Hello everyone. So I went to paint my headlights today and the whole process took about 12hours and a case of beer. They came out looking great except one small problem I did not foresee...

I get them all buttoned back up and on the truck when I notice the thousands of spider-cracks, caused from heat and stress, traversing the clear lens. From 10ft away it looks fine but up close and especially at night with the lights on the cracks look real crappy.

So I went on ebay and just bought a pair of aftermarket oem type lights (already blacked out) for 81$. I guess its not a terrible deal. But a word of warning, check your lenses before going through that whole process.

also, I tried sanding and restoring them... didnt help. Here are some pics:

one more thing, do y'all think I should PTM the grill surround? I am going to PTM the mirror caps (tuxedo black)

 

That's how my OEM heads looked just over time, I never tried to open mine up. I have a pair of black ones off eBay on my truck now, and they're a great deal. They don't fit exactly perfectly, and you should run a bead of silicon around where the lens meets the housing so that they don't let moisture in. But besides that, they're great.

But yes PTM the grill surround, but actually Paint To Match it, not tuxedo black. Why are you doing black and not silver? And what paint are you going to be using? Some from Automotivetouchup.com?

Black grill surrounds make it look like a work truck to me. I picked up the black FX4 grill I have now along with the black grill surround (came off a black FX4) and had them both on my truck for about 2 weeks. I didn't like it so I put my white surround on the black grill and that's how she sits now.

All of the work you've done recently has turned out stellar too!

 

thanks KMAC, I wasn't clear enough in the initial post. I am going to do tuxedo black on the mirror caps-- I just dont like the way the ptm silver looks on this style mirror.

I will do ptm silver on the grill surround. I dont know if I have enough paint left from automotivetouchup to do the surround, so I may try duplicolor from autozone.

 

Ahh! That makes more sense. I'd maybe lay down base coats with a duplicolor, then use up the rest of the automotivetouchup on top of it so that it matches as close as possible. I don't know how picky you are with things matching exactly, but you don't wanna have to do it twice if it doesn't match properly. Automotivetouchup stuff is great, but expensive compared to a normal can of spray paint, but also much cheaper than a pro. You got a lot out of that one little can though if you were able to do all of your handles with it.

 

Paint match the grill surround, and paint your entire mirrors silver. Looks good though!

 

Thank you guys. I am now considering putting projectors in the new headlights. I found the whole fx-r kit for $315.

 

Hi.

That's good news.

And you found em' here? http://www.theretrofitsource.com/pro...roducts_id=141

Good luck!

 

yup, thats them!

 

Outstanding!

Be sure to read all the excellent tutorials, both on here and the TRS site.

And didje see ol' LTMark's unique & fascinating retrofit method? https://www.f150online.com/forums/il...eadlights.html

The boy's brilliant, I'm tellin' ye!

Again - good luck, and above all have fun!

 

Wow, my heads are still stock, and although they have already been polished once, it is getting time to do them again... They upper 1" is where they get the worst... I am honestly a little shocked to see the cracking / crazing you are showing there... Can't read your plate, but it looks like it might be a Florida plate (Or Georgia, can't tell if that is an Orange or a Peach...), so I am guessing your heads aren't exposed to bitter cold too often... How odd.

Glad you got replacements on the cheap. Let us know how they work out. Might be worth doing when I get tired of polishing the stockers...

As far as your grille surround. It's your truck man, mod it as you please, however I personally would PTM the surround...

I do like your grille though. Is that an FX2 grille? That looks really sharp!

 

still looks good I wouldn't worry about the lens.

 

Yes, it is an fx2 grille, but it is a part from partsgeek thats not exactly oe ford equipment (i.e. the grille is all one piece and the surround doesnt seperate).

And you are right, the truck hasnt seen prolonged exposure to extreme cold, but it has had its share of the heat!

I will paint the grill sometime next week and to darren, I am still toying with the idea of painting the whole mirror.

 

I disagree on the ptm grill. With it left as is, it really helps tie the front end together now that you have the headlights.

 

Darren's mirrors look good painted completely because his truck is black. I think a completely silver mirror will draw a ton of (bad) attention and not look right. But again just my thoughts

 

Agreed. Just PTM the mirror caps-only and the grill surround. I'd just tape off the grill really well to paint the surround since it won't separate.