Make Your Own Black Headlights

Article written by catmechanic07.

Anyone looking for the blacked out headlight look? You can either pay big bucks for the aftermarket lights or do-it-yourself for around $30 bucks and some of your precious time! This should work on any 2004-2008 Ford F-150. It may also work on the 09-up trucks.

Here is what you'll need to do it:

• Plastic paint (has to be for painting plastic. regular paint wont do)
• 600 grit sandpaper
• masking tape
• Phillips screw driver
• (4) flat blade screwdrivers (larger ones work better)
• (2) tubes of black or clear silicone
• conventional oven
• razor knife
• T-10 torx driver
• small socket set
• A piece of cardboard that will fit in your oven

Here's how you do it:

Start by removing the small plastic phillips screw that holds the splash guard to the front radiator support beside the headlight. Take the insert out of that where the plastic screw was in.

Fold the splash guard back to access the (2) bolts that secure the headlight assembly in. Remove those two bolts, and the bolt that is at the top of the assembly connected to the fender, the headlight assembly should pull out with a little coaxing. There are pins that go into locking clips on the outside edges to keep the assembly in.

Once you get that out unplug your lights and let them sit in there where the assembly was. Do all this for both sides! Now: clean all the mud and dirt off that you can. I used a dry rag and small brush to clean mine.

Now the fun begins. Take the assembly into your kitchen. Take the racks in your oven and remove them all but one. Place that one rack as low as you need to be able to fit the light assembly in your oven. Cut your piece of cardboard to fit in the oven.

OK! NOW....take and set your oven to 250 degrees and let it pre-heat. Take the assembly and set it on the cardboard. Once the oven has pre-heated, turn it off and put the assembly in the oven on top of the cardboard. Let it sit in there for 10 MINUTES (NO LONGER or it will melt) remove it and start immediately trying to pry the front clear plastic cover from the back housing. Yes this will take some work. Once you get it to start coming apart, you may have to keep putting it in the oven as mentioned earlier. (I had to do it 4 times per light)

Once the front cover is off, clean any and all factory sealant out of the deep channel where the two pieces seal. I kept using the oven method to keep the factory sealant flexible. A heat gun works well too! Set the two halves aside and do the other assembly.

NOW. Take the (2) torx screws out and separate the two halves in the back part of the housing. This will allow you to remove the orange reflector and the chrome piece you'll be painting. Remove the reflector now.

Mask off the chrome in-set piece where the turn signal goes. You don't have to worry about the inset for the headlight. It wont be touched.
Its kind of annoying masking the turn signal inset off so use long pieces of tape to cover it all in one strip across. Use the razor knife to CAREFULLY cut the tape around the edges of the inset.

Now that that's done, take your 600 grit sandpaper and scuff the rest of the chrome up to prep it for paint. Take some paint thinner or alcohol and clean it so it will have no oil at all on it. You don't want oil on there when your painting it. Take them outside and use VERY light coats of paint. Let them dry approx. 20 minutes between coats. It may take up to 5-6 coats to get good coverage. Let the last coat dry for around an hour so you know its good and dry.

Take your orange reflector and put it back in place. remove the masking tape and clean the chrome in-set for the turn signal with window cleaner. (Fingerprints once done would be very bad!!) Now clean the headlight in-set as well, the front clear lens should also be cleaned. Take the back housing and the piece you just painted and put them back together and install the screws again.

Take your silicone and fill the deep channel groove where it seals the front clear lens to the back housing. FILL THE GROOVE FULL OF SILICONE!!! If some silicone squirts out around the edges that's OK. I took masking tape and smashed the front cover down into place and secured it in place with the masking tape. Using the tape as kinda like a tie down to make sure it was set good. Do this all around the assembly on different directions. IT IS CRITICAL to get this sealed good. Moisture isn't good inside the light. Let the silicone dry overnight.

Next day, Remove tape and apply a thin over seal on what you did the day before. Just for a good seal.

Re-install the assemblies in reverse of removal and you should have some good looking blacked out headlights! If you have any questions feel free to ask. This took me approx: 5 hours total and $30 in materials. Good luck!

Here's the before & after shots:

Before:

After: