Removing Stock Taillight Lenses?

[Nd4SpdSe]

I'm trying to take off the color lenses off my spare set and they're not poping off. Are the glued or something?

[Neil]

I'm trying to take off the color lenses off my spare set and they're not poping off. Are the glued or something?

i'm pretty sure you have to bake them in an oven first just like the headlights.

[CLPCLD]

I'm trying to take off the color lenses off my spare set and they're not poping off. Are the glued or something?

i'm pretty sure you have to bake them in an oven first just like the headlights.

I'll second that, I've tried removing with a heat gun before and just ended up with a broken lens....

[Nd4SpdSe]

Well, after going through 3 of them (cracked one, broke another, and melted one). Although the 4th has some slight meltage, it's barely noticable, but I'm going to get a new set and try again anyway, but this is what I've learned:

- Other than the 4 tabs, there are also 3 pins/nails, 2 above the yellow turn signal, and one at the tip. I believe they are the reason why I cracked and broke the first 2, it was around those areas where they did. The 2 on the top were easy to pull out, the one on the tip, i grinded it down to the lense
- Lenses are inconsistant in heat tolerance, but consistant in their pairing. The first two had no problems lasting 9 minutes @ 220* in the oven. The other set melted at 7 minutes. The first one melted badly because i had cut 90% of the housing away so i could try to put the lense out from the inside out, so i though that it was helping to keep it's shape together. Although that did remain true on the second of the second set, it still did exibit some deformation
- Starting from the end of the lense of the red side was not only easiest, but also put less strain on the yellow lense, making it less likely to crack/break.

[Bochek]

id try a heat gun, it might make a different being able to more perciesly controll the heat.

Bochek

[Nd4SpdSe]

I though about it, but fortunately CLPCLD mentioned it before i got a change to try it, and I though about it, but a heatgun would give inconsistant heat. If one area isn't heated enough, or cooled down while another area was heated, the colder glue would be harder, making it harder to come off, giving more chance to crack the lence. As well, the heat gun would heat it up quicker, so the lense will absorb most of the heat and overheat/melt before the glue gets upto a workable temp. I know the heatgun my dad has you can't control the exact temperature of the heat, the oven you can, and the slow heat of the oven works perfect, I think i'll try 200* @ 5 min next time and just go up from there.

[Slade]

and I could have saved you my stock ones Mike

[twoie]

I tried a heat gun to no avail. Prob. I should have listened and baked it.

twoie

[Nd4SpdSe]

and I could have saved you my stock ones Mike

Lol, no problem, I didn't anticipate how hard it was going to be to take them out.

A friend suggested to try baking them for 10min @ 150 and he had no problem. My mom's oven doesn't go lower than 170, so i did 170 @ 7min, and they didn't melt

What I eventually did it did it in 2 steps, baked it @ 170 for 7min, than i cut away the outter part of the housing with a dremel and peeled it off, so it basically exposed the rest of the lense hiding inside the housing. I baked it again at the same temp and time, and i was able to safely peel it away.

I was in a baking mood today, so while the lenses cooled down before the second bake (just to make sure it got down to ambient temp so the lense didn't melt. It seems that the lenses retain the heat longer than the adhesive and the housing), i decided to take apart my front signal lights. I painted the housing on the front signal lights black as well, but left the lense intouched (well, I can't say that, I polished the lense inside and out while it was off). So it had a tinted look, but it's doesn't affect the light, and would be completely legal