I performed some testing with the XC led rings today and ran them for about 5 hours straight. Wanted to make sure there weren't any overheating issues or electrical issues that would need to be addressed.

Here's a pic of them running on "white". It has a bit more blue in the color but it's as close to white as one will get with an RGB surface mounted diode.

 

Looking GOOD MAN!

 

Thanks mister. I'm trying to perform headlight surgery this week while i have the time. Being off of work for 3 weeks sure makes on bored rather quickly.

Hopefully I'll be in the powder coat shop today testing a few colors for my housing and if all goes well, I'll be back in there tomorrow coating the housings themselves.

 

I envy your time off. If I had 3 weeks off, and didn't need to go anywhere (at night) I would possibly try this myself.

However, I can't...so I'll need to find a super deal on a replacement set of headlights, and paint those (or send them to a professional). Then swap them in with my existing. I can't go a couple of days without headlight.

Are you doing anything to rough up the plastic before painting? I wonder how a fine grit (220) media blasting would to to "frost" the existing finish.

 

I did rough up the plastic before painting and that turned out great. There is the "problem" spot that everyone experiences when painted, and that is over the ridged/rippled area right under the projector lens. When painted, this area will begin to bubble with the help of sunlight refracting of the projector lens at certain angles.

I will be using a media blaster on a low pressure to help strip away the paint I applied and help rough up the areas that will be painted. I've used this on plastics before and it works rather well. You only begin to get into trouble when you're using a more coarse media and have the pressure set too high. I'm hoping this will turn out better than paint.

When coating with powder on plastics, it is required to mix the powder with a special liquid agent that dries at a quick rate under normal room conditions. The process for coating plastics is to use the designated powder mixed with this liquid agent, and apply evenly to the surface one wishes to coat. You then let the solution dry before moving into a curing oven. The dried liquid agent + powder combo ensures the application will not drip off during the baking process.

 

I've started wondering...what's on there now? The chrome is a finish of some sort...how does the chrome hold up to media blasting? Does it start to flake off? What about simple sanding? Do you run into a situation where you've removed too much material and get low spots?

 

It's just a chrome paint over plastic. It's not REAL chrome. Real chrome can only be applied to metal. The chrome paint could begin to flake if one was to remove a portion of it from the plastic, leaving an exposed edge, however that is not the case with the stock housings.

I have a couple different nozzles to use with a media blaster. I have a spare set of shrouds that I can test the nozzles on and see which performs best and most accurate. The goal is just to rough the surface enough for the powder to have something to stick to.

 

LOL, I know it's a paint...but I was wondering if things like to stick to it. Is there a chemical that will remove the chrome paint, and leave the plastic alone?

I have the chrome trim piece of my center console release peeling away from the plastic beneath. I can see something like this happening inside the light if it's the same stuff.

EDIT:

Ultimately, I ask myself...when roughing up the surface, do you end up with some spots that show the plastic beneath, or do you only go as deep as a layer of chrome paint or two...with plenty to spare?

 

I'm sure some sort of chemical exists - I have yet to look for one.

When I painted the first time, I scuffed the chrome paint just enough for the paint to stick to. That did the trick as the paint is 100%.

 

Hopefully you can take some pics of the process as you prep then paint, very interesting thread you've put together Conner. Nice to have enough time freed up to really get it exactly as you want.
Look forward to updates

 

update on those XC led rings on the car?

 

No big updates as of yet. I'm working in finishing a power folding mirror project and also getting my drone back in the air.

One thing with the XC LEDs is that they aren't as bright as I expected. I'm looking for something that is very bright, even in the daylight. Might look at the basic XB LEDs or even something from Oracle.

 

Does anyone have any multi colored halo lights for sale ? 2011 g37 coupe