My personal review of both CinCity Designs & Clearcorners.com
01-09-2010, 08:02 PM
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Review of both CinCity Designs & Clearcorners.com
A little background: The headlights were the first serious mod that I wanted to get done on my car after seeing CinCity Designs (CCD's) post about their R8 mod. This post they did was somewhere in 2008. Don't remember exactly but I'm thinking around Oct/Nov. These reviews are 100% honest and based on exactly what happened to me.
CinCity Designs Review:
-I first contacted Nic about getting my headlights done around Dec 2008 and letting him know I was really interested in the R8 mod. There were other things that interested me as well. Including...glossy black paint, halos, LED swap, R8 Mod and STi lens upgrade. After figuring out what I wanted to do, I sent Nic the payment and shipped the lights off. I specifically told him I do not care how long it takes to get my lights done. I want them in perfect condition with no issues (I'm super **** when it comes to someone doing work on my brand new things I have worked so hard for). So if you want to keep my lights for an extra month to make it perfect then go ahead.
-The lights got finished up finally after 2-3 months, around April 2009 and at this time I purchased some VOLK GT-S rims as well. I didn't feel comfortable doing work on my car at the time so someone on this forum recommend going to this one shop in Kirkland (another bad choice). I decided to take my car to the shop to get the VOLK rims installed and the headlights at the same time. Gave the shop everything they needed to get started and told them to give me a call if something comes up.
-I get a call of course saying there are some extra wires coming off the headlights and they are not sure how to hook it up/what they were for. So I called Nic many times with no answer. Go on his forum and post up a thread about where the extra wires. Luckily there was someone on there that knew what they were talking about. I guess the extra wires were for the demon mod. So I got this free demon mod for taking longer than expected with my headlights. I never wanted this demon mod, why didn't they ask me first? Go back home and get another call saying that the headlights were plugged in but the driver side halo is not working. Nic never answers his phone when I call (always gave me an excuses saying, "There is bad reception where my shop is". After I finally got a hold of him he said it worked fine before he shipped them and something probably happened during shipping. This is understandable so I ship the headlight back to get it fixed. Out of my own pocket I had to ship the light back. Won't pay for me to return the light back to him which isn't right. Get the fixed headlight back with a working halo.
-Drive out of the shop pretty happy at this point. Finally got my car to drive and looking good. Driving down the freeway with everybody staring is such a good feeling. I did notice that the passenger side headlight didn't seem to be producing enough light as the driver side headlight. I kind of just rubbed it off and said it was probably nothing.
-After one week I decide to take my car to my girls place and do a full wash around dusk. After the wash I start to see condensation showing up in the driver side headlight. Got very upset about that and while that happened I decided to turn the lights on to check the light issue I was talking about earlier. I come to find out that the passenger side headlight's HID is off. It looks like the HID was moved to the right and was lighting up the inside of the headlight lens. Very strange and I have never seen anything like it before.
-Contacted Nic back again and told him the issues. Got the same story as before, "We tested them and they were good to go. No idea how that happened". Shipped the headlights BACK AGAIN and told him to fix the issues and do it right this time. I'm tired of sending these lights back and forth and losing money on shipping. Told him to keep the lights longer to make sure they were perfect before sending back to me again.
-Got the lights back for the 2nd time now and after getting them back again...THERE ARE SCUFF MARKS IN THE INSIDE OF THE POLYCARBONATE LENS! You have got to be kidding me. Contacted Nic back again and said, "Are you serious? You're kidding right?" His response, "They were perfect when we sent them out. No clue how that happened!". I finally realize I am dealing with a total moron and I needed to get away from this company. Got told the same run around story 2-3 times. I told Nic, "I am done. No matter what you do, you don't fix my lights and keep sending them back in the same condition or worse than before." This is getting so ridiculous that I have to keep sending my lights back to you guys and you guys don't even fix the issues. It's like he just says, "They are all fixed!", but doesn't fix anything and just sends them right back. Adding more to the stress level after looking at the lights you could see some small hairs captured in the glossy paint and small bubbles. It looked like the glossy paint was some Wal-Mart paint as well.
-After discussing really heated emails back and forth about the whole thing I gave him options to choose from. We settled on...me shipping the lights back to him. He would sell those lights to someone else, refund all the labor and buy me a set of brand new oem lights. It look another month to get my oem lights and my refund. After all said and done I was out headlights for about 6 months total and still had no awesome headlights. The hell finally ended at the end of May 2009. I DO NOT RECOMMEND this "fake" company at all! Now onto the Clearcorners review...
Clearcorners.com Review:
After the whole CinCity Designs hell that I went through above I talked with Mike@Clearcorners and told him everything what happened from start the finish. He wasn't surprised as he has heard many stories of the same magnitude. I told Mike what I wanted done based on his options on his web site...didn't care how much it was going to cost and just make me a happy. Started my order with Mike around June of 2009. I also told him take as long as you want because I do not want to have what happened to me with CCD's to happen again. Mike always got back to me via email or phone. Sometimes he would not answer but he made sure to get back to me in a timely manner. About every month I would get a call with the progress on my lights. What's done, what's finished, what is left to do. My estimated completion time was Oct 2009 but he said that's just an estimate and not 100%. I told him I am not worried about it. I decided to send my car to GTM for a TT install as well so I told Mike he has even more time because I won't get the car back for a while anyways.
The lights were finally complete on 1.5.2010 and here are some pics...
(pics moved)
I just am astonished with the level of detail and attention to detail that Mike brings to the table. These lights are amazing. The color paint match just really makes these lights shine. Very happy with the turn out of my lights.
THE ABOVE REVIEW WAS DONE BEFORE I EVEN SAW THE LIGHTS ON MY CAR. NOW READ BELOW AFTER I SAW THEM ON MY CAR. (READ EDIT!)
EDIT: When I got to GTM I saw the headlights. On the driver side headlight the paint was pushing up against the lens by the 4 leds and on the top of the hid part. I had to ship this light back. He fixed all the paint work/labor for free but I was the one that had to pay $575 for a brand new housing? If your product fcuked up why am I the one paying another $575 for a new lens. I paid the $575 and this was to guarantee there would not be any paint pushing up when I got it back. He told me everything was good to go and he shipped the driver side headlight back. Well guess what. The paint is still pushing up against the HID part when I got the light. There is no clearance between the lens on the very top of that grey plastic piece above the hid lens...yet the passenger side light has about 1-3mm of space even after it's painted. I did not pay $575 for a new lens housing just to have this touching the lens! I told him I wanted to ship the light back and get it fixed but he said not to ship it back.
7/6/11: After 2 months went by with him not responding to my emails or phone calls I decided to pretend I was someone else interested in getting lights done on a GTR. He emails withing 2 days and then I told him off. He sends me an email back saying how I am the one who is acting like a child and how my things are so top priority. I am the one paying for this service and now he get's all defensive? How hard is it to send me an email saying "Here is your $575 back I cannot make it perfect." OR "Don't worry man, I'll fix it after summer ends". Wow, I cannot believe Mike@Clearcorners is turning into Nic@CinCityDesigns. You just can't trust ANYBODY that does headlights anymore. I will never give Mike my business ever again and I hope you don't either!
CinCity Designs Review:
-I first contacted Nic about getting my headlights done around Dec 2008 and letting him know I was really interested in the R8 mod. There were other things that interested me as well. Including...glossy black paint, halos, LED swap, R8 Mod and STi lens upgrade. After figuring out what I wanted to do, I sent Nic the payment and shipped the lights off. I specifically told him I do not care how long it takes to get my lights done. I want them in perfect condition with no issues (I'm super **** when it comes to someone doing work on my brand new things I have worked so hard for). So if you want to keep my lights for an extra month to make it perfect then go ahead.
-The lights got finished up finally after 2-3 months, around April 2009 and at this time I purchased some VOLK GT-S rims as well. I didn't feel comfortable doing work on my car at the time so someone on this forum recommend going to this one shop in Kirkland (another bad choice). I decided to take my car to the shop to get the VOLK rims installed and the headlights at the same time. Gave the shop everything they needed to get started and told them to give me a call if something comes up.
-I get a call of course saying there are some extra wires coming off the headlights and they are not sure how to hook it up/what they were for. So I called Nic many times with no answer. Go on his forum and post up a thread about where the extra wires. Luckily there was someone on there that knew what they were talking about. I guess the extra wires were for the demon mod. So I got this free demon mod for taking longer than expected with my headlights. I never wanted this demon mod, why didn't they ask me first? Go back home and get another call saying that the headlights were plugged in but the driver side halo is not working. Nic never answers his phone when I call (always gave me an excuses saying, "There is bad reception where my shop is". After I finally got a hold of him he said it worked fine before he shipped them and something probably happened during shipping. This is understandable so I ship the headlight back to get it fixed. Out of my own pocket I had to ship the light back. Won't pay for me to return the light back to him which isn't right. Get the fixed headlight back with a working halo.
-Drive out of the shop pretty happy at this point. Finally got my car to drive and looking good. Driving down the freeway with everybody staring is such a good feeling. I did notice that the passenger side headlight didn't seem to be producing enough light as the driver side headlight. I kind of just rubbed it off and said it was probably nothing.
-After one week I decide to take my car to my girls place and do a full wash around dusk. After the wash I start to see condensation showing up in the driver side headlight. Got very upset about that and while that happened I decided to turn the lights on to check the light issue I was talking about earlier. I come to find out that the passenger side headlight's HID is off. It looks like the HID was moved to the right and was lighting up the inside of the headlight lens. Very strange and I have never seen anything like it before.
-Contacted Nic back again and told him the issues. Got the same story as before, "We tested them and they were good to go. No idea how that happened". Shipped the headlights BACK AGAIN and told him to fix the issues and do it right this time. I'm tired of sending these lights back and forth and losing money on shipping. Told him to keep the lights longer to make sure they were perfect before sending back to me again.
-Got the lights back for the 2nd time now and after getting them back again...THERE ARE SCUFF MARKS IN THE INSIDE OF THE POLYCARBONATE LENS! You have got to be kidding me. Contacted Nic back again and said, "Are you serious? You're kidding right?" His response, "They were perfect when we sent them out. No clue how that happened!". I finally realize I am dealing with a total moron and I needed to get away from this company. Got told the same run around story 2-3 times. I told Nic, "I am done. No matter what you do, you don't fix my lights and keep sending them back in the same condition or worse than before." This is getting so ridiculous that I have to keep sending my lights back to you guys and you guys don't even fix the issues. It's like he just says, "They are all fixed!", but doesn't fix anything and just sends them right back. Adding more to the stress level after looking at the lights you could see some small hairs captured in the glossy paint and small bubbles. It looked like the glossy paint was some Wal-Mart paint as well.
-After discussing really heated emails back and forth about the whole thing I gave him options to choose from. We settled on...me shipping the lights back to him. He would sell those lights to someone else, refund all the labor and buy me a set of brand new oem lights. It look another month to get my oem lights and my refund. After all said and done I was out headlights for about 6 months total and still had no awesome headlights. The hell finally ended at the end of May 2009. I DO NOT RECOMMEND this "fake" company at all! Now onto the Clearcorners review...
Clearcorners.com Review:
After the whole CinCity Designs hell that I went through above I talked with Mike@Clearcorners and told him everything what happened from start the finish. He wasn't surprised as he has heard many stories of the same magnitude. I told Mike what I wanted done based on his options on his web site...didn't care how much it was going to cost and just make me a happy. Started my order with Mike around June of 2009. I also told him take as long as you want because I do not want to have what happened to me with CCD's to happen again. Mike always got back to me via email or phone. Sometimes he would not answer but he made sure to get back to me in a timely manner. About every month I would get a call with the progress on my lights. What's done, what's finished, what is left to do. My estimated completion time was Oct 2009 but he said that's just an estimate and not 100%. I told him I am not worried about it. I decided to send my car to GTM for a TT install as well so I told Mike he has even more time because I won't get the car back for a while anyways.
The lights were finally complete on 1.5.2010 and here are some pics...
(pics moved)
I just am astonished with the level of detail and attention to detail that Mike brings to the table. These lights are amazing. The color paint match just really makes these lights shine. Very happy with the turn out of my lights.
THE ABOVE REVIEW WAS DONE BEFORE I EVEN SAW THE LIGHTS ON MY CAR. NOW READ BELOW AFTER I SAW THEM ON MY CAR. (READ EDIT!)
EDIT: When I got to GTM I saw the headlights. On the driver side headlight the paint was pushing up against the lens by the 4 leds and on the top of the hid part. I had to ship this light back. He fixed all the paint work/labor for free but I was the one that had to pay $575 for a brand new housing? If your product fcuked up why am I the one paying another $575 for a new lens. I paid the $575 and this was to guarantee there would not be any paint pushing up when I got it back. He told me everything was good to go and he shipped the driver side headlight back. Well guess what. The paint is still pushing up against the HID part when I got the light. There is no clearance between the lens on the very top of that grey plastic piece above the hid lens...yet the passenger side light has about 1-3mm of space even after it's painted. I did not pay $575 for a new lens housing just to have this touching the lens! I told him I wanted to ship the light back and get it fixed but he said not to ship it back.
7/6/11: After 2 months went by with him not responding to my emails or phone calls I decided to pretend I was someone else interested in getting lights done on a GTR. He emails withing 2 days and then I told him off. He sends me an email back saying how I am the one who is acting like a child and how my things are so top priority. I am the one paying for this service and now he get's all defensive? How hard is it to send me an email saying "Here is your $575 back I cannot make it perfect." OR "Don't worry man, I'll fix it after summer ends". Wow, I cannot believe Mike@Clearcorners is turning into Nic@CinCityDesigns. You just can't trust ANYBODY that does headlights anymore. I will never give Mike my business ever again and I hope you don't either!
Last edited by Goo$e; 07-06-2011 at 08:57 PM.
01-09-2010, 08:15 PM
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Nice review, thank you for sharing your misfortune with yet again crappy service at CCD, Also agree when it comes to; you get what you pay for type of deal.
On the side note, im more of a diy guy so this wont apply to me, but its nice to see people looking after one another and reporting BS costumer service or just service in general. Good luck with your new lights! and may i ask what the hell do you do that you can throw tt kit on HR, Sexy lights and volks?
On the side note, im more of a diy guy so this wont apply to me, but its nice to see people looking after one another and reporting BS costumer service or just service in general. Good luck with your new lights! and may i ask what the hell do you do that you can throw tt kit on HR, Sexy lights and volks?
01-09-2010, 08:20 PM
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My best advice to anybody out there...pay the car off first. Buy all mods when you have enough cash saved up for them. Never use credit cards! These mods are not investments.
Last edited by Goo$e; 05-24-2010 at 06:44 PM.
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01-09-2010, 08:58 PM
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White Super LED Headlight "Conversion" (06-08)
-White LED Parking Lights
-White Upper Marker Lights
-Triple Amber LED Signal Lights
Color-Matched to Factory Paint Code
-Magnetic Black (G41)
-White LED Parking Lights
-White Upper Marker Lights
-Triple Amber LED Signal Lights
Color-Matched to Factory Paint Code
-Magnetic Black (G41)
Last edited by Goo$e; 01-09-2010 at 09:02 PM.
01-09-2010, 09:26 PM
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Close enough. Yes you may once I get the car back from GTM. ETA should be end of Feb or before I'm guessing.
Edit: Yea so...end of Feb...YEA RIGHT! More like end of April or May.
Edit: Yeah so...it's almost June. I'm guessing I'll get the car back like end of June or July.
Edit: Yea so...end of Feb...YEA RIGHT! More like end of April or May.
Edit: Yeah so...it's almost June. I'm guessing I'll get the car back like end of June or July.
Last edited by Goo$e; 05-19-2010 at 09:29 PM.
01-10-2010, 10:22 AM
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Perfect quality isn't cheap.
Wait it out, and save up the money to get them done at Clearcorners. Trust me on that!
Damn straight!
Spot on bud.
Indeed they are...indeed they are.
Wait it out, and save up the money to get them done at Clearcorners. Trust me on that!
Damn straight!
Indeed they are...indeed they are.
01-10-2010, 10:47 AM
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Cincity sucks c@ck. I regret letting those bastards touch my headlights 
I would have much rather paid a little more and let clearcorners do them, but I didn't know about them at the time.
I would have much rather paid a little more and let clearcorners do them, but I didn't know about them at the time.
01-10-2010, 10:51 AM
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I WAS WAITING FOR YOU TO POST!!! After reading what happen to you plus what RickDogg said. Lesson learned and posted up for others to see so we can at least help them not do business with CCD.
Last edited by Goo$e; 01-10-2010 at 10:52 AM.