Hey guys, I had to take apart my headlight because water was getting in it. The humidity and heat in Florida destroyed the housing so I want to fix it up. What paint can I use to make it as OEM as possible? Also I heard on another s2ki post that when you tape the chrome it likes to peel off with the tape. what should i do

 

I dont know about the paint, but to protect the chrome without masking tape you could stuff foam (kitchen sponge) into the opening, or maybe plug it with rags, a rubber plug (Kitchen sink?) what ever... be creative. Look around in your house.

 

Vaseline

 

Not so sure on that one since Vaseline is petroleum based.

 

I’m just trying to figure out what paint I can use to make it the most oem looking. anyone know

 

We refinish tons of s2000 headlights and some of the issues you brought up are common questions.

For AP1 headlights the peeling is common, the only proper way to do this is to have a body shop strip and repaint. The chrome is tricky since normally you mask it off but because of the age of the headlight, most masking tape will simply pull the chrome off.

You can check out our Instagram or photos on this link for some AP1 headlight ideas.....

https://euroboutique.us/collections/...dlight-upgrade

 

I learned something new, I did not know you guys did that! No issues with water intrusion?

 

OP just wants a recommendation on paint

Try SEM trim coat or Rustoleum Satin Black. Or any variety of satin black paint.

Spray them on labeled/marked index cards.
Put the index cards up to your lights.
Pick the best color.

I have never had an issue masking or pulling up chrome using painters tape. YMMV

You can buy tape different stickynesses, IIRC. So buy the weakest stickyness. To avoid issues, use a hair dryer to help heat up the tape and pull it if you're worried. DO NOT leave the tape on there for more than 20mins or so. That should *hopefully* prevent you from pulling up the chrome.

I duno how you baked your lights or took them apart, but the best way to reseal it is to just heat them back up and reuse the same adhesive they came with. Or find some type of fully curing butyl adhesive. They use it for vapor barriers and stuff...but you want to find stuff that fully cures. Try an auto body supply store.

 

I like the Vaseline suggestion. An old trick when masking won't work. Paint won't stick to it. So long as the Vaseline itself won't cause damage, you can use it. A super thin coat is all you need.

Any type of grease will work here. Doesn't have to be petroleum based.

SEM trim coat, available on Amazon. Body Shops use it. Great stuff. Sticks to any bare metal. But aren't we spraying plastic here? I'm thinking that is why Euro Boutique is saying body shop. They would be able to mix a paint that will stick to plastic (bumpers are plastic).

So you'd want a spray paint specifically for plastic. My experience, the paints that say sticks to all surfaces, metal, wood plastic, etc, don't stick as well to plastic as well as the ones that are just for plastic.

 

Sorry to bump again but I haven’t painted the headlight yet, been busy. The housings on these headlights aren’t fully black they look almost a little gray in the right lighting so say if I used the SEM trim coat satin black, how well do you think it could match the original because I’m only planning on doing this to the one headlight