Well, I know many people have done this but of course I will still post...

It took me about 2 hours to do both headlamps and I DID use my stock headlights and I didn't not have any problems. If you take your time no need to get that extra set of headlights...

Headlight on the left complete and right untouched:



Removing the 3 screws in back of headlight:



Removing bulbs and harness:



Removing the boot:



Everything removed:



Now here comes the fun part.....waiting....

Bake the headlight for 20 minutes at 100 degrees, on my oven was the warm setting...

After baking the headlamp its time to pull apart the lens and housing with a flat-head screw driver and a butter knief, sorry no pics...

Headlamp pulled apart:



Removing side markers:



Last pic before painting:



Paint I used, I thought high temp would work well:

 

Painting the insert...

First spray the insert with a VERY light coat and yes it will look like ****! And bake in the oven at 200 degrees for 5 min..

After that spray the second coat...This time get all of the crevices and cover all surfaces with paint...Bake for 5 min at 200 degrees

Finally, spray the third coat...Make sure everything is painted and covered and it looks good... Bake in oven for 10 min at 200 degrees....

Also, I just painted the over the amber plastic...

Painted:



Removing amber plastic from parking lamp:



Before reassembly:



Snapping side marker into place:



Reassembly is just reverse of unassembly...

Reassembly:



Time to bake again... Bake the lens and headlamp assembly in the oven at 100 degrees for 20 minutes...

After baking, at pep-boys I found some silicone sealant to use, I also used the glue that was already on the headlamp. BUT there will be some spaces where the glue came out, fill in those spaces with the silicone sealant...

NOW! Press the lens on the headlamp assembly and make sure all the snaps are clicked into place...

After all of that you will be left with:



For the parking light/ DRL's and turn signals, since stock the bulbs are clear and with removing the amber plastic, there could be some issues there...

So, I had a set of Sylavnia Silverstar parking bulbs left over from my 03' Sunfire. I looked at the stock bulb and the Silverstar bulb from my Sunfire and they were the SAME! Just different numbers.... Also, they do not make parking/turn bulbs for the cobalts....So this is what we can use when removing the amber plastic from the parking/turn...

Our stock bulbs are: 3157

Silverstar Bulbs from 03' Sunfire: 3057

Pics of the car now:











I guess this is kind of a how-to now...

 

nice

 

Very nice job, and pics. I want to do this to mine as well but im scared to mess my lights up, anyone in michigan want to give me a hand?

Keep up the good work bro car looks nice.

 

Very sharp. Nice how -to.

Anyone know what this looks like on a yellow cobalt? I'm thinking it may look a little too dark.

 

looks real good bro!

 

Good job and clear explanation! Definitely How-To material.

 

best how to so far on this headlight painting if you ask me. you get up. looking good too man. later

 

Get job on the instructions. It looks great. I have a black bolt also. Where you worried at first that there would be too much black on the car?

 

Excellent write up!!

 

Looks great fellow Delaware Cobalt owner!

 

looks great

 

i did the same thing and same paint except i left the turn signal housing orange... i love them as well! took about 2 hrs for me too

 

....I Love You

Im totally doing this now!

 

Isnt there laws about taking out those amber lens'?

 

good job man... i want to get a new set and do them body color.... arrival blue, they will look like vette lights.... nice pics though, car looks good

 

As long as the lights are amber

 

Thanks Everyone!!!! I am happy how they turned out it makes the car look totally different and there's not any leaks, which was my main concern....

Since I took out the amber lens I replaced the stock bulbs with amber bulbs so no problems with the law.....

 

That looks very nice man, I am going to be tackling this pretty soon, IM just waiting for it to warm up a bit

EDIT: **** you and Merc both live in Delaware, how dare you both do this without me! Bah!

 

Thanks man....

 

Jeremy, next time I am down visiting my girlfriend in newark, I'll call you up and we can paint them lights. It Should only take us about an hour.

 

I'm doing mine this weekend, i bought all my materials today, thanks for this kick ass How-To!!

 

Mods should move this to the How-To section and sticky it

 

I think there is already a how-to on painting your lights

 

I really like it! My oven will not go down as low as 100. 175 is the lowest temp it will let me set it on. Also, how do you get the headlights out of the car? What did you cover the yellow turn signal section up with?