Z-Monster

iTrader: (2)

Hey guys! I'm thinking of blacking out my housing and the lens on my headlights are a little messed up and they seem to be cracking or something... I was wondering if there is a way to buy new ones? so that when i do blackout my headlights I have brand new len's on them and I want oem ones not like ebay ones lol. Also I want to put the sti lens and I was wonder if you guys know where I can buy those brand new? even the replica ones are cool for me... and I have the 06 headlights. Thanks!

bmccann101

iTrader: (16)

sti r lens 50 bucks a pair at theretrofitsource.com
also buy their butyl rubber sealant glue.oem black goo.
no you cant buy the lenses new anywhere.
google "uv hardcoat headlight" and read for a week.
ebay lights also dont have this hardcoat, hence why they suck *****.

grind n buff, clearcoat at body shop inside and out, prepare to repeat every few years.. the price u pay for polycarbonate headlights, period.

bmccann101

iTrader: (16)

btw you are thread jacking OT like a motherfugger, but so is the clearcorners customer gripe and vendor retaliation thats going on in this thread. which btw is unprofessional as hell, luckily i dont care tho.. i do my own work.. im certainly not scared to play w headlights, and i do so properly..

i also feel bad for a anyone who has to do it for a living.. its tedious @ss work.. technically very basic.. but so is making a model airplane.. and you can spend weeks doing that.. no way id last a year doing that retail ha.

Z-Monster

iTrader: (2)

Sorry for thread jacking!!

bmccann101

iTrader: (16)

thats ok.. you can come out of the corner now. now go tell your brother youre sorry.

haha, jk. Good ol punishment 101.

orangeNblue

iTrader: (16)

I am more so curious where to buy the parts he used to remove/replace the bulbs. Although I didn't do these to mine, I'm not sure my vender has even done a set like this. I'd like to see if he could and maybe upgrade mine.

Also, what was recommended to me, but is still very expensive is to buy the most basic 03-05 headlights and use the lens from those. The vender who did my headlights made that recommendation. The lenses are the same between all of the models so they would work and give you the option of having brand new lenses....at a price.

Goo$e

iTrader: (9)

I am Goo$e from my350z and I am posting this on this forum as a warning to anybody interested in getting their headlights modding by these two so-called scamming lying businesses. This is what happened to me. Both companies both fawked me over in the end. Don’t let this happen to you!

1st Company: CinCity Designs
I came across CinCity Designs around Nov 08 when they first introduced their R8 light mod. I contacted Nic and touched base with him about all the mods that I wanted to do. The mods I wanted were R8 mod, glossy black paint, halos, sti clear lens, upper white leds. I sent my payment off to him and shipped out my lights.

I kept staying in touch with him but I was the one that would have to reply to him to get status updates. Never once did he send me an email with updates. After about 2 months he told me that the lights were finished and made a video of them. I saw the video and they looked awesome but something was weird. In the video it showed this red demon eye. I never paid for this demon mod so I was confused a little. So now I wasn't sure if those were mine in the video or someone else's lights. While the lights were on the way back to me I purchased some brand new Volks GT-S rims and was referred to go to a shop called Stage Performance in Kirkland (side note: never go to this shop...they are horrible. they put a ding in every single rim and a 1 inch scratch on one of them. they didn’t reverse mount the tires like they are supposed to. I have a whole other side story on things that happened at this shop, but this thread is about headlight companies so let me continue) to get the headlights and wheels installed.

I went to the shop and told them to call me if something comes up. Of course, a couple hours later I get a call saying there are extra wires coming off the headlight and they had no clue what they are for. I tried to get a hold of Nic via phone and email with no luck. I went to his web site forums and posted a thread about it. Luckily there was someone on the forum that was saying those extra wires were for that demon mod I was telling you about above. I was kind of upset about this because I never paid for a demon eye mod nor did I want it. Nic told me they did it for free because it took a while to get my lights back (you shouldn’t do extra things for customers without asking them first. I get another call saying they plugged the headlights in and one of the halos on the driver side was not working. I get in contact with Nic and asked him wtf?. Did you test before shipping? He says something probably happened during shipping. I had to pay the shipping charge to ship the lights back to get it fixed (they should have paid for shipping, or at least half of it but they did not. If a company’s work is flawed, they should pay the shipping charges both ways. If they do not, then you know they can’t be trusted).

He fixed the halo and shipped the light back. Tested it and it worked. Later in the week I drive my car down to my buddy’s house during the night to show him the new headlight mods I got done. He noticed that something was off on the passenger side headlight. I took a look and saw that the HID was not producing enough light like the driver side. It was very strange, but the only thing I could think of was the HID got bumped or something. I didn't think that much of it because I was just so happy to have a complete car back and working. The next day I take the car down to the GF's house to get it washed up before we went to dinner. About 30 minutes after washing the car the whole driver side headlight is full of condensation...


Someone obviously doesn't know how to seal headlights properly. I'm furious because the water droplets got everywhere, even behind the hid lens. Now the headlight is going to need to be disassembled AGAIN and everything is going to need to be cleaned and re-sealed. I contact Nic again and I swear, every time I call he doesn't answer. He always gives me excuses saying he has bad cell phone reception. Well this is BS because I've called in before I sent the money and there was no problem answering the phone. So I told him I'm sending the lights back AGAIN and told him to take as much time as he needed to fix them properly. He told me he would take care of it. I also told him I'm sick and tired of sending my lights back and forth, losing money when you can't seem to fix your own work. He promised me he would get them fixed.

The lights arrive and my hopes right now are not high at all. In my head I was thinking to myself, "I am going to open this box and be disappointed again". Well, I guessed right! I looked at the lens with a flashlight and I could clearly see the dirty dried up water droplets. Also there are scuff marks on the inside of the lens housing. Nic promises me they were going to be perfect but yet another fail. Now I'm super pissed off and after exchanging some very heated emails back and forth I told him I want a full refund for the labor. I also want a brand new oem set of headlights so I can find another company that isn’t a complete pos. I told him he can keep my original set of headlights that he has done work on for the past 4-5 times and sell them to someone who doesn't care about their **** poor work.

Around April 09 I got my refund and a new set of new oem lights. I have heard other people that never even got their money back. This place cannot be trusted.

Here is another horror story of cincity designs:
WARNING TO FUTURE CINCITY CUSTOMERS - MY350Z.COM Forums

2nd Company: Clearcorners.com
During the time I was waiting for my refund and oem lights from CinCityDesigns, I decided to contact Mike@Clearconers. I've seen his web site and his products but he did not do the R8 mod (which at the time I absolutely wanted, but then decided not to do it) and I didn't find out about his web site until after my lights were already being worked on by CinCity. I told Mike my whole story above and he was not surprised. He told me I wasn't the only one with a horror story. Also told him I am super **** about my stuff and told him to take as much time as he wanted. I just didn't want to re-live what happened between me and CinCityDesigns. He told me he is the same way and he is also super **** about his stuff so this worked out perfect for me.

I paid my deposit at the end of June 2009. Every month he would give me a call with any updates on the lights and the expected delivery date was around Oct 2009. He said not to believe the estimated time because it would take a little bit longer. I said don't worry about it and take your time; do it perfect. The headlights were finally completed Jan 2010 and were shipped to GTM. My car was currently at GTM getting a twin turbo installed. It was best that Mike shipped my lights to GTM so GTM could put them on the car and button everything up for me. After GTM got the twin turbo kit installed they test drove the car throughout the week for a total of 150 miles. I also paid for some front side marker lights and told Mike that my car was getting wrapped up from GTM and they needed the lights. Mike didn't respond to me for the longest time (about 4 months) which was concerning. He finally got in contact with me and shipped them to GTM. GTM finished up my car and I was getting ready to make the long road trip. I drove my truck and trailer all the way to GTM to pickup my car. Once I arrived I looked at the headlights and this is what I saw…


Look at the paint touching the inside of the lens. You can pretty much say goodbye to that lens housing because that will never be able to be fixed. I called Mike and sent him pictures of this. He said that he was amazed this happened for only driving the car 150 miles. He said to ship the lights back and he would take care of it (and you guessed it, he didn’t pay for the shipping!). After he got the lights back, he did his repairs and told me that it isn’t picture perfect how I would like it but he repaired it as best he could. I asked him what it would take to make it perfect. He said purchasing another lens housing for $575. So I asked him, “If I pay for this, will this guarantee me that the paint will not be pushing up on the lens?”. He said “Yes” (I should have NEVER forked over the money and he should have covered all of it but lesson learned). So I paid the money and he said he would go down to the dealership and pick up a new lens. He finished the repairs and shipped the lights back to me. After getting the lights back this is what I saw…


You have got to be kidding me. So your work is flawed and you make ME pay for a new headlight lens housing...and they look like that? Unbelievable! I sent him the pictures and demanded a $575 refund plus I wanted my original driver side lens housing back. Well guess what guys! No contact and no communication at all. A couple weeks went by and I setup a new email account and pretended I was a new customer interested in getting some headlights modded. He responded of course and then I called him out on ignoring me. He goes on saying I was a little brat. Laugh my fawking a$$ off. Yes, I’m a little brat for calling you out on your **** poor work and refusing to give me a refund. I filed a document with the BBB but Mike didn’t respond to it of course. I’ve spent over $4,000 dollars with him and you would think that he would want to make me happy. All I want is my property back (original driver’s side lens housing) and the $575 he scammed me out of.

When I paid for my headlights he accepted paypal. He makes sure that the 45 days has passed so you cannot file a dispute. I even tried filing a dispute with the credit company but I was out of that date range to file a dispute as well. I’ve also paid him by certified bank check. Another payment he knows you can’t dispute. He wanted me to pay him cash for the $575 for the new lens housing. You can guess obviously why he wanted the cash. He already knew he was going to fawk me over.

After a couple months went by I washed my car a couple times. About 1 time every month as I do not drive the car a lot. After the 3rd wash, the led ring on the inside of the drivers side headlight didn't work anymore. I emailed him about it and he told me that I was out of the 1 year warranty and that I could pay him to repair it. I like how he had the nerve to say that. I wouldn't even have shipped the lights back to him even if he said he would have fixed them for free. He cannot be trusted. He still is refusing to refund my money and return my property to this day.

Here is a thread of myself and Mike discussing his BS. I love how he says “Oh, this was so long ago. Just shoot me a call and we can put this behind us”. No, how about you refund my money and my property?

Clearcorners Turn Signal - MY350Z.COM Forums

Anybody out there reading this…Mike (my350z handle: old_s13) owner of clearcorners.com is a fawking scamming piece of garbage. Do not trust him and never give him any business. Doing any type of headlight modification is the worst mod you can do and is the biggest waste of money. Don't bother doing it. Save your money and spend it on something else.

You have been warned.

bmccann101

iTrader: (16)

^^ haha yeah i feel ya on that.. i was just playing around anyways..

FliPPER_Z

iTrader: (16)

Hey OP, be careful when working with em headlights...specially with the oven! I was gonna work on a pair of a local Z, but the guy decided to do it himself since he did his old car before... 1 min too long...here are the results




Here is some of my work..





feel free to check my facebook
www.facebook.com/zleds
Goodluck!

bmccann101

iTrader: (16)

holy crap// 1 minute too long at what temp? 250? I doubt that...

the butyl rubber glue Nissan uses melts super easy, the light just has to be saturatedly ( i made a word up) hot.. and twice the heat of an AZ summer is totally sufficient.. 250.. mechanics gloves, pry, reheat, pry, and done. not too scary.

bmccann101

iTrader: (16)

i looked into this, and you are correct..im ditching the lenses i have now..
I am buying a set of 03-05 halogen style lights and yanking the lenses off.. still having them cleared at a body shop tho.. retrofit source says it still makes them last far longer..

HockeyZ39

The problem with those turn signals that not many people realize is they will be no where near as bright as stock (stock without the reflector blacked out I mean). You can see them in the night well enough, how ever during the day you basically do not have front turn signals.

I don't know if clear corners is still using the same method from a year or so ago, but the ones I opened were just simple low flux LED clusters covered by some diffusing material. To come any where close to having a functioning signal in daylight High Flux LEDs (1W-5W) would be required. That means drivers, regulators, optics, and large amounts of heat sinking.

Save your self alot of hassle in the future and do your homework before embarking on custom LED turn signal creation.

PS: Not ******* clear corners in anyway, they do amazing work.

old_s13

iTrader: (1)

Consider yourself lucky in regards to what Nic did for you. We have received a steady-stream of calls from people on the daily who have been shammed by the aforementioned vendor. There is one customer in particular who I recall calling us saying that not only did they build him a pair of 06-08 headlights that did not work as advertised, but then Nic kept and sold the customer's lights when they were mailed in for service. But I digress...

Your situation however, is different for multiple reasons. First and foremost, should you put your lights up for sale there are a long list of people here on this forum that would gladly pay money for the lights on your car. Not just the headlights, but any of the lights we've built for you. Second, your claim of us stealing your headlight lens is exactly that, a claim. When a customer uses profanity and acts inappropriately, they leave us with no other choice then to ignore them. If you walk into any place of business and act like a fool, you will be escorted out. If you walk into court and act like a fool, you will be escorted out, your case will be dismissed and the judge will rule in the other persons favor. This is what happened with your situation. You made a poor choice to act like a fool and used vulgarities; I chose to step away from the situation. You would think though, with this being 2012 that you'd eventually want to make amends, apologize, and let bygones be bygones. But no, your personality appears to get the best of you.

In regards to my shops reputation, it is what it is. Sure, we're too expensive. Sure, we take too long to build our products. When you're tired of failed CCFL inverters, lights with crazed lenses, water leakage, inferior quality ballasts and LEDs - we'll still be here fabricating. We're celebrating our 12th year in business this year, which as far as I know we're the first and oldest shop specialized in this niche line of work. A search through the very, very lengthy archives on this forum will show that we've worked on a great number of cars since the Z33 debuted in 2003, and prior to that with the older Z-cars and S-chassis should you browse twin-turbo.net or Zilvia. We just debuted our new headlights for the Z34 a few weeks ago, and after 2 years of R&D and with over 300 LEDs per headlight, I think you all will be hard pressed to find a vendor that can match our offerings.

Cheers and happy new year,
Mike / ClearCorners.Com

Goo$e

iTrader: (9)

Mike, what I see by your responses is just more lies and trying to make yourself look good on the forum. My situation is not different and you need to come into reality. You need to return my property and the $575 you scammed me out of.

1. I’ve already tried listing these overpriced/horrible workmanship headlights to someone else but all I got was low ball offers.

2. Here you are lying again. It is not a “claim”! You still have my original headlight lens. I cannot believe what you are saying right now. You had my original driver’s side headlight. I paid $575 to replace that original headlight lens. That leaves the original headlight lens somewhere…so where is my original headlight lens? Oh, that’s right it’s just a “claim” in your mind. Are you kidding me? It’s either on your shelf and you need to ship it back to me OR you have already used it for someone else. You also can continue saying stuff like I was the one using profanity and acting inappropriately but again; this is another one of your lies to make yourself look like the more mature person. I was nice but after you knew you messed up then it was you just ignoring me. That really made me mad and only getting mad made you answer. It’s even worse that I had to pretend to be someone else to get you to respond.

So what you are saying is I just should let this go and make amends with you knowing that you still have my legal property and scammed me out of $575 by lying to me guaranteeing me that the paint would not touch the inner side of the lens.

Mike, get your head looked at. I will do whatever it takes to steer people away from your shady scamming business. If that is by going on different forums, posting up YouTube videos or anything I can think of.
Nobody cares about your shop and you’re fabricating and nobody wants to do business with a scammer like yourself.

Cheers and I hope you get less business every Year.

LOOK AT HIS GARBAGE WORK:

FliPPER_Z

iTrader: (16)

TheWan

iTrader: (1)

Meh. They lost a customer just now.