLE headlight assembly off and put it in the OVEN, then pry the ***** off? HOLY CRAP! That sounds like a lot of work for cleaning a headlight! And I reading this right?

How hot does the oven need to be? How long? Is there a tutorial on this or write-up?

[HokieBird]

ummm why would he need to take the plastic lense off the housing to clean it? Maybe I'm missing something here, but I think he just wants to polish the lense because its foggy.

[Greg94Red392]

Yeah you dont need to take it off to clean it. Get some good compound/polish and use a lot of elbow grease.

[Stock98camaro]

Managed to get the lid off without the whole oven thing... Now I need to find a way to clean this sucker... O'Rilies has something but not the buffer it needs to work (we dont have the buffer either) and napa said to use tooth paste and nothing else would work. Tooth paste did a little... Ill look for more options.

[Stock98camaro]

Everyone who asked why I needed to take it off: I figured I needed to clean the inside too. It was kinda dirty.

[Greg94Red392]

Toothpaste? Havent heard that. My lights were bad when I first got my car and the dealer who sold me the car said there was some kind of Mother's polish that will bring it off. He wasnt really sure which polish...I got the back to black stuff for plastics and it helped a little, but I dont think thats what he was talking about. I've gotten Halos since then so I dont have to worry about lol.

[teal99camaro]

if you wana clean the inside you've gotta take the lights out and put them in a 250* over for 10 minutes. if it doesnt pry apart easily after that stick it in for five more. this melts the glue. then you need to get RTV sealant and seal it back together so no moisture gets in.

[Stock98camaro]

So you guys can have a better idea what I am dealing with, heres a picture.



What would you suggest to remove the nasty crap?

I already tried tooth paste and a lot of soap, water, and scrubbing.

Is there anythign I can do or should I get another one?

[dmw319]

go to those links on ebay i sent you.

[HokieBird]

Tooth paste isn't abbrasive enough to get that off. You need to get a good polish and buff them till they clear up. I have used a 1500 grit polish on a pad connected to a drill on other cars and it worked well.

[Earnhardt132000]

If you planned on getting halos, now is the time.