Refitting headlight trim

[Size Nine Elm]

I was cleaning off some dead flies etc from the front of the Chimaera a couple of weeks ago, and must have loosened whatever glue/silicone/adhesive with which the headlight trim is attached to the car*.

During an enthusiastic run I vaguely noticed something flying past me while overtaking... and on arrival at my destination realised it was the aforementioned trim. Retraced my route, and found the trim on the verge.



What is the best way to re-attach the trim? From the pic I would assume there are meant to be 2 of the brackets below the headlight, and this may well be why cleaning it with some pressure broke the glue if 1 was missing.

Thanks in advance for any help...

*'With' is one of the words never to end a sentence with.*

*Bugger.

[V8 Animal]

I would use sickaflex(spell) or silicone.
Mine has IIRC wingnuts and tabs on the surround.
V8 Animal

[meatball]

V8 Animal said:

I would use sickaflex(spell) or silicone.
Mine has IIRC wingnuts and tabs on the surround.
V8 Animal

[poorpeet]

Nice to see some one else with good taste when it comes to colours
I use Black silicone sealant from B&Q cheap, works a treat & goes off quite quickly.

[shropshire lad]

poorpeet said:

Nice to see some one else with good taste when it comes to colours
I use Black silicone sealant from B&Q cheap, works a treat & goes off quite quickly.

Agreed - have done this twice on mine and works fine, try to use as little as possible otherwise as you tighten down it may squeeze into the top gap and then be visible.

[Size Nine Elm]

Thanks for the replies - I think I've got some black silicone sealant (doesn't everyone who has a TVR ),so will have a go with that.

[tvr keith]

Its not just a matter of sealant.
There are two brackets at the base of the surround although you have one missing. If you look through the holes at the front of the car near the indicator light you may find it.
The brackets on my car were "glued" to the surround with Silkaflex, I have replaced this with fibreglass resin.
Remove the road wheel and circular disc in the front of the wheel arch to gain access to the rear of the headlamp.
Apply Silkaflex to the top of the surround and push it down into place, feeding the bolts on the brackets through the holes, and then secure them with the large washers and wing nuts.
Earlier cars may not have the access hole in the wheel arch. Some will say that its unnecessary to remove the dics over the hole, and if all the screws are pristine that's right. Mine were full of road dirt and a bit rusty so wheel removal was the way to go.
All of this might sound like a lot of work when you could just "glue" the surround back with mastic, and that would be just fine.
Until you need to remove it to replace a headlight glass when it will be quite impossible to remove without damaging the paintwork

Edited by tvr keith on Wednesday 28th March 11:01