I am wanting to paint the chrome parts of the inside of my headlights black. Has anyone done this? If so any pictures or instructions on how to do so?

ViperFX4

 

While I think it's an interesting idea, wouldn't that directly conflict with the point of it being chrome? The light emitted from the bulbs depends directly upon reflection so that it goes out to the road....

I sure think that any insurance company would have a serious problem with this type of modification and wouldn't miss a beat to deny a 'night time' claim if they saw that a safety item of this stature had been modified.

I'm not saying it can't be done, I'm just thinking out loud here.

RP

 

I think only the round part around the bulb has anything to do with the headlight reflection. As long as you leave that part chrome it should be fine.

With that said...IMO the headlights on these trucks are awsome....infact one of the reasons I wanted the truck. I would NEVER want to mess with them. Well except to swap the yellow turn signal bulbs for chrome ones....that was a sweet mod!

 

ill be doint the painted headlight mod as soon as i can snag a spare set of headlights. then ill report on it and get some pics. anyone know where i can get some cheap headlights??

 

I think he's looking to go with the look of the 06 Harley F150 (with the blacked-out headlights)


I don't see anything wrong with it (from a DOT perspective). The front chrome area is an appearance thing. The reflective area appears to only be the circular area behind the bulbs (headlight and signal)


I think I saw a thread here 4-6 weeks ago concerning the Harley headlights and the questions asked then were basically when people would start painting these to color match their trucks.

 

I wonder how much the Harley headlight units will cost directly from Ford? Might be just as economical as buying the standard units, and then painting them yourself, unless you can get some headlights that were taken off of a wreck (?).

 

AND the harley headlights will be DOT approved, for piece of mind

 

I'm getting ready to do this mod to my truck, I'm just waiting until I have an entire day that I'm not going to need to drive anywhere. My friend and I have done this before, and the scary part is putting the lights in the oven to melt the glue. Just make sure when you put them back together you get a good bead of silicone around so they seal up nice, otherwise you will go through bulbs like crazy. I'm painting mine blue to match my truck, I will make sure to take lots of pics and keep you updated. Hopefully I'll get this mod done soon, but like I said, it's my only mode of transportation, so I need to make sure I have a whole day that I won't need to drive.

 

can't wait to see!

 

I can't wait to see it done either.

 

There are some on Ebay, blacked out for $270 I think.

 

Yeah but those are the Ricey looking Halo lights in my opinion. I prefer the factory lights but blacked out.

ViperFX4

 

Actually I asked a company selling on ebay about this and they said that they are going to have some black headlights up for sale pretty soon on ebay. A manufacturing company will be supplying them to them so they are going to be professionally made. He showed me a picture of them and I like them much more then the ricey projectors. They actually look exactly like the 06 harley headlights. I asked about price wouldn't say but said that they are going to be much cheaper then the projectors and will be very good quality. We will wait and see.

 

Here's where I can step onto my soapbox

I design headlamps for Ford. Actually, I was one of the designers on the development of the F-150 headlamp.

While it is possible (and I would not suggest it) to bake the lamp to loosen the glue, be sure to remove any and all of the components that you can so you don't melt them. Also know that as soon as you mess with the lamp, you void the warrenty and open the possibility of water entering the glue track... good luck going back to Ford and complaining. Unless you can score another set to screw with.

With that said...

You can legally black out any of the lamp that is not part of the optical surfaces. Those round reflectors are optical surfaces therefore dont touch them because you'll affect the light output. Anything else... you're free to paint (at least on the F-150). Also, if you want to be legal don't mess witht he orange plate.


I wouldn't recommend forking out 300+ bucks for aftermarket lamps. The design and process that goes into these things to prevent leaking is pretty intense. There is a very good chance they will leak. I've had a lot of expirence with APC and other crappy companies making junk. They also are very liberal when it comes to meeting DOT standards (which there are a TON on lamps)

I'll be putting the Harley lamps on my truck as soon as it's okay with Ford

Stepping down now.

 

woohoo! ANother insider!


question, why did Ford go with the clear covers versus a translucent like the previous model? For that large area, I think the truck would have looked "tougher" if the fronts were not clear.

Just my $0.02