i think it looked great but i would still do blacked out lights ...the pepper white match shows the gaps within the headlight housing too much . it almost accentuates the black housing ....the balcked out joey mods hide this though....either way great job ...and the rings well youre going to have to completely strip or find the best primer in the world to have paint stick well on the chrome....i heard muriatic acid ( sp ) if soaked in the acid it peels off the chrome ....i went a different route though and i tried to sand the living shiiiii out of the rings ...ended up ruing them and coming to terms with the chrome ...

 

Get the rings wrapped in vinyl, they'll resist chips better that way. By the way, I'm loving the pepper white, that looks great! I agree though, it needs black headlight rings.

 

yeah. once i get time i'll probably be wrapping them in black vinyl. after stripping the paint. or maybe even painting them black. it all depends.
more pics to come once i get time to do them.
(been busy at work recently. has it's ups and downs)

 

Hey Minjae,
So I to am in the process of modding my Xenon's, they are off the car and sitting in my trunk right now.
I am wondering though, I to bought a can of Jet Black from minispeed a while back when I ordered the Orciari's Cowl Scoops from them, I still have some left and was planning to use that.

Question though, did you sand down the painted parts and prime them, if so what type of primer? and did you use a clear coat at the end?

I was looking into engine paint that can withstand heat since I am wondering about the wear over time from the Xenon's heat.
I would like to paint the insides a black with slight silver speckling or a mat black and the rings the standard jet black with a clear coat and clear vinyl to prevent chipping.

Any outside thoughts on the choice of colors..
The Pepper White looks Tight!!

 

I really like the look but that mod is beyond my skill level ! LOL ! For me I went with Lgaston's vinyl rap in a satin black vinyl for my head light rings. It works very well for me in my quest for my black and white theme. I only have the side repeaters and door handles to go and I will be done.

 

the PW looks awesome - very nice work!

(eyes up headlights on MINI in driveway....)

 

Sweet , I was just looking at my HID's last night wondering what to paint, think I'm gonna do just the insides of mine, the light loss was my main concern. So you don't notice a difference in the light? Never had Xenons until the MINI & I likee!

 

My lights are in my trunk right now.
I'll be working on them this weekend...Can't wait
I'm planning on match painting the rings, and painting the inside a black with slight silver speckling. Think it will look good!
Will report back soon, with some pictures along the way!

 

wow..so sorry about late response. didnt realize people still commented on my thread.
and was gone from the forums for a good long while. only checked the sale forums..(gotta buy myself something for christmas..xD )
if it's not too late midnitecoop..
i didnt sand. i just sprayed and put it on. but later on. i'll probably be opening it up again and taking off the paint, sanding it, prime it and repaint it. it'll come out REAL nice. but painting right on top wont do much harm. it'll still come out good.
but to cushin14..
there's really no light loss. i kind of like how the light shines on the painted part. you notice it more at night that i painted it. well kind of.
but to midnitecoop again. post some pics!

and thanks for the comments guys. i still love the way they look
(oh and i painted the rings black..i DO have pictures. if anyone is interested ill post..but ill probably be strippin the paint and covering it with vinyl so i wont have to worry about it chipping)

 

Looks awesome. I want to do this but in Chili Red, but I am incapable. Anyone in the UCLA area willing to lend a helping hand?

 

Just recently completed mine.
Went with a Match Black on the Rings and a Black with slight silver highlights to get a slight accent inside the lights.

 

Looks great MidniteCoop,
Tastefully done with the jet black rings. Did you paint or use vinyl?

 

the white on white looks great - perfect touch.

 

thank you thank you. but midnitecoop..those look pretty nice. the silver really adds to it. nice indeed.

 

That MINI looks so sweet!

 

It really does look fantastic. But I think that Pepper White is the only color where the chrome looks better than body colored. Just my opinion.

 

Thanks all... glad you like...
I used match paint for the rings.
I think some colors are hard when matching paint but the Pepper is Spot On as well.
I'm not a fan of to much chrome, that's all.

 

same here. not much of a fan for chrome. anyone else got some joey mods that they did recently? it really is quite easy. not much to be scared of. just gota start it. once you do. it's pretty much downlhill from there.

 

Is it easy to remove the headlight rings?

 

The tricky part is avoiding breaking off the small plastic mounting tabs during the process. The challenge is exacerbated by the little squares of double-stick tape holding the ring on to the headlight fixture.

The tabs at the top of the fixture are slightly smaller than those at the bottom. Using a few small, flat-bladed screwdrivers, you can wedge them one at a time between the ring and the fixture to break the spots of tape free. Leave the screwdriver wedged in the gap and use another one to separate the adjacent spot of tape. Once you have top of the ring slightly worked free from the fixture, you can gently pry the small tabs and they should pop off. Once 3 or 4 of the little ones on top are free, the larger ones on the bottom come right off very easily.

Took me 10-15 minutes to get the first one off because I didn't have this technique down yet and I was being extra careful not to break any tabs. I was able to remove the second ring in about 3 minutes.

Wish I would have taken pics...

 

I think this mod looks pretty sweet. It's one of those ballsy thing that ends us looking great, with the effort worth the extra points!

 

I did mine a few weeks ago, went with black to match the stripes & roof. Pain in the ***, but worth it.

 

How long did you keep the lights in the oven and at what temp?
BTW Your mini looks sick

 

I didn't use an oven, first tried heating up the glue with a heat gun where it was sticking out a bit and the heat hardly made it any softer. So I went the other route & used a Dremel tool to get them open.

 

Actually, if you look at the rings, the tabs at the top slide onto the assembly. The easiest way to do it is to separate the sticky tape, carefully pry the small tabs at the bottom free, and then slide the ring towards the top of the headlight and it will come free. Installation is reverse of removal. Doing it this way won't distort the area the ring mounts to on the top half of the headlight.