Hair Dryer vs. Heat Gun

[mrmike]

 I want to split apart the handlebar covers to install a new headlight. It's been suggested to heat the plastic to help prevent the tabs from breaking. Question is whether a heat gun will be too hot and distort the plastic, or just stick with a hair dryer?

[wkreps]

If you have a choice I'd use the hair dryer first. Why temp fate if you don't need to.

[MooseMax]

Haven't tried heat. I would just spray in some lubricant, but what do i know. 

[MooseMax]

So how did it go?

Not sure how the tabs fit on your bike, but on mine, they are hook shaped, so you first have to "unhook" the tab from the slot by sliding the panels sideways, before pulling them apart.  Haven't broken any tabs yet. The lube makes it easier to remove them next time.  I think mine is Teflon.  I don't think it discolors the finish.. but then my bike isn't a work of art, so it's hard to tell. 

[mrmike]

I want to split apart the handlebar covers to install a new headlight. It's been suggested to heat the plastic to help prevent the tabs from breaking. Question is whether a heat gun will be too hot and distort the plastic, or just stick with a hair dryer?

UPDATE: I put a space heater under the cover and let it run for several hours. This heated the cover up and I was able to remove it with just 1 broken tab. It was on the bottom and went back together with no problem. I used white lithium grease to put the tabs back together. The screws hold it together nice and tight. I'm lovin my new brighter 'n' whiter headlamp.

[de dee]

  mr. mike did you changer the high beam and the low beam,  I only changed the low beam,and I am putting cray LED lights on for the high beams ,. 

[mrmike]

  mr. mike did you changer the high beam and the low beam,  I only changed the low beam,and I am putting cray LED lights on for the high beams ,.

de dee

If you go to the GTI300 thread and find the post by Agilebda entitled LED all out. In this thread he gives a link for the light bulb I used. My GTI only has one bulb with two filaments. This bulb fit and seems to work great. I really like the bright white color, but until I get riding this spring, I won't know how bright it really is at night. I don't ride a lot at night, so this was mainly a cosmetic change for me.