Re-sealing rear lamp covers
Discussion
A minor job that has made a nice difference to the rear of the car. The rear lights had condensation forming between the outer cover and the inner cluster, which was unsightly and also I was a bit concerend about the MOT and also the simple fact that it impedes other motorists seeing the lights.
On the face of it I thought the covers seemed reasonably well stuck- not so as it turned out.
I did a bit of searching around to find a definitive guide on re-sealing the covers, and picked up some hints and tips.
The folloiwng is how I tackled it, which may be of use to others.
Removal - This was easier than I expected. I carefully masked the bodywork to protect it and used a craft kife to carefully cut round the perspex cover. With the initial cut complete I then put the blade in at an angle to under cut the sealant. An old credit card proved useful to slide into the gap and help separate the cover from the body and minimise the danger of scrathching anything.
With the lense off and old sealant cleaned off, I had this:
The covers were in decent shape. A wash in warm soapy water took off the remants of old paint on the inside. I used a mild cutting compound to polish the inside and outside of the covers. This removed the scratches and also took the remaining paint lines away. The old sealand rubbed off easily enough.
Next up was the bit I was dreading - getting a good paint line on the inside to mask the sealant.
Initially I tried masking the inside. With the paint applied, I peeled the masking, and the result was terrible, so I cleaned it all off and started again.
This time I used a sharpie marker to put 'guide dots' on the inside face so that I could paint it free hand. The dots were 15mm from the edge. I simply used a 'locked' tape measure as my guage.
Looked a bit like this - close up
[url=https://flic.kr/p/2jEcPt5]
Next I applied the paint. In this case a modelling brush and Tamiya black acrylic paint. I specifically did not paint all the way to the edge as I didn;t want the adhesion of the sealant to be depandant on the paint.
The result was this..
With both done, I masked the outer surfaces up - previous experience of Tiger Seal suggested this was prudent. I added a simple handle to try and assist manouvering, the cover into place and minimise the inevitable transfer of Tiger Seal to everything around me.
A bead of sealant was appled to the body of the car, and a bead was added to the edge of the cover. I then used a small spreader to ensure there was sealant between the edge of the cover and the paint line.
Then I delicately, plonked it on! No going back..
It was a case of then adding some sealant in to ensure the gap was filled, and then cleaning any surplus off.
Overall pretty pleased with the improvement.
Cheers,
Brian
On the face of it I thought the covers seemed reasonably well stuck- not so as it turned out.
I did a bit of searching around to find a definitive guide on re-sealing the covers, and picked up some hints and tips.
The folloiwng is how I tackled it, which may be of use to others.
Removal - This was easier than I expected. I carefully masked the bodywork to protect it and used a craft kife to carefully cut round the perspex cover. With the initial cut complete I then put the blade in at an angle to under cut the sealant. An old credit card proved useful to slide into the gap and help separate the cover from the body and minimise the danger of scrathching anything.
With the lense off and old sealant cleaned off, I had this:
The covers were in decent shape. A wash in warm soapy water took off the remants of old paint on the inside. I used a mild cutting compound to polish the inside and outside of the covers. This removed the scratches and also took the remaining paint lines away. The old sealand rubbed off easily enough.
Next up was the bit I was dreading - getting a good paint line on the inside to mask the sealant.
Initially I tried masking the inside. With the paint applied, I peeled the masking, and the result was terrible, so I cleaned it all off and started again.
This time I used a sharpie marker to put 'guide dots' on the inside face so that I could paint it free hand. The dots were 15mm from the edge. I simply used a 'locked' tape measure as my guage.
Looked a bit like this - close up
[url=https://flic.kr/p/2jEcPt5]
Next I applied the paint. In this case a modelling brush and Tamiya black acrylic paint. I specifically did not paint all the way to the edge as I didn;t want the adhesion of the sealant to be depandant on the paint.
The result was this..
With both done, I masked the outer surfaces up - previous experience of Tiger Seal suggested this was prudent. I added a simple handle to try and assist manouvering, the cover into place and minimise the inevitable transfer of Tiger Seal to everything around me.
A bead of sealant was appled to the body of the car, and a bead was added to the edge of the cover. I then used a small spreader to ensure there was sealant between the edge of the cover and the paint line.
Then I delicately, plonked it on! No going back..
It was a case of then adding some sealant in to ensure the gap was filled, and then cleaning any surplus off.
Overall pretty pleased with the improvement.
Cheers,
Brian
If it's a tiny bit of condensation then use a desicant bag to take it out. Remove the light bulbs holder, put one of these in and replace the carpet cover.
Worked well on a friends Sag
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00LHYQ0J8/
Worked well on a friends Sag
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00LHYQ0J8/
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