Glow Shift Gauges?

[RedTurboEclipse]

Well I ordered the 7 color tinted glowshift gauges with 3 gauge a-pillar pod. This is for my uncle's GS-T, but It's practically my car since I have done all the installations on it, including this one.

It came today, and general impression of the company/brand is very positive.

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The shipping was very professional. As seen above.

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The packaging of the gauges was also very sleek and professional as seen above.

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Above is a picture of the pillar pod. I have arguably the "best" a-pillar pod on my GSX which is the Lotek/Gaugepod.com brand. It too is a 3gauge pod. So how does it compare? It's pretty darn good. The only complaint with the Glowshift brand is there are no holes, so you have to make your own when you mount it. It also doesn't come with screws and screw caps like the Lotek does. But those do NOT justify the extra price of the Lotek, so the Glowshift is GREAT! As for fitment, also PERFECT! As you can see in the pictures below:

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The last pic of the 3 above you can see I already mounted it with screws.

This pod should REPLACE the stock pillar, as you can see if you do that it fits PERFECTLY, I have test fitted it over the stock pillar and IT LOOKS LIKE CRAP Also it will be much more secure as it is mounted to the a-pillar frame. Also you get to retain an unhacked stock pillar for sale or if you ever decide to go to stock. Of course you have to drill new holes and it adds extra work, but I believe this is the best way, most clean way. If you find it too difficult to do this, wait till you actually do more serious mods, OR just get the add on pillar and not this one which obviously is a perfect replacement.

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The pictures above are of the Oil pressure gauge. As I mentioned it is the tinted 7 color model. Also pictured is the included Oil pressure sender unit. You can see in average light, when off nothing can be seen. However in bright daylight you can make out some of the numbers, but still too difficult for reading normally.

 

[RedTurboEclipse]

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Here is the back of the pod and how I did the wiring.

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Here are the gauges mounted and done. As you can see in daylight you can make out the the numbers, but hard to read. These tinted series ALWAYS have to be on to make anything out. As you can see there is some glare, but its not too bad.

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Here is the switch I incorporated with the gauges. Because the gauges have to be on all the time, and not an incandescent light like the cheaper autometer gauges, I could not install it like the old way with the headlight and the dimmer. Why? Because these gauges always have to be on to be able to read clearly during the day, and if I hook it up to the headlight/parking light switch, then that means I would always have to have the headlight/parking light on during the day. Which I did not want. So with my install, The gauge lights up when IGN on, but at night on if I ever want to not be seen riding dirtay with the gauges, I flick the switch OFF. The switch also has a built in LED to indicate ON. BLING BLING!

Now here are some more finished pictures:

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[RedTurboEclipse]

So how do they perform?

We just changed the oil, so I did not hook up the oil pressure sending unit, but I already have all the proper wires for that gauge and the water temp in the engine bay. The water temp gauge did not come with the radiator hose T, but it did come with the sensor to plug into. We need to get adapter for the hose before we install the water temp.

How bout the boost? Before this boost gauge, we had a Greddy 60mm Mechanical Boost Gauge, pretty good comparison if you ask me. The glowshift boost gauge reads the same. Dead on.

As for the button you see on the gauges. That button is to change the color on the gauge. It has several (7) different colors. The gauge remembers the last color you had on there when the car is off (ASSUMING YOU KNOW HOW TO INSTALL IT RIGHT). There are also 2 settings where it CYCLES THROUGH THE COLORS, 1 way in an abrupt sudden change to the next color, and another setting where it smoothly changes color in a transition effect. VERY COOL!

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND GLOWSHIFT!

And remember, REPLACE THE STOCK PILLAR, NOT INSTALL OVER IT, THAT WAY SUCKS.

Hopefully this review was helpful, there were hardly any good pictures of the product and install, so hopefully this will help others who are curious about buying these.
All the pictures were in a very nice bright day. I will take pictures at night when I get the chance.

NEXT UP: Glowshift 2 gauge cluster pod, for my beater.

 

[AndrewD5418]

That tint makes it insanely hard to read/reflective.

BTW. This looks like it's the same company that prosport gets theirs from? Same packaging box, same little connector on the back.

Anybody wanna take pics of it in amber?

 

[Dragon TalonTsi]

Its not so bad with it over the old pillar, it sticks out more, and that is about it. If it is a direct replacement, it should be even and flush with the old one. I have mine attached to the stocker, and its perfectly lined, and I have the Triple Pillar pod from GlowShift, I painted it, and its fine.

 

[justoscar1]

looks really good...i should be getting mine soon, i ordered them friday...
i got a boost, air/fuel, volts......but i got the non tinted ones...
i think the non tinted are better for daytime ....ill post up
pics when i get them installed...

 

[AndrewD5418]

looks really good...i should be getting mine soon, i ordered them friday...
i got a boost, air/fuel, volts......but i got the non tinted ones...
i think the non tinted are better for daytime ....ill post up
pics when i get them installed...

Try n post pics of it in amber. I would like to see how well it maches stock gauge lighting..

 

[justoscar1]

Try n post pics of it in amber. I would like to see how well it maches stock gauge lighting..

will do

 

[RedTurboEclipse]

Look at the pics I posted, how could it not be any more of a perfect fit? There are no gaps/opening anywhere. They are indeed better as a replacement than an add on, but obviously can be installed either way.

Yea the non-tinted will be much better in the daytime. But if the color you have in the daytime is white, its not too bad. I forgot to mention, the gauges come with this visor for the gauges, to keep glare out, we didn't put it on because I didn't like how it looked, its not too bad, but VERY nice addition for Glowshift to add that for no extra charge

Kinda like this: but just a teeny bit more visor coverage.

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As for the amber color, THERE IS NONE. The closest thing to our stock color is Red and Yellow, unfortunately there is no inbetween of that, would be amber/orange.

Below is a picture of ALLLLLLLL the color settings. I will post a video later if I'm not too lazy. I believe I detailed as much as I can with these gauges, hopefully it helps everybody interested.

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[Miami305]

RedTurboEclipse you hae cleared up alot of doubts that i had. How did you hook up that on and off switch i know you can get the switches from radio shack but how was it done ,very clean look.

 

[RedTurboEclipse]

Well, as I stated the tinted 7 color really must be on all the time to be visible during the day. Unlike the traditional way to wire up the light for the gauges: hook it up to cig lighter/headlight switch.

Although you can still hook them up the traditional way, this would mean that you would have to drive during the day with your headlights/parking lights on all the time, and not forget to turn them off when you park, just so you can make out what the gauges are reading.

I did not want to do that.

I really enjoy the dimming function, but again because of the afore mentioned, it wouldn't be the most convenient. I like to be able to dim the light, at night just incase I pass a car/cop that I don't want doing a double take because they see bright gauges, although that should be the least of most DSMers worries right? Just perhaps the hope of adding more chance of not being pulled.

So to achieve what I wanted, I needed to have it hooked up when the car was on. At first I was going to hook it up to the radio power. This would work, but then with the key on ACC the gauges would be on. So I figure it would be perfect to hook it up to IGN on.

This way it the gauges would simulate the dummy lights on the cluster, as they too only turn on while on IGN on.

The switch was easy to hook up. I just got your standard basic SPDT switch. On/Off. The one I got had an LED, so there was an extra ground wire that I had to connect.

The gauges, all have a wire that needs to be hooked up to CONSTANT 12volt. That is the memory wire, so when you turn the car off than on again, it remembers what color you had it to. I hooked that up, to the big white wire in the ignition switch. Turbo timer and alarm installs should have you familiar with which wire that is.

The other wire on the gauges are the ignition switch wire. For some strange reason, the boost gauge had 2 ignition switch wires, I just connected both to the same, no problem. These wires connected to the switch ON connection. The switch I got as I mentioned had 3 connectors labeled: POWER/ACC/GRND. It has an LED so of course it needed its own power source. The POWER on the switch I connected to the IGN1 wire (black/white), the ACC had all the gauges IGN ON connected to it, and the GRND obviously to ground.

Gauges only come on when key switch is to IGN ON, if anytime you want to go low profile at night, flick the switch to off, and gauges go OFF.

 

[justoscar1]

dang it I got mine in today and turns out the button that changes the color for the boost gauge is stuck or whatever.....now i got to wait till MONDAY to call and see what i can do..

 

[RedTurboEclipse]

justoscar1, have you tried getting a set of small pliers and pulling the button out a little bit. My uncle's was not being nice as well, just did what I mentioned, until it was broken in, and all is well. Pull it manually, then push it back in, if it changes color, your good to go, button must be jammed, do that several times until it loosens up.

 

[justoscar1]

justoscar1, have you tried getting a set of small pliers and pulling the button out a little bit. My uncle's was not being nice as well, just did what I mentioned, until it was broken in, and all is well. Pull it manually, then push it back in, if it changes color, your good to go, button must be jammed, do that several times until it loosens up.

dang turns out that it wasn't jammed the button was tilted to the side .....i did this when i was
adjusting the gauge to position on the pod...."the front outer rim of the gauge caused this problem but i figured it out i just turn it back till the button was straight and then it clicked perfect.. "

thanks for the help cus i wouldn't have looked at it again

 

[Grimis]

they look like prosports, look good tho, i like the black off and amber doring the day and white at night. Still waiting for summit to ship my tripple a-piller.....

 

[RedTurboEclipse]

Here is a good pic to show how they are in the day time ON, with the white color. We focused on the boost gauge:

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Look at the picture above, that is how its going to look while you are driving in the day time, under the white color setting. Imagine using a different color, it will be a bit more dim. There is glare as you can see. If you have bad vision, or find that too difficult to read, tell them you don't want the tinted lens, its the same style, same 7 color option, just clear lens.

 

[RWKustoms]

Great writeup RedTurboEclipse , I love how you incorporated all the detailed pics for everyone to see. The gauges do look nice and infact I've always seen them on ebay and wondered if they were any good.

 

[greaterplanz]

thanks a lot for the help guys.. its really useful..

 

[Vicious_mole]

had them, didn't like them, they were hard to see if the sun was at the back of the car, looked good unsure of acuracy, but i vote for autometer....

 

[mike97clipse]

i bought these gauges about a month ago and they are still working fine for me. instead of buying the whole a-pillar i bought the pod that connects to it and it doesnt fit very well, but ill live with it until i buy the whole a-pillar. other than that they are perfectly fine.

 

[BoostedinSoFla]

Hey RedTurboEclipse, how are these gauges holding up? Is the accuracy still there on the boost gauge and did you get a chance to install the oil pressure gauge?

 

[jawar666]

Thanks for all the info and the pics RedTurboEclipse... You made me go for them...

Does any one has the Air/Fuel Gauge from them? Does ti works properly in our cars?

 

[RedTurboEclipse]

BoostedinSoFla, the gauges are not in my gsx nor my other gsx. they are in my uncle's gs-t. So far so good. Still haven't installed the oil pressure and water temp. Still waiting for the next oil change, and still need to buy the adapter for the coolant hose. Boost gauge is fine, no problems whatsoever. I can hook up the Greddy again to compare to make sure they still read the same, but I don't think thats necessary, once is enough, and I'm lazy since its not even my car.

jawar666, the a/f gauge is crap, just like all narrow band a/f gauge. You only get that gauge if you have a pod to fill. Funny that the most useless gauge is the most expensive from their site. I personlaly would go for oil pressure, water temp, egt, oil temp, in that order. Of course boost being the first. If your looking for the a/f as a pod fillter, might as well just get the voltmeter, again a non important gauge to fill a pod, but cheaper than the narrow band a/f.

I'll be reviewing another set of cheap guages soon. I was going to buy the glowshift gauges for my beater gsx as well, but I found some cheaper ones.

$40 shipped for boost and electronic oil pressure. These are going to be interesting because the face is 60mm, but the mounting body is 52mm. They were the cheapest on ebay, I have a good feeling about these, and I like to expose them so others can have cheap alternatives and feel good.

Again I will be using the greddy 60mm mechanical gauge for comparison. Stay tuned.

 

[dsmpokolm]

Has anyone tried there newest gauge? It resembles the autometer phantom II gauges. I think I might get a couple.

 

[RedTurboEclipse]

this one?

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it looks good. it comes down to personal preference now, they have it in white or black face. But ashame they still don't have amber light. That would go perfect for our cars.

It looks like its the same gauge just different face. I would assume the quality and function is what you would expect from my extensive review of them. You know I would get it in a heartbeat if I was looking for this type of gauge.

And for those who are wondering, the gauges I reviewed, still holding up great.