UK-POLOS.NET - THE VW Polo Forum

hey there, ive got a mk3 polo squareback, i posted some pics about a week ago. i was just wondering if it was possible to get a headlight conversion to put the mk2 round headlights in, cus i like them loads more. any help?

also, i have the grill on the front, black plastic with the vw badge. i have see nthe debadged grills for like 45 quid and wondered if i could save myself 45 quid and just rip the vw badge off the front? is this ok? will it f**k up my grill etc? any help again would be top.

also, you know those annoying plastic strips on the side of the squarebacks, can i just rip them off, or can i paint them? just like i could paint the plastic bumpers? primer n then spray etc?

i know i have too many questions, but this is my first car and right now im in vw heaven, didnt realise these cars had so much potential. sorry for the questions but any help would be greatly greatly appreciated.

cheers,

Dan

I wouldn't say the headlights coversion was impossible, might be tricky though.
You can take the badge out of the grille, yes. Technically it would then be de-badged but then you have a big hole where the VW badge was. Post in the WANTED ads here or on Porka to find someone selling a debadged grille.
Yeah you could colour code the plastic trim on the sides, no problem. I'm sure I've heard people just taking them off before, I might be wrong though.

Good luck.

Conversion to the mk2 grille is possible on a mk3, in the same way that it's possible to fit a 4 litre chevy V8. Possible but it'll take a lot of work, a lot of engineering knowhow, a lot of time, a good amount of bodging and a very stubborn owner to go through with it It has been done before a couple of times, but it's not just a case of taking one grille off and bolting the new one on. You'll need to change the grille, lights, bumpers and wings, I think the slam panel may need modifying, and the awkward bit is that on the mk2 the A pillar protrudes down into the wing, whereas it stops short on the mk3, so you're going to need to weld an extra panel in to cover the gap.
[Edit]: Slam panel would need swapping for the mk2 one (which needs welding in place) and you will need to change the bonnet too.

The problem with just removing the VW badge is that it is recessed into the grille, there's a flattened circle where it sits. It'd be easy to remove, but it would look like your badge had fallen off rather than like you'd deliberately debadged it. The way to save money is to buy another standard grille chop the badge recess out of one and cut some slats from the other to the right size to fill in the gap. Fiddly though, and it'll look nasty if you bodge it.

The stone guards can easily be painted, there's a how to on painting plastic trim here: http://www.polo-gt.co.uk/styling/colour-coding.html
You'd be better to paint it than just to remove it, as it's held on with a pair of clips which pop into holes in the bodywork, you'd have to get the holes filled if you removed them.

cheers for the help. i think ill just buy one of those badgeless grills. seen some on ebay for buy it now £25 and some cheaper ones to bid. The mk2 lights sounds well complicated, so i think ill just stick with my original lights and get clear indicators instead.

im definitly gonna paint my bumpers, the front, back and those irritating black side things.

dan

i've seen it done, it worked quite well but i think custom panel fabbing was involved because theres subtle but important differences to the wings, etc, that mean interchanging is a nightmare.

arent the round headlights a little bit dimmer than the square ones, too?

PS if you dont want the plastic side strip, i'll offer you a fiver for the passenger side one. they come off with a hairdryer i think... (?)

You can remove the rub strips on the side, by gently pulling them away. You can then clean any remaining glue up with Autoglym Intensive Tar Remover or similar (though I find that particular one best).

The only thing to watch eher is:
A) That your car is not metalic, as you may well peel the lacquer off.
B) That your car has not had a quick respray sometime in its life, as you may be left with an odd bit of red paint were the trim was once there.

Good luck.

Karl.

Tahrey1043 wrote:arent the round headlights a little bit dimmer than the square ones, too?

The early ones are pretty dim, with the old tungsten filament bulbs.. later mk2's had H4 halogen bulbs though, same as the mk3, and if you have a quad headlamp grille then the mk2 really should have the edge..

GroovyCarrot wrote:

Tahrey1043 wrote:arent the round headlights a little bit dimmer than the square ones, too?

The early ones are pretty dim, with the old tungsten filament bulbs.. later mk2's had H4 halogen bulbs though, same as the mk3, and if you have a quad headlamp grille then the mk2 really should have the edge..

a worthy converstion for n e mk2! philips blue vision bulbs will help no end as well!

i believe there is still an improvement on the mk3 lights compared to the mk2's mind!

probably in the beam pattern etc i'd reckon.

what about a mk3 with the lights in the grille? (either circular or square, choose your poison). why dont you get cars with that style of lightage any more?