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View Full Version : General Separate Tailight Housing from Lenses?


OutOfTime
07-01-2015, 11:43 AM
I have a severely faded amber section on my driverside rear taillight. I have purchased some Tamiya amber transparent plastic paint and I plan to paint the inside of the lense until I match the passenger side, which has not faded.

I have removed the tail light and bulb panel. As you know there is the black plastic bulb shield on the inside of the taillight... there is a type of rubber strip between the plastic cover and the tail light housing. Before I start in with a razor blade, is this glued? Will I be able to separate the pieces to work on the tail light lens?

See attched pic... thanks! 35275
DMCMW Dave
07-01-2015, 12:25 PM
I have a severely faded amber section on my driverside rear taillight. I have purchased some Tamiya amber transparent plastic paint and I plan to paint the inside of the lense until I match the passenger side, which has not faded.

I have removed the tail light and bulb panel. As you know there is the black plastic bulb shield on the inside of the taillight... there is a type of rubber strip between the plastic cover and the tail light housing. Before I start in with a razor blade, is this glued? Will I be able to separate the pieces to work on the tail light lens?

See attched pic... thanks! 35275

It's thermal-welded. You'll probably break something.
OutOfTime
07-01-2015, 03:05 PM
It's thermal-welded. You'll probably break something.

Thank you! Thats exactly why I asked.

Mark
Bitsyncmaster
07-01-2015, 04:22 PM
It funny the car I just worked on also had the driver side faded and the passenger side was fine. Why would that happen?
DMCMW Dave
07-01-2015, 06:40 PM
It funny the car I just worked on also had the driver side faded and the passenger side was fine. Why would that happen?

I suspect a bad batch of plastic. We see that on many cars, and it somewhat random whether the left or right is the bad one. Sometimes it's both.
refugeefromcalif
07-01-2015, 07:48 PM
I suspect a bad batch of plastic. We see that on many cars, and it somewhat random whether the left or right is the bad one. Sometimes it's both.

Have you an idea, (noticed), what VIN ranges might have been affected?

George
DMCMW Dave
07-01-2015, 08:06 PM
Have you an idea, (noticed), what VIN ranges might have been affected?

George

Not at all. That's the sort of part that the factory probably didn't rotate, i.e. inventory was last-in first-out so a bad batch would show up over long intervals when they hit the bottom again. Just surmising here.

The probably only really shows up on cars with lots of outdoor exposure, which makes a pattern even harder to pick up.