New headlight lenses

Motorsport-SVX · #1 02-22-2010, 05:23 PM

Just curious, how happy is everyone with the current
headlight lense replacements available on the market
right now ?
likes and dislikes after having them on over a year ?

Motorsport-SVX · #2 02-23-2010, 05:40 PM

seriously, no one has had any problems with their lenses
turning yellow somewhat after a year or so ?
Maybe its just an az thing

RojoRocket · #3 02-23-2010, 05:54 PM

Dayle, Are you referring to the Smallcar clear lenses, or some other product??

Glenn

icingdeath88 · #4 02-23-2010, 06:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Motorsport-SVX

seriously, no one has had any problems with their lenses
turning yellow somewhat after a year or so ?
Maybe its just an az thing

Odd timing, I just used that 3m headlight polishing kit on mine this weekend. I didn't post because I'm not 100% sure where my lenses came from, as they came with the car. They are clear ones though. They were definitely on the yellow side, and hazy too. I was also surprised at how big of a difference polishing them made, and also how easy it was to do. That answer your question?

Edit: I looked in the maintenance records and they are the smallcar ones.

ARED 97 · #5 02-23-2010, 08:24 PM

+1 on the 3M kit!! Worked great on my 93 Marquis!!

Mike621 · #6 02-24-2010, 06:46 AM

Dayle, I have been unhappy with the quality of the smallcar lenses from what I have seen, and replaced my headlights with new OEM assemblies when the time came.

A quality alternative to the smallcar lenses may be a good product to add to your offering.

SilverSpear · #7 02-24-2010, 07:13 AM

There is also Meguiar's PlastX. I have tried it here in Qatar (Sun and Temperature...), it works magic!

As for the smallcar lenses, I have them. Never had issues with them changing color. I dunno what you guys are talking about.

WestCoastSVX · #8 02-24-2010, 09:16 AM

+1 for Meguiar's PlastX....

Also, I've had the SmallCar clear lenses on on off for several years and never noticed any yellowing, they still look clear as they did when they were new and better than brand new OEM ones, IMO. Just update the car and show off the really beautiful assemblies Subaru has hiding under all those lines on the stock lenses.

The downfall of the SmallCar lenses is you have to spend an extreme amount of time making them look good when you do the initial modification. A simple process, but one that can go very wrong very fast.

But any clear lens kit that comes out is going to have to go with this same process. At this point it is not cost effective for any aftermarket company to produce an entire plug and play headlight assembly for the SVX.

WestCoastSVX · #9 02-24-2010, 09:22 AM

I guess one improvement could be going with basically the same lens as SmallCar does, but making them out of thicker material. You can push on mine and they bend in, which of course OEM doesn't do. Absolutely no problem at all, no permanent damage and might make them more resilient to small impacts from rocks and such? But I can see they get small scratches pretty easy, though again, that doesn't seem to detract from the overall appearance or light pattern, even with HIDs.

And you'd have to be careful making them thicker, aside from the fact it may be harder to match the curve of the lens, it may also interfere with clearance when putting them back on the car.

icingdeath88 · #10 02-24-2010, 10:15 AM

+1 for thicker. You can't really predict when they'll yellow, but if they're thicker, then you can polish them more times over their life without worrying about them thinning out and cracking.

As for the process, I never went through that because mine came with the car, but I can imaging. What about selling the modded assemblies and then offering a core charge for theirs? Basically keeping the change over in professional hands. I'm sure that people would pay extra for the convenience. Don't know how much luck you'd have with getting the cores returned though.

SilverSpear · #11 02-24-2010, 11:17 AM

I am against thicker. With thicker, rocks can easily chip them since they hit them hard, whereas when it can easily bend, their flexibility makes them less prone to visible damage.

Check your OEM lenses, they are all chipped. Check smallcar's though, they never do that, at least for me.

This is my only defense to smallcar.... the SVX killaz

Freeman · #12 02-24-2010, 11:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by icingdeath88

What about selling the modded assemblies and then offering a core charge for theirs? Basically keeping the change over in professional hands. I'm sure that people would pay extra for the convenience. Don't know how much luck you'd have with getting the cores returned though.

+1 to this idea. The installment, actually is one of the reasons why I haven't converted yet. Every time I mention clear lenses to OT, he cringes.

WestCoastSVX · #13 02-24-2010, 12:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by icingdeath88

What about selling the modded assemblies and then offering a core charge for theirs? Basically keeping the change over in professional hands. I'm sure that people would pay extra for the convenience. Don't know how much luck you'd have with getting the cores returned though.

For starters, make sure the "professional" hands aren't SmallCar!

If someone did offer this service, they'd either be super hard up for money or doing charity for the SVX community. Or they'd charge so much everyone would just try the job themeselves. Maybe if someone had a lot of practice and just the perfect tools for the job they could do it fairly quickly and charge an okay price.

Another big hurdle in a part like this is the core exchange though. The headlights are very complex with lots of little parts that can break off, scratch, etc. The little levelers, screws, plastic mounting tabs/holes, etc, etc. Someone may send in a set of headlights THEY consider 100% and get back a set with clear lenses they argue is not in the same condition theirs was.

And even if you have the customer send in their own set to be modded, aside from the waiting period with no headlights on their car (unless they pony up for a spare set), they could still blame the customizer for breaking something or scratching the inside, etc, etc.

This is why Apkarian decided to do the LED taillights as a DIY installed kit rather than a full service - he learned the hard way with the NSX community for the above reasons.

WestCoastSVX · #14 02-24-2010, 12:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SilverSpear

I am against thicker. With thicker, rocks can easily chip them since they hit them hard, whereas when it can easily bend, their flexibility makes them less prone to visible damage.

Check your OEM lenses, they are all chipped. Check smallcar's though, they never do that, at least for me.

Good point! I kinda alluded to this above, but didn't think about how my OEM do have that rough surface from all the small chips and my smallcars don't.

Quote:

This is my only defense to smallcar.... the SVX killaz

Agreed. Though they could stand to charge a little less for some pieces of plastic that the buyer still has to do major work to use.

immortal_suby · #15 02-24-2010, 02:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by icingdeath88

Odd timing, I just used that 3m headlight polishing kit on mine this weekend. I didn't post because I'm not 100% sure where my lenses came from, as they came with the car. They are clear ones though. They were definitely on the yellow side, and hazy too. I was also surprised at how big of a difference polishing them made, and also how easy it was to do. That answer your question?

Edit: I looked in the maintenance records and they are the smallcar ones.

That's funny - I did the 3m kit on my car this past weekend also.
Worked pretty dang good!