Headlight Renovation

Anything non-technical about the Mazda Bongo Friendee van

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sotal
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Headlight Renovation

Post by sotal » Thu Apr 25, 2019 5:48 pm

The offside headlight on our Bongo has always been a source of annoyance for me as it was yellowish. It probably wouldn't have been too bad but the nearside looks like it was changed at some point so the nearside has looked so much clearer than the offside.

I purchased a renovation kit when I saw them on offer.

The kit I purchased was called "Holts Car Headlight Restoration kit" and cost £9.74 including delivery.

The kit consisted of:

A drill adapter with gives a 75mm velcro surface to attach the sanding discs / sponge
8 sanding discs (800grit, 1000grit, 1500grit, 3000grit)
A polishing sponge
Abrasive polish
Sealant
2 x cleaning cloths

Most of it is cheap easy to find bits, the sealant and the polish are the only bits of any real value I guess.

Easy process, of starting with the roughest discs and sounding the plastic lens down, then moving up until finally using the 3000 grit. At this point it is slightly hazy but the swirly scratches from the first discs have now gone. The abrasive polish is then used to make it nice and clear again. Finally the Sealant is used to give a final shine and to seal the plastic from further UV damage.

I presume it is supposed to be enough stuff to do 2 lights. I wore out the first 800grit disc and had to use the second. The other discs I just used one.

The sponge detached from it's backing when I was just finishing the abrasive polish, perhaps I applied a bit too much pressure?

There was loads of polish for the job and loads of sealant although it does say to redo the sealant periodically.

The result - I was very happy with the final result, the once yellowish headlight was now clearer than the good one, this left me with a slight predicament as I didn't have enough stuff to completely do the other headlight. I decided to just use the abrasive polish by hand and then use the sealant which did an acceptable job given that it was nowhere near as bad.

I've attached a picture showing before and after. The before picture doesn't really capture how bad the offside headlight was but I think you can tell the difference.

Image
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