Mazda 5 DIY headlamp restoration

[Madman Of The People]

Some of you may remember the DIY bumper repair I did my old Mazda 5 people carrier, which I passed down to my daughter a few years ago.  And if you don't, Here's a link...

 

Anyway, I'm at it again, this time cleaning the yellow haze on the Mazda's headlamps.  I thought I'd try one of those kits whereby you remove the haze through a process of wet sanding and polishing the headlamp lens.  With some of the cheaper kits, you need to sand the lights by hand.  But since I'm becoming lazy in my old age, I opted for the fancy one with sanding discs and a buffing wheel which attaches to a cordless drill.  Here's the kit I bought.

There are three grades of sanding discs.  Using plenty of water (a spray bottle works best) you begin sanding with the 800 grit disc.  When done, wipe clean, and again using plenty of water, sand with the 1500 grit disc.  Again, wipe clean and then use the foam-backed, ultra-fine 3000 grit disc on the dry lens, after which point the lens will be almost clear.  Then switch over to the blue buffing wheel (shown above) and, applying a small amount of polishing compound to the wheel, polish the lens to a clear finish.

Here's a before and after comparison.

It worked much better than I anticipated!  It's also a lot less expensive than buying a new pair of headlights.

Feel free to ask any questions you may have.

 

[IronStar]

Did you coat it with UV resistant layer afterwards or is it one of those polishing compounds that supposedly doesn’t need it?

[Madman Of The People]

 

No, I haven't looked into that. I don't recall anything from the instructions mentioning UV treatment.  I'll go back and read them again.

However, I've read on some forums where people have recommended using clear spray paint to prevent the yellowing from happening again.

 

[Low ontime]

So there is something to slow the yellow down? 
 

I’ve been using 1500 wet and dry wet and cutting compound with a polisher to  get step sons unloved mk4 Astra mot.

they did come  up well… ! 

[IronStar]

Clear is easy to mess up and end up with runs IMHO. They’re doing it for UV coating, but there’s a better/ easier way.

1 hour ago, Low ontime said:

So there is something to slow the yellow down? 
 

I’ve been using 1500 wet and dry wet and cutting compound with a polisher to  get step sons unloved mk4 Astra mot.

they did come  up well… ! 

Yeah, they’re uv coated from factory. Polishing removes yellowing and gunk, but also removes any leftover uv protection, so they need a new coat.

I’ve been highly recommended this stuff, but I’m yet to try it, so if they lied to me etcetc

https://www.sonax.co.uk/product/sonax-profiline-headlight-coating/

[rainagain]

The kit I used came with a small sachet of UV protector to apply after the polishing. I’m not sure what was in it but it smelt like alcohol. 

[Madman Of The People]

 

So I looked at the instructions that came with the kit again.  There’s an ad for a Headlight Protection Kit that directs you to a website and gives you a 20% off discount code.

Pretty cheeky of them trying to pull the old upsell trick on you, after you’ve already bought the product!