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Old 07-10-2012, 06:58 AM
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Lightbulb DIY: Replacing cracked fog light lenses

I posted this DIY over at evolutionm.net, hopefully this will help those of you with cracked fog lenses...





Background Info:
Both of my fog light lenses cracked about 2 years ago, it happened when the weather started getting warmer after the 2nd winter my car endured. I am 100% sure the cracks were not impact-induced, but in fact they cracked due to temperature changes. Both lenses started cracking about the same time and the surface is completely free of nicks or chips, and the cracks started developing from the inside. I've searched around this forum and clubralliart.com and quite a few people have experienced the same issue, and they all live in either NorthEast or Canada.

Long story short, brought it in to the dealer, service manager agreed with my theory, regional warranty manager didn't and he declined to replace my fog lights under warranty, I walked out pissed cursing at Mitsubishi.

Drove around with the cracked fog lights for 1.5 year, moisture would get in and light bulbs would go out all the time and the lenses look ghetto. Started doing some research and found out people have attempted to replace the lenses themselves. So I decided to go ahead and try it since it's better than paying $100 for a new pair of fog light assembly.
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Tools and Materials Needed:
 Pre-cut glass circles 3.5” diameter and ¼” thick
Visit your local glass shops or Google "pre-cut glass circles"; I went with ¼” thickness over 1/8” worrying that 1/8” may be too thin. I paid $5 for each piece.


 High temp resistant silicone sealant
I went with this: http://www.caulkyourhome.com/ge-sili...w-and-door.php, it is not advertised as high temp resistant but that’s the best my local Home Depot had to offer. The temp range listed on the label says -40 to 400 degrees so it should be good enough especially I use LED bulbs for the fog lights which do not produce nearly as much heat as halogen bulbs.


 New bulbs if they need to be replaced. I would recommend LED bulbs; they are cheap and look so much cooler. I bought a set from eBay and paid ~ $10 for a set of H11 White LED bulbs with 68 LEDs on each. Do not get the ones with 120 LEDs, the diameter of those bulbs are too big to fit through the opening in the housing (I know because I wasted money on a set).

 A philip screwdriver.

 A hammer or mallet used with a screw driver to break the old lenses off.

 Some working gloves so you don’t cut yourself while cleaning the broken glass off of the fog light housings.

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  #2  
Old 07-10-2012, 06:59 AM
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Steps:

1. Remove one screw located at the top of the bezel, it’s on the side towards the center of the car. Don’t mess with the one at the bottom of the bezel because it’s the aim adjustment screw for the fog lights.

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2. Stick your finger through the mesh and pull on the bezel to wiggle it out. It’s held on by that one screw you just removed and a bunch of clips along the edges of the bezel.

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3. Remove 3 short screws from the fog light housing mounting bracket, 2 on the outside and 1 inside.

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4. Pull the light housing out a bit and unplug the connector

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__________________
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- 2003 Hyundai Tiburon GTV6 Obsidian Black
www.newtiburon.com

- 2009 Mitsubishi Lancer Ralliart Wicked White
www.clubralliart.com

- 2011 Hyundai Genesis Coupe 2.0T R-Spec Karussel White
http://www.gencoupe.com/
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  #3  
Old 07-10-2012, 07:00 AM
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************************************************** ***************
5. Now it’s time to remove the cracked lenses. Break the glass however you like, but I did it like this:

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6. If you lay the tip of the screwdriver right on top of an existing crack and hammer it, the glass will break off easier.

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7. Put on some working gloves before you remove the broken glasses by hand. The glass is held on by some black sealant around the rim of the housing. Just pull the pieces back and rip them off.

************************************************** ***************


************************************************** ***************
__________________
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- 2003 Hyundai Tiburon GTV6 Obsidian Black
www.newtiburon.com

- 2009 Mitsubishi Lancer Ralliart Wicked White
www.clubralliart.com

- 2011 Hyundai Genesis Coupe 2.0T R-Spec Karussel White
http://www.gencoupe.com/
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  #4  
Old 07-10-2012, 07:01 AM
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8. Inspect the chrome reflector, moisture most likely had been getting inside the housing through the cracks so take some mild cleaner and clean it if you want. Lesson learned here: blow on the reflector and shake the housing a few times first; when I cleaned mine I had no idea there were micro pieces of shattered glass (glass dust) resting on the reflector so when I was wiping it down I scratched the surface a bit.

************************************************** ***************


************************************************** ***************
9. The next step you can choose to skip if you’d like. In hindsight I probably didn’t need to do this but what I did was I scrapped off all the leftover black sealant/gasket. Thinking I was gonna fill up the rim with new sealant anyway. But turned out the flat piece of glass circles I got would sit on top on the inner ring leaving a small gap around the outer edge. So filling up the rim of the housing with new sealant would not do anything since it won’t make contact with the glass.

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10. You can see the small gap along the outer edge that I was talking about

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************************************************** ***************
__________________
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- 2003 Hyundai Tiburon GTV6 Obsidian Black
www.newtiburon.com

- 2009 Mitsubishi Lancer Ralliart Wicked White
www.clubralliart.com

- 2011 Hyundai Genesis Coupe 2.0T R-Spec Karussel White
http://www.gencoupe.com/
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  #5  
Old 07-10-2012, 07:02 AM
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11. Here’s where my wife stepped in and helped. I would’ve made a huge mess if I were to do this myself. The caulk gun was not working out at all....we needed finer control, so wifey came up with the idea of using some plastic cake decorating bag that we had in the house. Much easier to control while applying the sealant.

************************************************** ***************




Don't put too much sealant on the rim because when you set the glass down the sealant may get pushed in and make a mess

__________________
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- 2003 Hyundai Tiburon GTV6 Obsidian Black
www.newtiburon.com

- 2009 Mitsubishi Lancer Ralliart Wicked White
www.clubralliart.com

- 2011 Hyundai Genesis Coupe 2.0T R-Spec Karussel White
http://www.gencoupe.com/
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  #6  
Old 07-10-2012, 07:02 AM
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************************************************** ***************
12. You can see that I filled the rim with new sealant, it looks weird but don’t worry, the plastic bezel will cover the outer edge up so you won’t see the sealant.

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************************************************** ***************
13. Apply sealant around the outer edge, this is what’s gonna keep the glass on the housing. There are a couple of notches along the edge, make sure you seal them up.

************************************************** ***************
__________________
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- 2003 Hyundai Tiburon GTV6 Obsidian Black
www.newtiburon.com

- 2009 Mitsubishi Lancer Ralliart Wicked White
www.clubralliart.com

- 2011 Hyundai Genesis Coupe 2.0T R-Spec Karussel White
http://www.gencoupe.com/
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  #7  
Old 07-10-2012, 07:03 AM
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************************************************** ***************
14. Let it sit over night…label says it needs 24 hours to fully cure.

************************************************** ***************




************************************************** ***************
__________________
.
.
.
- 2003 Hyundai Tiburon GTV6 Obsidian Black
www.newtiburon.com

- 2009 Mitsubishi Lancer Ralliart Wicked White
www.clubralliart.com

- 2011 Hyundai Genesis Coupe 2.0T R-Spec Karussel White
http://www.gencoupe.com/
.
.
.
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  #8  
Old 07-10-2012, 07:04 AM
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15. Make sure there is no moisture inside the housing, put the LED bulbs in, and mount the fog lights back on the car and reinstall the plastic bezel…the glass pieces look great!

************************************************** ***************



__________________
.
.
.
- 2003 Hyundai Tiburon GTV6 Obsidian Black
www.newtiburon.com

- 2009 Mitsubishi Lancer Ralliart Wicked White
www.clubralliart.com

- 2011 Hyundai Genesis Coupe 2.0T R-Spec Karussel White
http://www.gencoupe.com/
.
.
.
Reply With Quote
  #9  
Old 07-10-2012, 07:04 AM
Heliart's Avatar
Heliart Heliart is offline
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Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Connecticut
Posts: 147
Default




__________________
.
.
.
- 2003 Hyundai Tiburon GTV6 Obsidian Black
www.newtiburon.com

- 2009 Mitsubishi Lancer Ralliart Wicked White
www.clubralliart.com

- 2011 Hyundai Genesis Coupe 2.0T R-Spec Karussel White
http://www.gencoupe.com/
.
.
.
Reply With Quote
  #10  
Old 07-10-2012, 07:05 AM
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Heliart Heliart is offline
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Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Connecticut
Posts: 147
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__________________
.
.
.
- 2003 Hyundai Tiburon GTV6 Obsidian Black
www.newtiburon.com

- 2009 Mitsubishi Lancer Ralliart Wicked White
www.clubralliart.com

- 2011 Hyundai Genesis Coupe 2.0T R-Spec Karussel White
http://www.gencoupe.com/
.
.
.
Reply With Quote
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