Need opinions - Painted Headlight
 

I'm thinking of offering this as a part of my headlight retrofit service.
I have this spare headlight that I like to experiment with and have always wondered what it would look like with the inner shroud painted to match the car color. This is just some off the shelf gloss white to get the idea, but I do have Glacier White matched paint for any final drafts.
I would also install Nine8Six's projectors and probably use my clear set if I built these.

I'm going to experiment with methods of removing the silver eyeliner so I can try painting it to match as well and will post pics.

Good? Bad? Tacky? Just Don't do it!?

Oh my gosh....that is AWESOME in white. Two thumbs way way up. Very sexy stuff. Well done.

I like it. Might look good in black too... (with your current color scheme)

This looks great in white! If you could somehow paint the chrome trim, it could make the headlight "disappear"

I thought it looked really cool, but wasn't sure if it was just the paint fumes :confused:
I need to find a way to remove the silver paint from the perimeter without damaging the clear plastic so that I can paint it, too. I've read that brake fluid works. There's one way to find out. ;)

I'll work on that silver paint and report back.
I think it's what this is trying to achieve, but actually looks good and fits the car instead of being tacked on.

http://i875.photobucket.com/albums/a...AD968165_1.jpg

+1 looks great.

I have never been a fan of amber on white Boxster's, but I think it would look great on clears with the light modification, especially if you could also paint the silver edge to match. You might also consider all black which I think would look really slick with those rims, top, and side stripes. :cheers:

Thanks ;)

I have the all black look now, but have a second set of amber headlights that I want to do this with and install custom projectors, possibly also painted to match.

This is the look I am after.

Looks very good, but keep the silver eyeliner.
--> A woman without eyebrows = no go ;)

I like both I think in the end its to choose between originality and a more standard refresh look. The nice thing is that you already have the headlights so you could swap them from time to time.

you may need some orange paint... But ya it looks good. what is the deal with your litronic headlights. they look different.

I love that look! As for the perimeter, I think it would look cool white and the gaps would provide a nice, subtle, outline. I thought that maybe even a black perimeter, to match your other accents, would look cool, but after doing a quick touch-up to your picture, no... just, no... way too much thick black on the front.

Looks great! I think the silver outline should stay. Will the paint hold up to the heat if parked in the sun?

His projectors are custom from the "Porsche Headlight Retrofit [from CAD, prototyping to finish)" thread.

The paint that I'll be using is OEM Glacier White and clear coat, so I sure hope so! :eek: :p

Lit what? Like Bruce said, these are custom made. The projectors are made by Nine8Six (See here...) and I use them to build these headlights for 986 and 996 owners ;)

http://i875.photobucket.com/albums/a...A2D2AF530E.jpg

http://i875.photobucket.com/albums/a...9963782E3D.jpg

http://i875.photobucket.com/albums/a...F42DBDDDB0.jpg

http://i875.photobucket.com/albums/a...000000009B.jpg

I think it looks too 1990's to be fully monochromatic. I could see doing something that will play better with the white than going with the full contrast of black, like maybe pearlescent or mettalic finish with a greyish/bluish hue, like when you look into an HID bulb. Or like a Tintanium color coupled with a gun metal projector.

p.s.
I definitely want to be one of your customers! On a sliver car, the black look totally changes the whole design of the front end.

I wondered if you were ever going to post :D
Yeah, I'm thinking that the thin lines created by the headlight/car gasket and the headlight/housing seal will create enough "eyeliner", but we shall see. You've also got to try to picture them with much more modern looking projectors ;)



That's kind of what I thought, but I have 2 sets, so I'll probably keep playing with this spare headlight until I find something I like ;)

Any time, buddy :)
Spring is just around the corner and with shipping time both ways, most retrofits are taking 6-8 days.

I still have a set of the halogens so maybe I'll do those as well. Your mod definitely increases their value.

So you can do this mod with Litronics too and not just the pumpkins?

Does the paint color have any affect on the lights performance ? Or is it strictly cosmetic ? I'm trying to figure out what to do on my arctic silver car.

I've never had a request to do litronics, so I honestly don't know.


It's strictly cosmetic. Since yours is already silver, the liner would already be nice and subtle ;)
That would be interesting to see.

While my photoshop skills are less than great, I'm not sure I like either of these options. I was planning on going with a white bezel, but it may be too much.

Yes...agree too much. Skip the white bezel. Fantastic other than that.

If I had the skill and time I would see if there was a decently easy way to get rid of all the extra headlight and make a fender/headlight assembly that was just the oval from the headlights. without all the extra foglight and junk.

I like the dark black lights best as it looks more dramatic and interesting to me.

The white takes away the focus on the lights and makes it look a bit too plastic and uninteresting. Its like having an albino car.

The dark lights are like a girls eyes with makeup, more interesting and sexy.

The oval light masks make it look like another cars headlights, Jag or Mercedes?
I like that Porsches lights are very distinctive and different than the rest.

Thats just my opinion so if you like it more power to you, the workmanship and creativity is awesome in any case and I applaud that you are exploring and pushing boundaries...kudos! ;)

You mean Frog eyes slant nose style?

That would be interesting, we need a photoshop mockup of that.

Option 1: Full white interior with "black" bezels
Option 2: Full black interior with "white" bezels

I kinda like the idea & the look of the full white interior Charles. Looks clean, modern. Double thumbs up mate

Thanks for the opinions. I'm sticking with black for now, but it was a fun experiment and now I have pictures if someone down the line wants to know what it looks like to have the inner shroud painted to match the car ;)

Now...I need to order some new projectors because I cannot be the official installer for these whilst running the Mk1 projectors. Must be up to date :)

Here are some different color options that I'm toying with. I like the white bezel on black headlights, but I kind of like them all.
Blue is quite nice on white :cool:
Unfortunately, both blue and red would require new caliper paint and I'm not looking forward to doing that again any time soon. That, and I really like my green calipers. So torn...

Edit: I think on a white car and with the overall monochromatic look, my only real options are neutral colors; black, silver, white, and maybe gunmetal.

I think the painted enclosure is too much on a white car because of the comparative darkness on the turn signal. It just didn't look "right" to me. Might look better with the amber lights. I think the black looks best. I do like the white bezel with the black, and I agree you should probably stick to white or silver.

how about only the oval part white. The rest in black. Sorta 997'ish. With smoked side markers..

http://986forum.com/forums/attachmen...mall-white.jpg

Just the oval part would probably look better.

Any luck removing the eyeliner? Would like to black out the lights but don't want to be stuck with the silver eyeliner.

Thanks,
Will

I haven't actually tackled a whole headlight yet, but brake fluid seems to work well. ;)

painting the headlight interiors really looks great. with the body color match the lights seem to blend in well, and the headlights appear much smaller. if the silver rings were covered in the body color, the lights would all but disappear... good work

Have you had success using brake fluid on a portion of the liner on one of your scrap pieces? Brush it on, let it sit, brush it out? It looks to be textured as well. Can that be removed or best not? Acetone too strong?

Sorry for all the questions, I haven't opened one up yet, don't know what I'm getting into, and don't want to scrap the lights...

I like the looks of those LED headlights without the eyeliner on EBay and Amazon, just not the price, apparent fitment, or quality problems I've read about.

You should make it an option for your retrofit.

Will - can't comment on the brake fluid, haven't done it.

We managed to get the silver lip removed with sand blasting it at low psi. You just need to cover the lens with plastic wrap (by Saran). Easy to clean, just air blast the unit when completed.

Came out with a sweet satin finish < you want that otherwise it's see-through :/

Great :cheers:
Thanks for the info. It's now on my project list.:)

Sand blasting the eyeliner off worked? Has anyone tried the brake fluid or acetone? What about sanding off?

I want to black out headlights but also want to do this when I do the interior. I think it would look great like that on black car.

Feel free to try blasting, but I had no luck getting the final bits of silver out of the corrugated backing where it meets the lip that fits into headlight case. The other issue I had was static and blowing clean the inevitable blasting media that gets past the masking material. Sanding was a no go in the same area. Perhaps with more patience and a willingness to remove the corrugation and a section of the lip to get to the very last points of silver that can be seen from the exterior.

Ended up painting the exterior shell to get rid of the eyeliner. Epoxy black was a good match to the factory black paint but fades in sun. Will redo this winter,(paint and polish), then seal with 2k clear.

Gotta quit trolling the old threads. Gives me ideas ��

Now somehow I deleted my pic. Well it's up there ��