just wrecked a pair of tail lights trying to take them apart (5th gen). for some reason it's pretty much impossible pry the bottom of the lens free from the rest of the housing - i've tried it on two sets, and have never been able to do it without breaking something. it's really weird, because near the bottom tabs (where the lens is secured into the housing via small tabs), the silicone is melted as much as anywhere else.. but it still won't come loose. the rest of the tabs (seven, total, including the bottom) all come out no problem at all....

one of them snapped a little near the bottom corner, but it would have still worked because that part was pretty much smothered in silicone. i was able to put it back together, but when it was in the oven, the top of the tail light was too close to one of the coils, and it melted. the other one warped a little... i don't know what that's about, because it wasn't in the oven as long as the first one...

has anyone done it successfully - fully separating them?

i want to take the orange reflector out, but also want to look into doing some other mods inside there - just to see if i can and how it'll look. so yeah yeah, i don't have to take it apart to get the orange piece out, etc etc etc - i don't care. i got both sets for $20 each on ebay, so it's not like i lost a lot of money.

 

LOL sorry but i think is funny.
i never try it and dont think i want too. i think ur best bet is use a heatgun.
just curious why u want the orange out of the tailight?u can barely notice it

 

to take the orange reflector out, you need to stab the hell out of it from the bulb hole. no need to pry apart the housing.

for anything else, i guess you'd need to use a heat gun.

 

To seperate them use a heatgun or a hair dryer if you have one. I'm not kidding about the hair dryer, put it on high and blast away. I did that with my headights. Thing is, while it works it isn't a heat gun so here's a couple things I'd recommend getting when you do this: 1. A friend to help you out with prying the sucker apart 2. A screwdriver for digging through the adhesive much and really opening it up (if you scratch anything just clean it up with some plastic polish or something, trust me.) 3. Scissors because after you make a big enough hole in one point, you're going to want to heat up the surrounding area and then use two hands to open the scissors while they're beneath the plastic, sorta like spreaders.

Anyway, I hope that helps you get them apart. I didn't read your whole post, just figure you're trying to get your taillight housings apart so yeah, I could be way off on this one. Good luck.


Edit: Oh yeah, and if you have a heat gun or can get one cheap then definitely go that route. Hair Dryer will work, but like I said, it can be a bish. Also if you see the plastic warping a little about the area you're heating up (you pry it back and it kinda stays that way) then all you have to do to set it right is keep it hot and bend it back the way it was- not really that big a deal.

 

Honestly, you need to contact my retrofit guy he does this for a living and a killing, but he would be willing to help you.

 

i opened up my headlights before to do the diy-jdm headlights.. the plastic is different in the headlights - it's way harder and stronger. the tail light lenses crack REALLY easy. it's just that bottom edge that won't come loose, even tho the silicone all around is soft as.... peanut butter (can't think of a better analogy!).... but sure, if your retrofit guy can give me some advice, that'd be coo

 

In my sig, click on 'Retrofit Master'