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HEADLIGHT COVERS FOR YOUR MINI!
The headlights are one of the best front-end features of the MINI...really BIG luminous orbs, full of personality. The bright Xenon lamps mean you can definitely see the road. But all that surface area means that you might fall victim to an errant rock or other street debris, something flying that might poke your eye out! And at hundreds of dollars to replace a headlight, a poke in the wallet as well. So we decided to investigate options to protect the lights.
There are several protective light shield kits available out there; most of them have rubbery covers for headlamps and turn signals. Some kits have thin plastic, some thicker; some adhesive backed, some static cling. Generally speaking, the thicker the plastic, the more protection (duh!), and the thicker the plastic, the less likely static cling alone will hold the cover in place. For that reason, we opted for a kit sold by "The Leading Edge" that was 1mm thick plastic and really sticky adhesive. Remember that kits are available for both the washing and non-washing headlight, so make sure your kit matches your model MINI.
INSTALLATION: First, gather the following materials: the covers, the included squeegee, a spray bottle filled with a mixture of 1 part rubbing alcohol to 3 parts clean water, and a hairdryer. Clean both your headlights and turn signals thoroughly-first use Windex to remove any grease, and then wash again with the alcohol/water solution.
Carefully examine the plastic and do a "dry run"-practice placing the cutouts on the headlight, noting approximately where dead center is located. You will also note that the headlight surface is convex and the headlight covers are flat. Your job will be to mold them to the rounded surface, without catching air bubbles underneath, leaving your fingerprints on the adhesive surface, or making too many words.
WHAT DID I LEARN? This is not easy!! Number one is that the spray bottle and it's contents are your best friends. You need to keep your hands wet all the time, and you need to spray the dickens out of the headlight surface AND the adhesive side of the cover. You actually want to create a floating surface of
 aqueous solution on the headlight, and mate it to the floating surface of the plastic cover. I thought I might need a helper to help me place the cover correctly, but actually I needed a helper to keep spraying!
The accompanying kit directions advise that the lenses and shields should be warm to the touch for best results. Their advice was to turn your headlights on for a few minutes, and have a hairdryer handy for areas that cooled too quickly. Be advised that the headlight surface will indeed warm to the touch, but the surrounding bezel around the headlight will fry an egg!! KEEP HANDS AWAY!! I applied the covers on a sunny day, and laid the plastic lenses in the sun until they had softened and appeared more malleable. I think that helped to make installation easier. I didn't use the hairdryer to speak of, but it might be needed if the weather was cooler.
DETAILS. Start with the turn signals, as they are small and flat. Double-check both mating surfaces for cleanliness. Spray the turn signal lens. Spray your fingers, and remove the adhesive backing. Spray the adhesive backing. You will now find that, due to the heat of a lit bulb behind your turn signal, your lens is now bone dry. See what I mean? So get your partner to spray, spray again. Place the plastic covering on the lens, and use the squeegee to push air bubbles from the CENTER to the outside. These turn markers are small enough you will find this is pretty easy. Continue squeegee-ing until all bubbles are gone. Repeat on other side.
Now, for the big tamale. They look intimidating, but the secret is W-A-T-E-R. Follow the same routine. Spray your hands. Remove the backing on the cover, and spray a lot onto the adhesive. Spray the headlight equally generously. Now, just take a deep breath, and start. I started along the washer side of the headlight-the washer indentation seemed a good place to begin aligning things. Have your helper continue spraying both mating surfaces and your hands. With wet fingers, start "tacking down" points a few centimeters at a time. Spray spray spray. Get the squeegee and start forcing air out from underneath the plastic from the CENTER out. It sure is thick, huh? No taking a needle and covering up mistakes here-just keep working along with the squeegee, and using more water as needed. Remember to work from the center to the outside edge every time.
I will tell you on my first attempt, I totally blew it and ended up with WAY too much material on edge of the convex surface, an enormously big pucker. I took another deep breath, got my hands really wet, and pulled the cover slowly off. Spray spray spray as you are peeling. I figured that I would now have a cover that was stretched way out of shape. But, happily, because the plastic IS so thick it did not warp at all. So, if it comes down to it, with enough spraying and constant gentle pressure, you can pull the whole lens off and begin afresh.
Whodathunkit?
You will find by the time you get to the second headlight, you will feel much better. That lens will be really warm (remember the bezel!), and your sprayer helper's hand will be cramping. Promise them they can drive your car (sometime). One more headlight and the job will be complete!
The instructions mention that the light shields may appear hazy for a bit due to residual moisture being trapped under the shield(s), but I did not find this to be the case. I did squeegee the dickens out of all of them-it was very satisfying to see that water pop out along the edges. And that flat plastic really did mold well to the convex lens!
I am actually quite satisfied with "The Leading Edge" kit, as I believe the cover materials are very high quality and are cut to fit the MINI lenses well. The kit costs about $50.00, and installation of all four pieces took about an hour. And now, I can drive with the confidence that my expensive lenses are protected from evil doings of the road AND know I am a squeegee MASTER!! On the downside, I do have to let Brandon and Duncan drive the MINI (sometime).
Keep in mind that these protective lens kits are available
for most other BMWs as well, and we would be glad to install
any of them for you.
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