Headlight Hopes

"mazda616" (mazda616) 12/26/2014 at 17:06 • Filed to: Wax on wax off

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Going to attempt to make my car's headlights look less ridiculous this weekend. We'll see how it goes. New units are around $300.00 and I wouldn't be driving a seven-year-old econobox if I had that type of discretionary income.

A guy on the Mazda3 forums tried the following method and had good luck, so I'll be going that route. I'm not aiming for show quality perfection. Just making them halfway presentable again.

saabstory | fixes bikes, breaks cars > mazda616 12/26/2014 at 17:11

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What type of car is it? I kind of like those headlights. Maybe I won't like 'em as much when I see the whole package.

edit: Why didn't I remember the Mazda3 forums are for Mazda3s? ssiiiighhhh

Takuro Spirit > mazda616 12/26/2014 at 17:27

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The one issue I've noticed with polished headlights is, once you polish them, they tend to get yellow faster. So get used to polishing them, I guess.

mazda616 > Takuro Spirit 12/26/2014 at 17:35

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I will polish them once a week if that's what it takes. Better than having to buy a whole new set up.

mazda616 > saabstory | fixes bikes, breaks cars 12/26/2014 at 17:36

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To be fair, the car is seven-years-old and has spent all but one year of those being parked and stored outdoors regularly. So, some wear is expected, I suppose.

Xyl0c41n3 > mazda616 12/26/2014 at 17:47

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JFC, that's expensive for headlights! When some asswipe nicked me by turning right from a left turn lane (and then left the scene! *sigh*), he took out the housing for my turn signal. Totally mangled the mount for it in the process. I MacGyvered it back into place because I figured it would be expensive to replace, but eventually replaced it anyway. Grand total: $25. And that was buying it new from a dealership. But then again, that was on a domestic car.

04sneaky - Boxers. Blowers. Bikes. And bitches. > mazda616 12/26/2014 at 17:57

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Follow this: http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/show-n-s…

Did it on my Mazdaspeed 6's lights and it worked wonders. That was a year ago and I can still run my hand across them like glass. I have HIDs too, which run quite a bit hotter and were assumed to cause oxidization faster.

saabstory | fixes bikes, breaks cars > mazda616 12/26/2014 at 19:21

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Oh, you just mean the wear. I'd say you've done a pretty good job of protecting them!

mazda616 > mazda616 12/27/2014 at 15:51

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Update:

Looking better. :) The cracks you see are on the inside. You can't feel them. I think they were caused by my aftermarket HIDs running hot. I had those in for about three years. Anyway, we took 2000 grit sandpaper and wet sanded them, rubbed in some polishing compound, cleaned them off, and then applied Meguiar's Headlight Protectant. All of the white faded areas are gone, thankfully.