How to bake and black out your Mazda5 headlights

[sensinitas]

I've been wanting to do this for a while. After asking around, I couldn't find ONE PERSON who had done this to their 5. So after recently discovering it can be done to the 3, I knew it was possible. I've gone through this mod to my Subaru, so I already went through all the nerves associated with putting your headlight in the oven! Trust me, it's not that big of a deal. Don't stress :p. You'll see how easy it is once you start.

By the way, my car was dirty. Sorry...(dunno)

Also, I'm open to any suggestions or hints. If made a mistake, or if there is an easier way to do something, post up and let us know!

Disclaimer: I'm not responsible for any damaged, broken, ugly-looking headlights, parts, cars, tools, hands, or anything else associated with this mod. This is just a tool for reference for those thinking of trying this. :cool:

Tools Required

5/16 socket
10mm socket
Flat head screwdriver
Philips head (one regular size, one small)
Clear Silicone sealant
Plastic primer
Flat black spray paint
Workers gloves (The headlight will be hot out of the oven. If you don't have gloves, then improvise!)
Sharpie (you'll read why in a bit)

*This whole process took me 7 hours. I would designate your entire day to it. Take you time. Do it right!

Step One: Bumper Removal

Park you car somewhere where you can get underneath it, and away from where you will be painting. Pop the hood and remove the two screws and rivets located in the green circles below.

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c198/beradical/CIMG4066.jpg

Then get underneath and remove the 9 screws (? - can't remember if it was 8 or 9, but you'll see them (yes)).

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c198/beradical/CIMG4068.jpg

Next - depending on what side you start on, turn the wheels towards the car so you can easily reach the next set of rivets and screw. Use a philips to twist out the plug part of the rivet, then pop the whole thing out.

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c198/beradical/CIMG4069.jpg

Once all three are removed, pull back the splash guard to get to the final screw.

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c198/beradical/CIMG4070.jpg

Now that all the screws and rivets are removed, start by pulling out the sides of the bumper. These are held in by snaps. It shouldn't take too much force to do this.

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c198/beradical/CIMG4072.jpg

Then grab under the license plate holder, and in the middle of the top of the bumper, and shimmy the bumper off. DON'T YANK IT OFF. There are fog light connections to disconnect. I have a Sport with no fog lights, but the connections are still there from the factory. Reach down and squeeze the release part of the plug and seperate. On the driver's side, my harness ran through a clip that's plugged into the bumper. Just pop it out.

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c198/beradical/CIMG4073.jpg

Congrats, your bumper is off! Go stash it somewhere safe and away from where you will be painting.

Step Two: Headlight Removal

There are four screws and one rivet holding the lights on.

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c198/beradical/CIMG4074s.jpg

Remove the screws and take notes that the one on top, closest to the passenger compartment is SHORTER than the other three. Pop out the rivet. The light should be loose. Pull it out so you can get to the lightbulb sockets and harness. Here's the view looking down as you pull the headlight out:

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c198/beradical/CIMG4077.jpg

Everything in green is what you need to remove. Unclip the headlight and the harness for the blinker and highbeam. Twist out the highbeam and blinker sockets (don't touch the highbeam bulb. The grease from your hands will damage it). Unclip the second part of this harness seen here:

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c198/beradical/CIMG4079.jpg

Carefully remove the wiring that is held in place by different clips. If you need to, you can loosen the screw with the plastic washer holding the wiring in place.

Congrats. Your headlights are now removed and your car looks like you rear-ended someone!

Part 2 below

[sensinitas]

Headlight Preperation

Go turn your oven on to 200 degrees before you start this process. That way it's ready to go. (crazy)

Now we need to remove the parts we don't want to go in the oven. Start by removing the rubber seal for the headlight. I just took a flathead, lifted the edge and peeled it back. This will reveal the bulb.

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c198/beradical/CIMG4080.jpg

Use your philips head to loosen the screws holding the pin in place. Remove the pin and the bulb. Set the bulb aside somewhere safe, and again, DON'T TOUCH IT.

Next remove the headlight support that is used to hold the headlight on to the car. Remove the two screws and seperate from the headlight.

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c198/beradical/CIMG4083.jpg

Now remove all the screws shown below. Take some notes on what screw goes where, or just refer back to this photo. DON'T TOUCH the screw circled in red. That one adjusts the headlights. I found out the hard way...

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c198/beradical/CIMG4081.jpg

Now your headlight is ready for the oven.

Step Four: Headlight Baking

Take a deep breath and relax. Everything is going to be fine! I didn't get any pictures of this part, but it's pretty self-explanatory.

Make sure your oven is up to temp at 200 degrees. Use a cookie sheet and place the headlight as close to the middle of the oven as possible. Make sure it's not touching the sides of the oven. Leave it in for 20 minutes (I tried 15 minutes, but couldn't get the headlight apart. 20 minutes did the trick no problem).

When ready, remove the headlight with some sort of glove to save your hands from burning.

Take it to the garage and start on very inside of the headlight (if the light was on the car, the corner closets to the middle of the car. You'll see what I mean when you're looking at the light. This is the only place where you can start the seperation of the light.) Now there are clips that hold the headlight together. I bent back the first few, then used a flat-head screw driver, placed it between the seam, and twisted. This started the seperation of the light. I was able to use my hands from this point to pull the light apart. As the light seperated, I bent back the rest of the clips. Keep an eye on the glue as you go. I can be stringy. Mine wasn't bad at all.

Now your lights are seperated. The hardest part is over!

Step Five: Headlight Prep and Paint

Now remove the two screws holding the bezel in place and remove the bezel. Mine had some excess glue holding parts of it in place I had to work around. Don't FORCE it out, it's plastic, and it will break. Just take your time. Set the plastic cover aside and away from where you are painting. I put all the parts of my headlights under a towel so no dust would accumulate.

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c198/beradical/CIMG4085.jpg

I wanted to paint the reflector part of the headlight because I hated the orange. So I removed that from the headlight assembly as well. Just unscrew the one screw and slide off.

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c198/beradical/CIMG4086.jpg

Now you need to decide how you want the headlight to look. There are lots of different ways to tape of the light for different looks. I examined this for a while, and decided to just tape off the inner part of the bezel so the outside would be painted.

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c198/beradical/CIMG4088.jpg

I would have liked to paint around the headlight and such, but the taping would have been a real pain, possibly resulting in a messier job. What I found out later is the chrome part of the bezel is quite resilient. Don't be afraid to put some tape on it. Just be careful when removing it later.

Remember to tape the holes in the rear of the bezel. You don't want spray getting inside.

I hung the bezels from my ceiling so I could get a good even coat.

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c198/beradical/CIMG4090.jpg

I used VHT Nite-Shade for the reflective part (because I wanted to retain it's reflective properties for safety reasons), and Rust-Oleum plastic primer and flat black for the bezels. You can use what every spray you like. Rust-Oleum just happened to be the only brand with a plastic primer.

Some people might want to sand the bezels for better paint-adhereing. I did this on my Subaru, used too much pressure, and broke the bezel. A little Krazy glue did the trick, but I didn't want to go through this again! Since it's going to be sealed inside the light, I wasn't too worried about sanding.

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c198/beradical/CIMG4089.jpg

Start spraying!

Follow the directions, coating and drying times I did three light-to-medium coats of primer, then the same with flat black. For the reflectors I used about four coats of VHT Nite Shade. They came out REALLY dark, and I'm not sure the reflective part is visible anymore...

Here's where you make the call. I let them dry for an hour, and started putting the lights back together. I scuffed them a couple times because the paint wasn't completely dry. It was dry to the touch, but not COMPLETE. I had to use my car last night, so I had no choice. But it might be good to allow yourself some time for drying.

If you do scuff the paint, I used a Sharpie to fill it in. Worked perfect!

Step Six: Headlight and Bumper Assembly

Now just reverse your steps!

Be carefull putting the bezel back into the plastic cover. You don't want to chip the paint. If you do, go grab your sharpie. You'll look at it every time you walk up to your car(doh). I did get a little overspray inside the bezels in the reflective part. I just took a clean terry cloth towel, and was able to rub it off.

Screw the bezels back in.

I used this silicone, and ran a small bead around the seal of the light:

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c198/beradical/CIMG4096.jpg

Put the light back together. It's not going to snap in place just yet. You need to put them back in the oven for 20 minutes each. When they come out, squeeze them back together, making sure all the tabs snap in place.

Congrats, you're done!!! (drive) Now just repeat the steps backwards until your car is back in one piece and looking good!

It was dark when I finished last night. I'm heading out to wash the car right now, and will post pics of the final product shortly.

(cool)

[BoostIt]

I wanna do this sooo bad! I need to paint those chrome rings in the headlights! (I believe those are the bezels?) I might have to wait until it gets warmer out though!

Need Pictures!!!(yes)

[coolmazda5]

Wow, I got tired just by checking the work you did, LOL. Well done!

Looking forward to see the final pics as well (naughty)

[sensinitas]

Here are the photos! Don't mind the tire foam n shine. It will dry.

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c198/beradical/CIMG4103.jpg

If you look close at the bottom of the headlight, you can see my tape job wasn't perfect. The paint bled under the tape just a bit. But looking at the car you don't notice. I expected a little of this.
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c198/beradical/CIMG4100.jpg
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c198/beradical/CIMG4101.jpg
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c198/beradical/CIMG4102.jpg
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c198/beradical/CIMG4105.jpg
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c198/beradical/CIMG4106.jpg

[mrguy19]

cant wait to see the result

[sensinitas]

I wanna do this sooo bad! I need to paint those chrome rings in the headlights! (I believe those are the bezels?) I might have to wait until it gets warmer out though!

Need Pictures!!!(yes)

Yea warmth is key for drying time! That's the cool thing about this, you can paint them any way you like!

Wow, I got tired just by checking the work you did, LOL. Well done!

Looking forward to see the final pics as well (naughty)

Haha! I took me a half a day. I wanted to try to be as detailed as possible if someone decides to follow my thread.

[sensinitas]

Mods - I think the title should read "How to bake and black out your Mazda 5 headlights" since the pics and instructions are for a 5. What do you think? Can you change it?

[AO928]

Nice and tight!

[dima_rus]

looks good man, I wonder if that would look even better if you get the whole thing painted black

[sensinitas]

looks good man, I wonder if that would look even better if you get the whole thing painted black

I wanted to do more, but the taping would have been a nightmare, and I was worried about the reflective part of the blinker. I didn't want to pull any of the chrome off with the tape. I've seen this happen to VW's. You also obviously can't paint over the reflective part of the blinker either. So I made the call to paint around it. Although after realizing I could scrub the reflective part and not damage it, I figured taping it off would have been fine.

What I originally wanted was the whole thing black, leaving a chrome circle for the headlight, and the highbeam and blinker reflective area still chrome. Maybe one day if a friend wants to do this, I'll do mine again and go that route.

Either way I'm happy with the result.

[coolmazda5]

looks good man

+1, but I like the black/chrome combo a little bit better than all black, either way, looks better than all chromed, that is for sure :)

[Rockin03mp5]

very nice
(subn)

[tillyspeed81]

Very nice, would you be willing to do mine? I could trade you a set of 5 tail lights to play with or something, I live a little north of you in OC....(cabpatch)

[sensinitas]

Very nice, would you be willing to do mine? I could trade you a set of 5 tail lights to play with or something, I live a little north of you in OC....(cabpatch)

That's why I wrote this up...So people can do it themselves! (stash) Plus I painted my tailights and I really like how they turned out.

[tillyspeed81]

Do you think a heat gun would work? I don't have access to an oven big enough to bake em...

[sensinitas]

I'm sure it would. But I don't even know where to start with that. Find a buddy's house to use!

[atito]

That's why I wrote this up...So people can do it themselves! (stash) Plus I painted my tailights and I really like how they turned out.

seriously, i'd totally pay you. and esp if you knew how to install demon eyes.

[sensinitas]

seriously, i'd totally pay you. and esp if you knew how to install demon eyes.

I know nothing about electrical...

[coolmazda5]

if you knew how to install demon eyes.

LOL, I always called them (angel) eyes, not (laugh) eyes, good to know :)

[atito]

LOL, I always called them (angel) eyes, not (laugh) eyes, good to know :)

:) i have heard it both ways.

[LNHeart]

Hey sensinitas, how did you place the headlights in the oven, facing up, down or as if they were on the car facing sideways?

I read you put them in one by one for 20 mins. each but i don't recall reading how you placed them. I really don't want any plastic melting on the cookie pan...

[sensinitas]

Hey sensinitas, how did you place the headlights in the oven, facing up, down or as if they were on the car facing sideways?

I read you put them in one by one for 20 mins. each but i don't recall reading how you placed them. I really don't want any plastic melting on the cookie pan...

Good question! Place them on the cookie sheet just as they would look if they were on the car. Bottom side down. Don't let the light touch any part of the oven.

[red headz]

Looks pretty straight forward.

I blacked out part of my VW Golf TDI headlights (like the VW R32 or VW 337 GTI).

Best part about this "how to" - it's nearly identical to the procedure I followed for my VW headlights.

michael.

[sensinitas]

Looks pretty straight forward.

I blacked out part of my VW Golf TDI headlights (like the VW R32 or VW 337 GTI).

Best part about this "how to" - it's nearly identical to the procedure I followed for my VW headlights.

michael.


Exactly. If you've done it once or twice before on another vehicle, this should be a breeze. In the VW world it's called the "Joey Mod." ;)

[red headz]

In the VW world it's called the "Joey Mod." ;)

Yep, and back when this mod first started - Joey (who ever he was) actually wrote a how to thread and said, "Hey, it would be really cool if you all called this the Joey Mod"... and it stuck!

michael.

[brarsandeep]

Thanks "sensinitas" for the step-by-step instructions. I was able to pull off my bumper today on about 10 minutes today.

...only to discover this...(pissed)...

Front bumper beam cut off with a plasma cutter on the left side. Also, a busted up airbox. I was doing this of course to see if I could repair the driver's side headlight. It Thought that if I followed "sensinitas" instructions and take apart the headlight and repair it, unfortunately, it is far from being repairable.

History: Bought the car off eBay, carfax was clean and had a friend look at it, but he missed the headlight. Brought it home noticed the hood was repainted and headlight was busted. Previous owner says the car is sound, but he obviously did not report the damage and took it to some backyard body shop for the repairs.

Oh well live and learn. Other than that the car runs flawlessly.

..by the way can anyone tell me where the airbag senors are...I want to make sure they are still there.

[AO928]

That sucks. Just another reason to have a mechanic put that car up the lift for a thorough PPI.

[tillyspeed81]

Thanks "sensinitas" for the step-by-step instructions. I was able to pull off my bumper today on about 10 minutes today.

...only to discover this...(pissed)...

Front bumper beam cut off with a plasma cutter on the left side. Also, a busted up airbox. I was doing this of course to see if I could repair the driver's side headlight. It Thought that if I followed "sensinitas" instructions and take apart the headlight and repair it, unfortunately, it is far from being repairable.

History: Bought the car off eBay, carfax was clean and had a friend look at it, but he missed the headlight. Brought it home noticed the hood was repainted and headlight was busted. Previous owner says the car is sound, but he obviously did not report the damage and took it to some backyard body shop for the repairs.

Oh well live and learn. Other than that the car runs flawlessly.

..by the way can anyone tell me where the airbag senors are...I want to make sure they are still there.

I'm not positive if it is the same, but on the Mazda3 I think it was located right under the hood release latch. I would check with a dealer or trusted mechanic on that, and have them fully check out your car, frame and all. When I was 16, I bought my first car with my hard earned money at an auction for "theft" recovered vehicles. The car was salvaged and the frame was not straight, causing my car to do right turns automatically if you catch my drift. The car spun out a few months later and crashed, only then did I discover there were no air bags installed on the car. They had just placed the horn cover over it and disconnected the warning light. Live and learn, since it was an auction and we signed a release, i guess my "mechanic" uncle missed the bent frame/airbag. Also check your state laws, because I think in certain states it might be illegal to sell a car without airbags and welded frames.

[brarsandeep]

I'm not positive if it is the same, but on the Mazda3 I think it was located right under the hood release latch. I would check with a dealer or trusted mechanic on that, and have them fully check out your car, frame and all. When I was 16, I bought my first car with my hard earned money at an auction for "theft" recovered vehicles. The car was salvaged and the frame was not straight, causing my car to do right turns automatically if you catch my drift. The car spun out a few months later and crashed, only then did I discover there were no air bags installed on the car. They had just placed the horn cover over it and disconnected the warning light. Live and learn, since it was an auction and we signed a release, i guess my "mechanic" uncle missed the bent frame/airbag. Also check your state laws, because I think in certain states it might be illegal to sell a car without airbags and welded frames.

I did see two things with wires connected to them...one on top were you described and one below. I thought they were usually attached to the bumper reinforcement, but I am not sure about Mazda's.

I will take it to the dealer and see what they say. Thanks.

The car otherwise drivers great, after taking the bumper cover off...although pissed...I was able to thoroughly look at the front end and really only saw damage just to the bumper reinforcement. Looks like it took most of the damage.

[lgreen]

Baked head lights are not for me, those extra carbs go straight to my hips. (rofl2) But seriously I've looked at pics of before and after baking, and it hardly seems worth all that trouble. Maybe if I saw one in persons I would feel differently. (uhm)

[Bigmouth]

Step One: Bumper Removal

Park you car somewhere where you can get underneath it, and away from where you will be painting. Pop the hood and remove the two screws and rivets located in the green circles below.

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c198/beradical/CIMG4066.jpg

Then get underneath and remove the 9 screws (? - can't remember if it was 8 or 9, but you'll see them (yes)).

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c198/beradical/CIMG4068.jpg

Next - depending on what side you start on, turn the wheels towards the car so you can easily reach the next set of rivets and screw. Use a philips to twist out the plug part of the rivet, then pop the whole thing out.

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c198/beradical/CIMG4069.jpg

Once all three are removed, pull back the splash guard to get to the final screw.

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c198/beradical/CIMG4070.jpg

Now that all the screws and rivets are removed, start by pulling out the sides of the bumper. These are held in by snaps. It shouldn't take too much force to do this.

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c198/beradical/CIMG4072.jpg

Then grab under the license plate holder, and in the middle of the top of the bumper, and shimmy the bumper off. DON'T YANK IT OFF. There are fog light connections to disconnect. I have a Sport with no fog lights, but the connections are still there from the factory. Reach down and squeeze the release part of the plug and seperate. On the driver's side, my harness ran through a clip that's plugged into the bumper. Just pop it out.

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c198/beradical/CIMG4073.jpg

Congrats, your bumper is off! Go stash it somewhere safe and away from where you will be painting.

Wow, great job for the headlight. But I think what how-to would really help me is this "bumper-removal" section. Will have my 5 delivered in a few days and thinking about DIY this Parking Dynamics PD1 parking sensor (http://www.parkingdynamics.co.uk/). The biggest challenge to me is to remove the rear bumper if I go the DIY route. Ran into here when I tried to find the instructions of removing the bumper on 5. Hope removing the rear bumper is not much more difficult than the front one.

BTW, wonder if anyone here tried this parking sensor and if yes then what's your opinions -- I didn't mean to hijack the thread but there is not much information (reviews) on it.

[mothernature]

Wow, great job for the headlight. But I think what how-to would really help me is this "bumper-removal" section. Will have my 5 delivered in a few days and thinking about DIY this Parking Dynamics PD1 parking sensor (http://www.parkingdynamics.co.uk/). The biggest challenge to me is to remove the rear bumper if I go the DIY route. Ran into here when I tried to find the instructions of removing the bumper on 5. Hope removing the rear bumper is not much more difficult than the front one.

BTW, wonder if anyone here tried this parking sensor and if yes then what's your opinions -- I didn't mean to hijack the thread but there is not much information (reviews) on it.

Nice...did you purchase this already?

[tillyspeed81]

The rear is pretty easy....I think it's a whole lot less complicated than the front.
Wish I had done a how to when I took it off, but honestly its pretty straight forward. I did it when my wife backed into our neighbors truck and basically indented our brand new 5! Literally she did it within 2 weeks of getting the 5. Luckily it was pretty hot out, and I was able to push the corner back out. Our neighbor was laughing at her luckily, he's cool, not a damn thing happened to his Toyota (gun) I guess the parking sensors would have been useful... But I think you could probably install them without removing the whole bumper. I think the rear is pretty hollow save for the support. But you may be able to work around it...Take a look underneath...

Wow, great job for the headlight. But I think what how-to would really help me is this "bumper-removal" section. Will have my 5 delivered in a few days and thinking about DIY this Parking Dynamics PD1 parking sensor (http://www.parkingdynamics.co.uk/). The biggest challenge to me is to remove the rear bumper if I go the DIY route. Ran into here when I tried to find the instructions of removing the bumper on 5. Hope removing the rear bumper is not much more difficult than the front one.

BTW, wonder if anyone here tried this parking sensor and if yes then what's your opinions -- I didn't mean to hijack the thread but there is not much information (reviews) on it.

[Bigmouth]

The rear is pretty easy....I think it's a whole lot less complicated than the front.
Wish I had done a how to when I took it off, but honestly its pretty straight forward. I did it when my wife backed into our neighbors truck and basically indented our brand new 5! Literally she did it within 2 weeks of getting the 5. Luckily it was pretty hot out, and I was able to push the corner back out. Our neighbor was laughing at her luckily, he's cool, not a damn thing happened to his Toyota (gun) I guess the parking sensors would have been useful... But I think you could probably install them without removing the whole bumper. I think the rear is pretty hollow save for the support. But you may be able to work around it...Take a look underneath...

Thanks man -- the information is very helpful and encouraging.

And that is exactly why I need the parking senor -- wife will be driving this baby. She is so used to the help of the back up sensor on her Quest now, and to be honest even I myself found I can make use of it from time to time in some tight spot.

[Bigmouth]

Nice...did you purchase this already?

Not yet, seriously considering but I am a bit puzzled by not able to find many reviews on it from the net.

Will let you guys know after I pull the trigger ...

[tillyspeed81]

yeah keep me posted, not sure if I wanna spend the $200US on it yet. Looks cool tho, I like the idea of not having to drill holes for the sensors. Thanks for taking one for the team. Maybe you can start a How-to on the sensors thing...(chair)

Anyways, back to this thread.....I'm looking for a dremel to cut open my extra set of tail lights in order to black em out... I used to do this to my old hondas to clear out the lenses, before the clear ones became standard aftermarket parts...hopefully it works with these...thinking I'm gonna have to re-seal them when I'm done. But it looks like the only way to open them up, since they're welded together...anyone with suggestions?(dunno)

[brarsandeep]

Thanks "sensinitas" for the step-by-step instructions. I was able to pull off my bumper today on about 10 minutes today.

...only to discover this...(pissed)...

Front bumper beam cut off with a plasma cutter on the left side. Also, a busted up airbox. I was doing this of course to see if I could repair the driver's side headlight. It Thought that if I followed "sensinitas" instructions and take apart the headlight and repair it, unfortunately, it is far from being repairable.

History: Bought the car off eBay, carfax was clean and had a friend look at it, but he missed the headlight. Brought it home noticed the hood was repainted and headlight was busted. Previous owner says the car is sound, but he obviously did not report the damage and took it to some backyard body shop for the repairs.

Oh well live and learn. Other than that the car runs flawlessly.

..by the way can anyone tell me where the airbag senors are...I want to make sure they are still there.

Replaced headlight today with one I picked up on eBay. Thanks to "sensinitas" for the instructions on how to bake and blackout your headlights. Removing the bumper and damage headlight the second time was quick and effortless.

Much happier now with the headlight replaced, even though the other damage still exist, but it is not affecting drivability. I guess out of site, out of mind for now.