The other day I brought my 2004 enthusiast by Diode Dynamics shop in St. Louis Missouri (www.diodedynamics.com). They specialize in automotive lighting and customizing, and are a vender here on the forums. I had gotten in touch with Paul, the owner, and told him what I wanted to do with my car. He was very informative, and provided me with an exact time of completion.

I wanted to open the headlights and have them painted semi-gloss black, and make all lights in my car to LED's. I also opted for an RGB Angel Eye install while the headlights were open. Paul told me that this would take less no more than 48 hours to complete. This amount of time was beneficial because I DD my car. He said that typically people send in their headlights for him to open and paint, and he sends them back within this 48 hour period of receiving them. Very fast service!!!!!

I arrived early in the morning to his shop, which just opened up a couple months ago. Here is the inside of the shop:


And upon entering there is a display case with a pretty cool headlight from a Genesis with the RBG Angel eye installed, this got me pretty excited to have this on my car!


I then handed over my car to Paul and he took it from there. He allowed me to watch each step as he took the headlights out and pulled them apart. He knew his way around the Z, and had the front bumper and headlights out in no time. I was a little worried watching my car get taken apart, but I have a ton of trust in Paul's work and didn't break a sweat


Once my headlights were out, he started removing the lens. His process takes some time to heat up all of the silicon evenly and to be very careful not to scratch or overheat any of the plastic. He used some neat tools for the process, and the lenses came off with ease for him.




the headlights were now open, and i explained to Paul how i wanted them done. I told him i didnt want to lose any visibility at night, but still black out the light as much as much as i could. He said he could do that and he can take out all of the amber pieces and replace them with clear corners as well. He test fitted the angle eyes and showed me some of the different colors it can do (over 15 different colors)


He brought the housing into his paint booth and painted away. He has a legit paint booth that he constructed, which allows the paint to go on evenly without any imperfections. His clear corners for the 350Z are only $20!! and they are laser cut for perfect fitment. amazing. In a few hours, my headlights were looking like this:


And on the car:


I can make then red anytime i want using the included hand held wireless controller. Here are some demons eyes:




While he was making the headlights, he was also constructing a laser etched piece for my interior. It turned out perfectly. These will run $9.99 and another $5 for a customized logo. very good prices:


And in the car:


He also painted my doorhandles, and emblems. They turned out very good.
Overall I am completely happy with my car and would recommend anyone to send him your headlights with complete confidence! He got these completed in less than 24 hours, which was amazing. Here is a quick list of prices that offered to me:

The base charge was $50 since you sent in the lights, which includes open, reseal, and installation of any lights.

Paint:
Main Bezel Painting: $70 (gloss colormatch)
Signal reflector painting: $20 (gloss colormatch)
If it is was just flat black, it would be $50 for main bezel, $10 for signal reflector.

Add-ons:
Clear Corners: $20
RGB Multicolor Angel Eyes with standard remote, wiring harness included: $80

Then the LED bulbs they added are as follows:
Turn signals: $40/pair
Side marker: $7/pair

They also have these options:
Custom logo inside headlight $10
DRL strip (white, turns amber for turn signal) $80
DRL strip (RGB multicolor with standard remote) $80
upgraded remote for any RGB: $10
Single-color CCFL angel eyes: $60
Single-color SMD LED angel eyes: $40

But i opted for the RGB since it can be any color i want. It costed me in total $240 for the work they did on the headlights, which is crazy low for the amount of work they did, and the effort they put in to complete them in no time.

Just wanted to vent on how happy I am with these lights!

 

It was great working with you! Very happy with how it all turned out

-Paul

 

Is that the finished housing?

Not to be a Debbie Downer, but I really don't like how that LED ring looks.

 

^Same here. I wanna see what they can do with the 06-08 housings

 

good lord thats cheap.. I'm glad its not my actual businessthat keeps food on the table , but this will surely be an end to my side jobs at painting headlights lol.. theres no way id touch someones headlights for that price hes charging.
Meh, it is what it is i guess.. such is the nature of capitalism lol. I aint mad.

 

That was the housing without the lens cover on. The ring looks good my opinion, and really isn't noticeable unless the lights are off and you are within a couple feet. But i always have my driving lights on while cruising. Here is a pic from the front:


and if you want more info on the RGB eyes check out the vid:

 

We can do 06-08 too! I'll post a thread soon with our official pricing.

 

I think it looks good, putting this on my to-do list, especially since it is pretty local, I will actually be up that way next week.

 

It was great working with you!

 

Lol...here it comes heh heh.

 

I know , thats dirt cheap! lol

 

The clear corner diffusers looks like the stuff people used to make clear tail lights back in the days.

 

Fluorescent Light diffusers.

 

I have had the honor to meet Paul once a few years back, Great guy that stands behind his work and products.

A+++

 

I've seen some of Diode Dynamics work at car shows around the area. The headlight modifications are amazing.

 

Thanks Dante, wow it has been a long time!

-Paul

 

These look so sweet in person, nice job DD!

 

Looks great man!

 

Thanks man, now i just need to get some rims to keep up with you...

 

Please feel free to post comments or questions!