Yellow Headlamp Bulbs

mds141 · Post by **mds141** » Thu Jan 13, 2011 9:16 pm

Just a thought-would yellow nail varnish work if you diluted it with white spirits? You could apply it to the front fogs with a piece of sponge.

Matt H · Post by **Matt H** » Fri Jan 14, 2011 12:07 am

I bought a pot of water based transparent yellow paint, and it seemed to do the trick, on the fog lights anyway... I always wanted a set of those 309 GTi driving lights, with the yellow reflector behind clear glass.

This was the stuff: eBay link

KevR · Post by **KevR** » Fri Jan 14, 2011 9:45 am

KevR wrote:I've got yellow halogen bulbs bought from the local supermarket a few years back. If anyone wants some, I don't mind finding out if they've still got them.

Naturally, I forgot to look... it'll have to wait 'til next time.

Post by **Defender110** » Fri Jan 14, 2011 9:51 am

Would yellow headlamp lenses or bulbs pass a UK MOT test?

richardd1652 · Post by **richardd1652** » Fri Jan 14, 2011 10:16 am

The last car I had with the yellow bulbs was a GS and that never had a problem with them, although it was Italian spec with twin fillament bulbs in the front for side and indicator instead of the usual 2 bulbs. I had to take the lenses off as the Tester wanted to fail it for a short circuit.But the yellow bulbs wernt mentioned?
Richard.

electrokid · Post by **electrokid** » Fri Jan 14, 2011 10:41 am

You used to be able to buy small pots of solvent based paint specially for the purpose as in

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/headlamp-yellow-c ... 19c25b2f50

Solvent based glass paint is still available - don't know if it's any better or worse than water based.

Philip Chidlow · Post by **Philip Chidlow** » Fri Jan 14, 2011 10:52 am

I'll be havin' that I hope.

Matt H · Post by **Matt H** » Fri Jan 14, 2011 11:01 am

Philip Chidlow wrote:I'll be havin' that I hope.

Yellow lights FTW

richardd1652 · Post by **richardd1652** » Fri Jan 14, 2011 11:11 am

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 0609489677
Theres loads of glass/ceramic translucent paints on Ebay but they are water based.Would this be a problem ?
Richard.

Philip Chidlow · Post by **Philip Chidlow** » Fri Jan 14, 2011 11:15 am

I imagine the combined effect of driving through rain, might remove it quite quickly. Unless it was painted on the inside?

Or indeed, like acrylic paint, although it was water soluble, once dry it is pretty hard-wearing. Cars are painted with water-based paints these days.

Matt H · Post by **Matt H** » Fri Jan 14, 2011 11:17 am

That's the stuff I used on mine, and it's fine. Probably easier to remove if you need to.

I initially thought that it would start flaking off or not last too long, and regular applications would be needed, but 2 coats, leaving a day in between, and six months later it's still holding up well.

Water based paints have come on a long way since the '70s

Philip Chidlow · Post by **Philip Chidlow** » Fri Jan 14, 2011 11:19 am

Richard, that link is for Sun Yellow which unless I'm mistaken is wrong for headlights. Typically, 'Lemon Yellow' is a more accurate match giving the appropriate wavelength.

http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech ... color.html

You'll see the paint of choice is: http://www.duplicolor.com/products/metalCast

and the results seen here:

http://dastern.torque.net/lampics/selyel.html

I'm thinking of doing a test on a spare BX light... before applying it to the GS's lights maybe?

Post by **mat_fenwick** » Fri Jan 14, 2011 11:29 am

Philip Chidlow wrote:Typically, 'Lemon Yellow' is a more accurate match

And obviously correct for a 'Citron'...

Philip Chidlow · Post by **Philip Chidlow** » Fri Jan 14, 2011 11:33 am

kindly leave the stage....

electrokid · Post by **electrokid** » Fri Jan 14, 2011 11:35 am

Paints contain a variety of stuff - the solvent (water or other), the binder, the pigment, and paints for steel also contain an inhibitor to keep the coating alkaline (because it's an acid environment that causes corrosion). It's only the solvent that evaporates so the binder keeps the coating together even when the solvent was water - so it doesn't wash away in the rain.

The only question in my mind is - petrochem solvents can use different binders (ones that don't dissolve in water ! ) and these binders might be more effective in some circumstances.

Crinkle effect paints are interesting - they contain at least 2 solvents - one dries more quickly than the other which causes stress in the coating making it try to 'expand internally' if that makes sense, so forcing the paint more effectively into microscopic crooks and nannys - which is why they work so well.