Most of you have probably seen the yellow ukraine mazda3 which is on a couple of websites. Well, what he did is pain his headlight bezels black and it looks beautiful and clean. I was wondering if anyone else had it done and could tell me how to, or if anyone is selling a pair of painted headlights? There are pictures over here http://gripaddict.wordpress.com/
Blackout headlight bezels
- Thread starter CTAZOOM
- Start date
I have modified the headlights on my 2008.5 MS3. I painted the headlight bezels graphite, painted the cut off shield and did a clear lens swap. I also have an LED strip that runs along the bottom of the headlight.. although I rarely turn it on anymore.
The process is pretty simple, however, take your time if you have not done it before. Find someone local who has done this before to help you, if possible. A moment of carelessness can cost you dearly. Give yourself plenty of time to do this (start on a Saturday, so you don't have to worry about rushing yourself).
Place your headlight (one at a time) in the oven on a cookie sheet for approximately 15 minutes at 175-200 degrees. You may need to go longer (or shorter) depending on your oven.. so check it. You will know when it is done when the adhesive that holds the headlight together becomes malleable and can be stretched enough to pull the two sides of the headlight apart.
Once you have done this to both sides, unscrew the black piece that is held to the clear lens. After that, be careful in removing the bezels. They are held on by clips and can easily break. Once off, you can scuff them up a bit with sandpaper and paint with your desired shade.
At this time you can do a clear lens swap, paint your shield, etc. if you so choose.
When everything is complete, push the two pieces of the headlights back together. If there is not sufficient stock adhesive left, use some clear silicone to seal it. They also sell replacement stock adhesive, but you'll have to do a bit of research as to where. Place the headlight back in the oven for 10-15 minutes at 175-200 degrees. Once the adhesive has warmed up enough, you will be able to push the headlight back together completely, make sure that all the clips are back in place.
I hope that helps a bit. I think there are some comprehensive walk-throughs around here somewhere with step-by-step instructions and pictures. Let me know if you have any questions. =)
Some older shots:
The process is pretty simple, however, take your time if you have not done it before. Find someone local who has done this before to help you, if possible. A moment of carelessness can cost you dearly. Give yourself plenty of time to do this (start on a Saturday, so you don't have to worry about rushing yourself).
Place your headlight (one at a time) in the oven on a cookie sheet for approximately 15 minutes at 175-200 degrees. You may need to go longer (or shorter) depending on your oven.. so check it. You will know when it is done when the adhesive that holds the headlight together becomes malleable and can be stretched enough to pull the two sides of the headlight apart.
Once you have done this to both sides, unscrew the black piece that is held to the clear lens. After that, be careful in removing the bezels. They are held on by clips and can easily break. Once off, you can scuff them up a bit with sandpaper and paint with your desired shade.
At this time you can do a clear lens swap, paint your shield, etc. if you so choose.
When everything is complete, push the two pieces of the headlights back together. If there is not sufficient stock adhesive left, use some clear silicone to seal it. They also sell replacement stock adhesive, but you'll have to do a bit of research as to where. Place the headlight back in the oven for 10-15 minutes at 175-200 degrees. Once the adhesive has warmed up enough, you will be able to push the headlight back together completely, make sure that all the clips are back in place.
I hope that helps a bit. I think there are some comprehensive walk-throughs around here somewhere with step-by-step instructions and pictures. Let me know if you have any questions. =)
Some older shots:
Thats a goodamn beautiful car. I really want to trade in my mz3 hatch for ms3, but before I do (save more money) I would like to turn mine into the same cosmetical saphire yellow ukraine JDR has. Im going to check yours out and see what you have going on. Actually to add, now i remember your car. I've seen it a few months ago in a few websites and have been trying to see who drives it and whats under it since. I thought Lara is just the photographer. Are you Lara, the owner?
But so far thank you for the info, very helpful i will try and do something about it. Few questions, the clear lens is which one? and the shield?
But so far thank you for the info, very helpful i will try and do something about it. Few questions, the clear lens is which one? and the shield?
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The clear lens is the lens on the front of the low beam projector. The stock one is slightly frosted (though it looks clear when not next to the actual clear one). Replacing it with a clear lens drastically increases the clarity of the stock headlights, cleans up cutoff and allows you to get some pretty blue color into the beam edges (like the flicker you see on some higher end cars). The replacement is available from www.threretrofitsource.com.
The shield is the metal barrier between the projector reflector bowl and the lens. It's what produces the sharp cutoff to keep you from blinding other drivers. There are two mods you can do to the shield to reduce glare above the cutoff. One is painting the front of the shield a flat color (I did mine with black) to help reduce light reflecting off of the front of the shield. Granted the shield is a bead-blasted semi-matte already, but the paint does help. The second is to use a dremel to cut the little tab on the front of the shield completely off of the shield face. Coupled with painting this gets rid of the glare completely.
The lens is easier to do the swap on than the shield modifications..... not that they're difficult persay. It's just that to replace the lens you remove the clear cover of the light, remove the two screws holding the lens retention ring, put in the clear lens and then reassemble everything. To do the shield modification you need to remove the projector from the housing. Again that isn't difficult but means you'll then have to remount the projector and reaim it when you're done. It's just a bunch of easy to perform, but slightly annoying, steps.
