Bizarre Disaster
Thread Starter
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 84
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Bizarre Disaster
So has anyone ever had this happen? Got the Vette out today, for the first time in weeks. Decided to go on a little road trip which involved a about 50 miles of interstate. Went off the off-ramp and heard a wierd thud under the car. I got to my friends house and they walked up to the carand said "what the hell happened to your car, your headlight door is missing". To my dis-may the thud I heard was the door popping off and landing some how under the car. I high tailed it back to where I had heard the noise and sure enough, laying dead center in the middle of the lane laid my hear light door. I actually got out in a busy intersection, stopped traffic and picked it up. Unbelievably it had not been ran over, but still had a good bit of road rash around the edges of it. Appearantly the only thing holding it to the head light assembly is some kind of adhesive which in this case was dry as a bone and hard as a brick on the back side of the door. I guess I am lucky in the fact it didn't fly off going down the interstate at 80 mph, because it surely would have come back and busted the windshield. I can get the door refinished but does anyone know what kind off adhesive is used to bond it to the assembly. To say the very least I was very nausiated and upset when this all happned. Has anyone ever had this happen or am I the only lucky one? I wish I could just leave the headlights up now because it looks terrible, like it is missing an eye or something, lol.
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 29
From:
RE: Bizarre Disaster
Not sure about the adhesive but you can leave the headlight up just turn your lights on then unplug the head light motor. lights will still work like they should but the motor wont run any more and they will stay up
Thread Starter
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 84
From:
RE: Bizarre Disaster
Thanks for the idea, that is definetly something I might do until I get the door fixed, because it is in pretty sad shape. I am still baffled how this happened. Something else I was thinking about is how they are going to be able to match the paint very well since it is 18 yrs old and I am sure the paint has faded some in that amount of time. Again, thanks for the reply.
Senior Member
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 1,567
From: eastern NC
RE: Bizarre Disaster
ORIGINAL: red90vettesc
So has anyone ever had this happen? Got the Vette out today, for the first time in weeks. Decided to go on a little road trip which involved a about 50 miles of interstate. Went off the off-ramp and heard a wierd thud under the car. I got to my friends house and they walked up to the carand said "what the hell happened to your car, your headlight door is missing". To my dis-may the thud I heard was the door popping off and landing some how under the car. I high tailed it back to where I had heard the noise and sure enough, laying dead center in the middle of the lane laid my hear light door. I actually got out in a busy intersection, stopped traffic and picked it up. Unbelievably it had not been ran over, but still had a good bit of road rash around the edges of it. Appearantly the only thing holding it to the head light assembly is some kind of adhesive which in this case was dry as a bone and hard as a brick on the back side of the door. I guess I am lucky in the fact it didn't fly off going down the interstate at 80 mph, because it surely would have come back and busted the windshield. I can get the door refinished but does anyone know what kind off adhesive is used to bond it to the assembly. To say the very least I was very nausiated and upset when this all happned. Has anyone ever had this happen or am I the only lucky one? I wish I could just leave the headlights up now because it looks terrible, like it is missing an eye or something, lol.
So has anyone ever had this happen? Got the Vette out today, for the first time in weeks. Decided to go on a little road trip which involved a about 50 miles of interstate. Went off the off-ramp and heard a wierd thud under the car. I got to my friends house and they walked up to the carand said "what the hell happened to your car, your headlight door is missing". To my dis-may the thud I heard was the door popping off and landing some how under the car. I high tailed it back to where I had heard the noise and sure enough, laying dead center in the middle of the lane laid my hear light door. I actually got out in a busy intersection, stopped traffic and picked it up. Unbelievably it had not been ran over, but still had a good bit of road rash around the edges of it. Appearantly the only thing holding it to the head light assembly is some kind of adhesive which in this case was dry as a bone and hard as a brick on the back side of the door. I guess I am lucky in the fact it didn't fly off going down the interstate at 80 mph, because it surely would have come back and busted the windshield. I can get the door refinished but does anyone know what kind off adhesive is used to bond it to the assembly. To say the very least I was very nausiated and upset when this all happned. Has anyone ever had this happen or am I the only lucky one? I wish I could just leave the headlights up now because it looks terrible, like it is missing an eye or something, lol.
Glue??? Where? What headlight panel? You mean the exterior panel, that's part of the 'body', when the headlights are down??? Or the exterior panel, when the headlights are UP???
Thread Starter
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 84
From:
RE: Bizarre Disaster
Sorry guys wasn't able to get to the pc yesterday. To clear a few things up. I am talking about the outer door that is flush with the hood when the headlights are retracted. On the backside of these panels there are absolutely nothing but a flat surface with the exception of three alightment tabs that fit down in grooves on the headlight assembly. There is no way to screw it on what so ever. I know it blows my mind as much as anywones. I will post some pics of it this afternoon. Maybe it was a change they did along the time line of the C4 at some point who knows. All I know is that my facvorite part of the year for driving is coming up and my car looks like hell, lol.
Senior Member
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 383
RE: Bizarre Disaster
Ok, I think I see what you are talking about now. There is a base that is attached to the headlight assembly using 4 screws, then there is a thin shell that covers the base, ( the part that gets painted).I would definitely find a good waterproof adhesive to re attach it with, maybe something made by 3M. Learn something new everyday, I thought it was all one piece.