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So- as I mentioned in another thread, I did my headlights this weekend. Here's the guide.
Throughout this post, I will refer to Darkspeed3's thread: 2010 Mazdaspeed3 HEADLIGHT BAKE & PAINT!!! **Photos & Video!** with a "**Darkspeed3" tag
Thanks to Darkspeed3 and McGuyver_3 for providing me with some helpful info going into this lengthy project.
Step 1: remove headlights from car (**Darkspeed3)
Step 2 (optional): replace orange amber turn bulbs with stealth bulbs
Step 3: bake or heat-gun headlights to soften the seal. I tried the heat-gun method, but then rigged up my oven and went that route.
Step 4: pull apart starting from the bottom side (ie- not the side with the turn bulb). you will have to pull pretty hard and you will hear a large crack, like plastic breaking :001_unsure:. Yeah... scared the hell outta me... but it's just the sound of the parking light cover breaking lose from it's tabs that hold it. It sits a little bit inside the outer lens.
Step 5: begin to disassemble. there are 3 screws you will see that hold the first part in.
Step 6: remove the chrome plastic piece that sits in front of the projector lens. It took a while to decide exactly how to do this because the screws holding it on are not accessible without partly removing the entire moving projector lense assembly :001_unsure:. EEEK! Relax, it's actually not that bad. It's held on there in 3 places:
1- screw on the inner side (ie- towards the turn signal bulb) with a 10mm hex on it that you can use a open wrench to slowly loosen
2- a screw on the outer side that adjusts leveling that can be loosened from the exterior of the headlight on the backside using a 10mm socket. MAKE SURE YOU TAKE A PICTURE SO YOU CAN GET IT SCREWED BACK IN TO THE SAME LEVEL
3- a second screw on the outer side that is actually driven by a motor (this is the Auto-Leveling functionality of the headlight). I don't have a pic, but there are two plastic tabs that you just need to squeeze and then it pops right out real easily.
Step 7: tape off the chrome that reflects the parking light (remember, there is that insert that covers this so the tape job doesn't need to be perfect)
Step 8: clean and paint the pieces. I also painted the clear piece that's actually attached to the inside of the outer lens
Step 9: start working on modifying a set of 100mm angel eye rings. I got mine for $35 off eBay. They came with a cheap, plastic cover on them with the slits to make it look like the traditional angel eye ring... This was large and gaudy, so I broke the tabs on the backside and extracted the CCFL ring
not as many pics now... sorry...
Step 10: use some black heat shrink tubing. cut a small slight in the back of it and route the wires out that way. then shrink it onto the ring...
Step 11: tape off the rest of the ring and paint the heat shrink the same color as you painted the chrome pieces...
Step 12: drill two tiny holes, just large enough to run the angel eye ring wires through, in the chrome piece (that is now painted to your liking) that fits over the projector lens. here's the best pic option. the ring is illuminated, but you can see the heat shrink on there and painted with the wires coming out inside the projector lens cover
Step 13: route wires through and use a small amount of epoxy on the underside of the heat-shrunk part of your ring to attach it to the chrome piece.
Step 14: drill two small holes in the white cap from the backside of the headlight unit and route the angel eye ring wires out that way. make sure to use some silicone or something to seal these holes air tight.
Step 15: re-assemble everything CAREFULLY
Step 16: bake the lenses back on
Step 17: mount the angel eye inverter on the headlight housing and wire to the parking lights
Step 18: re-install lights on car
Step 19: stand back and be careful not to wet yourself with happiness
I did this over 2 days. I definitely recommend doing so. I got worn out and started to lose my attention to detail around 10pm Saturday, so I decided to finish on Sunday.
Hope you find this helpful. Feel free to ask questions and hhhhhhwhatnot
Throughout this post, I will refer to Darkspeed3's thread: 2010 Mazdaspeed3 HEADLIGHT BAKE & PAINT!!! **Photos & Video!** with a "**Darkspeed3" tag
Thanks to Darkspeed3 and McGuyver_3 for providing me with some helpful info going into this lengthy project.
Step 1: remove headlights from car (**Darkspeed3)


Step 2 (optional): replace orange amber turn bulbs with stealth bulbs



Step 3: bake or heat-gun headlights to soften the seal. I tried the heat-gun method, but then rigged up my oven and went that route.

Step 4: pull apart starting from the bottom side (ie- not the side with the turn bulb). you will have to pull pretty hard and you will hear a large crack, like plastic breaking :001_unsure:. Yeah... scared the hell outta me... but it's just the sound of the parking light cover breaking lose from it's tabs that hold it. It sits a little bit inside the outer lens.

Step 5: begin to disassemble. there are 3 screws you will see that hold the first part in.

Step 6: remove the chrome plastic piece that sits in front of the projector lens. It took a while to decide exactly how to do this because the screws holding it on are not accessible without partly removing the entire moving projector lense assembly :001_unsure:. EEEK! Relax, it's actually not that bad. It's held on there in 3 places:
1- screw on the inner side (ie- towards the turn signal bulb) with a 10mm hex on it that you can use a open wrench to slowly loosen

2- a screw on the outer side that adjusts leveling that can be loosened from the exterior of the headlight on the backside using a 10mm socket. MAKE SURE YOU TAKE A PICTURE SO YOU CAN GET IT SCREWED BACK IN TO THE SAME LEVEL

3- a second screw on the outer side that is actually driven by a motor (this is the Auto-Leveling functionality of the headlight). I don't have a pic, but there are two plastic tabs that you just need to squeeze and then it pops right out real easily.
Step 7: tape off the chrome that reflects the parking light (remember, there is that insert that covers this so the tape job doesn't need to be perfect)


Step 8: clean and paint the pieces. I also painted the clear piece that's actually attached to the inside of the outer lens

Step 9: start working on modifying a set of 100mm angel eye rings. I got mine for $35 off eBay. They came with a cheap, plastic cover on them with the slits to make it look like the traditional angel eye ring... This was large and gaudy, so I broke the tabs on the backside and extracted the CCFL ring


not as many pics now... sorry...
Step 10: use some black heat shrink tubing. cut a small slight in the back of it and route the wires out that way. then shrink it onto the ring...
Step 11: tape off the rest of the ring and paint the heat shrink the same color as you painted the chrome pieces...
Step 12: drill two tiny holes, just large enough to run the angel eye ring wires through, in the chrome piece (that is now painted to your liking) that fits over the projector lens. here's the best pic option. the ring is illuminated, but you can see the heat shrink on there and painted with the wires coming out inside the projector lens cover

Step 13: route wires through and use a small amount of epoxy on the underside of the heat-shrunk part of your ring to attach it to the chrome piece.
Step 14: drill two small holes in the white cap from the backside of the headlight unit and route the angel eye ring wires out that way. make sure to use some silicone or something to seal these holes air tight.
Step 15: re-assemble everything CAREFULLY

Step 16: bake the lenses back on

Step 17: mount the angel eye inverter on the headlight housing and wire to the parking lights
Step 18: re-install lights on car
Step 19: stand back and be careful not to wet yourself with happiness





I did this over 2 days. I definitely recommend doing so. I got worn out and started to lose my attention to detail around 10pm Saturday, so I decided to finish on Sunday.
Hope you find this helpful. Feel free to ask questions and hhhhhhwhatnot