ive followed this site frequently over the past 2 yrs, but yes this is my first post. the object of this post is to tell you what i did, so that hopefully you dont do the same.

I have a 90 crx si that ive had since 2005. Fixing and upgrading peice by peice over the years. so im getting HID's for the rex, and i was looking at my headlights and they are full of condensation. well ok, no problem ill just take 'em out and reseal them.

off comes bumper, out comes headlights. popped the metal retaining clips off with a screw driver, pre-heated oven to 350 degrees. oven got up to temp, turned it off, in go headlight assembly for 10 mins. take out, wipe out factory glue. what a horrible mess! it was 350 degree molten glue, and if it touched your skin it wasnt coming off easily. FAIL!

so i get both of my headlights cleaned up, no more glue, and im lookin at 'em and thinking 'oh wow the silver mirror stuff is half gone and it looks like crap. so i removed it all. sanded the inside got them all smooth and shiny. then wtf?! what is available in to me that is EVER gonna look mirror-like again? nothing. so i did a dumb thing and listened to someone who told me chrome spray paint would work, EPIC FAIL!

so what i ended up doing: duck tape brand makes a HVAC and heating alum. tape rated up to somewheres like 175 degrees (bought at walmart like $5). i cut the tape into narrow strips and lined the inside of each assembly. the tape has a paper backing that took forever to get off. oh and yes this did take upwards of 4 hours. i used permatex windshield and lens sealer as my sealant.

so the moral of this is, if it isnt totally dead, dont go and beat it to death.

fyi: the easier way i found to reseal the headlights, (too late for me) is to bake 'em and just squeeze them together again. when i took mine apart, the glue stayed tacky, even when cold, but i did have like a 'dry' spot in the glue. it looked like it settled down and seperated from the glass and had some kind of moss stuff growin on it. so if yours leak, dont take them apart unless you have to, try this first.

also: those metal clips slid on and off. if you pop 'em off with a screw driver, they bend and wont go back on. if you look at the glass theres a lip for them to stop at, so you can only slid them up to where they were ment to go. i learned that the hard way too.

--> i do have a b16a im getting ready to drop in this same car here shortly, ill make a tread for that build, and ill try not to talk so much next time

and ill let yall know how that HVAC tape works out, its been almost 2 weeks, and it is very reflective, but not better or worse than the factory mirror though. and yes if you look, you can see tape lines through my glass.

 

okay, so this was my first post at HT. and yes i should have included some pictures. and no i dont really even know if anyone cares to know how that HVAC tape ended up doing in my rex. but anyway if anyone does care to know..

its actually pretty awesome! i had someone follow me (them driving my rex) the other night, and i was surprised by how bright they were. i really never noticed before driving it because i never re-adjusted them after the tape incident. but it really did make a significant difference, and no i still am waiting for my HID's (damn ebay).

but if yall want i can post some pics. if not then, sorry that you read my post, lol.

 

Thats funny i did something quite similar to that but i ended up just buying new headlights from honda (they're much brighter). Anyway some old guy at the parts store recommended some chrome bumper paint, which he had just used on his old porsches headlights. It turned out like i though it would, crappy and not reflective plus it would have melted off anyway as it wasnt rated to handle heat. But the light were pretty far gone anyway so i didn't mind, the bad advice pissed me off more.
When i saw this thread i though i was going to need to warn you.

 

i might have to do this, one of my headlights is much duller than the other and for the longest time i couldn't figure out why this was, but looking closely into the housing it looks darker.