DIY 2006-2011 Blacked-out Hatchback headlight housing

[GibbsYaris07]

This weekend I blacked out my headlights. I couldn't find a DIY so based on past headlight from past vehicles I did it myself.

1. I did the usual dropping the bumper and removed the headlight housing (removed all bulbs)

2. I preheated my oven to 250 degrees, then baked for 5 minutes.

3. After 5 mins, I carefully removed the housing and with a flathead screwdriver I pried off the plastic lens along with carefully removing the amber reflectors. Watch out for the sticky adhesive. Repeat steps for the other housing

4. Now its time to mast off all the reflective areas to avoid overspray.

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5. This is when I applied a light sand and then a layer of primer. I let it dry overnight, then the next morning, I applied three coats of gloss black.

6. Once dryed (after 2 hours), I applied additional black adhesive, put them back together then baked each housing for 3-5 mins just to secure the housing clips.

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7. Time to reinstall the headlights. To top it off, I performed a oxidation clearcoat cleaning and it turned out looking good.

8. Im done
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Thank you for checking out my first DIY on this forum. I'm relatively new here and I already received helpful advice from fellow members. I hope I could return the same.

[06YarisRS]

Looks great! Nice job and thanks for the DIY. I always liked the look of blacked out housings. I was a member of a Chrysler site and many guys did projector retrofits. Something about putting my OEM headlight in an oven scared me, even though a lot of people do it with no negative effects. I did buy some actual aftermarket blacked out headlights for my van, but the optical quality and beam scatter was so bad as to make it undriveable at night.

I see you can buy projector refits for the Yaris on eBay. And they are actually pretty affordable too and they look pretty cool.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Toyota-2006-2008-Yaris-2-3Dr-Hatchback-Halo-Projector-LED-Headlights-Lamps-Black-/352081232617?epid=1940227751&hash=item51f9ad42e9:g:FQoAAOSwq~tZOB-P&vxp=mtr

For some reason, they will only fit a 3 door hatchback. I'm new enought to these cars to not know the differences between teh 3 door and 5 door.

[GibbsYaris07]

I've done these headlight housing baking several times in the past and I only experienced one time where I accidently melt a piece of plastic (less than a inch). Even though the small part was insignificant, it was a learning experience. Just keep under 250 and watch for 3-5 mins, and you should be fine. One important factor is to not let the housing body touch the walls. Thx for the support