Tail Lights

[zerocoolok]

I need new tail lights for my car (mine are cracked) so I was wondering what you guys thought. I found two possibilities around the same price range 1) PCP Autolites and 2) APC Carbon Fiber Euro
I also want to know if you guys have experienced water getting in either of them or if they look different than pictured.

Thank you

 

[kronus]

Oh, no no no. You see, those lights, while maybe looking ok off the car, will suddenly look nasty once on the car. To be truthfully honest, the DSM designers did a great job with the stock 1ga/b lights. If you need some new lights, check your local JY and I'm sure you could source somce good condition ones for cheap. Also, the dealership might have some as well. Or, if you're looking for a new look, you could try the 1gb Talon rear conversion. I'm a little biased to that. .

And if you think that the above statement was anti-rice, then you're dead on. But here's some more info. Those 'altezzas' are either poorly designed, poorly manufactured, or both. 99% of all aftermarket altezzas I've seen will lose their 'seal' after a given amount of time, (3 months, 6 months, a year, who knows) and after a nice hard rain, guess what? All of that icky water will settle where? At the bottom of your lenses. And it will NEVER come out.

So my advice is stay true to the faith, , and grab some OEM ones.

 

[zerocoolok]

I really don't like the look of my stock tails, but I was thinking of the APC because I plan on adding a CF hood later on. The only part I don't like is the center trim piece on the APC. On the other hand the PCP ones I like because of the plain center piece. I will check out some local junkyards to see if they have any 1gb talon tails, however I know that the 1g's are rare to find. Are the same tails on the 1gb talon turbo and n/t or are they the same? And BTW if I was going to buy the new lights I was going to seal them with silicone.

 

[kronus]

Alright. Good plan with the silicone. And all 1gb talons have the same tails. However, the lights are not a 'drop in' swap. You'd need the whole rear end including bumper and centerpiece. There's a thread somewhere around here with the 1gb tailswap. I've searched a bit for ya, couldn't find it though. Too worried about my dang clutch issue.

 

[eric91gst]

When I bought my car these tailights were already on it. The carbon fiber doesnt really that look good with the orange car. But, since im painting the car graphire grey pearl, I think the colors will look good together.

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[kronus]

I dunno. All the altezzas go for the whole 'round light source in a clear lense' look. I guess that's why they're altezzas. Personally, I think the mass producers of the aftermarket altezzas don't spend near as much time designing these things as they should. They just throw together a design and hope it looks good. They don't really care, they just want the money.

Honestly, the above picture is a good example to me. Cheap center piece, lights that don't even follow the flow of the car, and too much empty space. If someone could ps the 1gb Talon lights into that picture, I bet you'd agree how it takes away the 'cheap' look.

 

[eric91gst]

I dunno. All the altezzas go for the whole 'round light source in a clear lense' look. I guess that's why they're altezzas. Personally, I think the mass producers of the aftermarket altezzas don't spend near as much time designing these things as they should. They just throw together a design and hope it looks good. They don't really care, they just want the money.

Honestly, the above picture is a good example to me. Cheap center piece, lights that don't even follow the flow of the car, and too much empty space. If someone could ps the 1gb Talon lights into that picture, I bet you'd agree how it takes away the 'cheap' look.

-well you can bash my tails all you want. Personally, I dont think they look that bad and secondly im not going to spend more money to replace my tail lights back to stock. That money can easily go elsewhere

 

[kronus]

Sorry. I didn't mean to bash your lights. It's your car and I'm in no way telling you to change your lights out, but I was just stating my opinion of them. Sorry to offend you, but I'm sure you could agree that they do look 'cheaper' than the OEM lights. And if not, well hey, that's the great thing about owning and modding your own car, isn't it?

 

[AndrewD5418]

Alright. Good plan with the silicone. And all 1gb talons have the same tails. However, the lights are not a 'drop in' swap. You'd need the whole rear end including bumper and centerpiece. There's a thread somewhere around here with the 1gb tailswap. I've searched a bit for ya, couldn't find it though. Too worried about my dang clutch issue.

My 93 talon tails look WAY different than my 91's... And they're both stock. So they don't have the same tails.

 

[deadlyforce]

My 93 talon tails look WAY different than my 91's... And they're both stock. So they don't have the same tails.

Read his post again, he said all 1gb lights are the same, a '91 is a 1ga.

 

[Talesin]

Think that may be backward.. as I know that the '90 E/T/L taillights are 100% interchangeable between the three models, Deadly. It's the 1Gb Talon and Laser tails that are different (talon with the down-swoop center, Laser with taller light assemblies, Eclipse keeping 1Ga interchangeability).

Also, the 'altezza' look IMO is pure rice. I'm not going to bash anyone who bought their car with them already in place, but actually paying money to look like that just doesn't work.

I actually have a spare rear '90 light set that I was planning to make vacuum-molded exterior lens replacements for; possibly round insets roughly two inches deep, 'Skyline style', with the centerpiece replacement to match the car's color, getting rid of the dippy stripe across the middle. Biggest problem is actually getting a smooth exterior lens that follows the body's lines to start with. Ironically might have to shell out for a set of these, just to strip the lenses off and use them as masters.

 

[AndrewD5418]

Think that may be backward.. as I know that the '90 E/T/L taillights are 100% interchangeable between the three models, Deadly. It's the 1Gb Talon and Laser tails that are different (talon with the down-swoop center, Laser with taller light assemblies, Eclipse keeping 1Ga interchangeability).

Also, the 'altezza' look IMO is pure rice. I'm not going to bash anyone who bought their car with them already in place, but actually paying money to look like that just doesn't work.

I actually have a spare rear '90 light set that I was planning to make vacuum-molded exterior lens replacements for; possibly round insets roughly two inches deep, 'Skyline style', with the centerpiece replacement to match the car's color, getting rid of the dippy stripe across the middle. Biggest problem is actually getting a smooth exterior lens that follows the body's lines to start with. Ironically might have to shell out for a set of these, just to strip the lenses off and use them as masters.

Can't you get these then just paint the fake carbon/shiny metallic backing? Or do you mean get those and put the stock outer plastic on it?

 

[zerocoolok]

I found the ones I want CF PCP Autolites however they are out of stock. I just e-mailed their customer service to see when they are going to be back in stock.

 

[92EclipseGS]

How about getting those and spraying over the lights with either VHT nightshade or some kind of transparent red and then painting the center piece the color of the car? I have never seen this done and was thinking about doing it myself because I bet it looks really good. (somewhat like a 2g's tails) Anyone seen this done before?

 

[wvturbo2]

I could get a pic of my tails up for you if you want. They are stock but the middle and the bottoms are painted the same color as the car all you see is the top strip on the left and right.

 

[deadlyforce]

Talesin, I do apologize if I was giving bad information, or if it appeared that I was, I was just repeating what was already said. The post I was responding to stated that 1ga's and 1gb's were not the same, which was not what was said. I was just pointing that out...

 

[92EclipseGS]

Sorry to bring up a slightly old thread, but I made a couple of (cheap) photoshops to demonstrate my idea with the altezza's. Paint them like so with either a transparent red or that vht nighshade stuff and you can end up with something like this. Opinions?

 

[Talesin]

Can't you get these then just paint the fake carbon/shiny metallic backing? Or do you mean get those and put the stock outer plastic on it?

Nah, I'm hoping to vacuum-mold entire new outer lenses for the taillights out of ABS, if possible in the stock 82W so I won't have to paint them, aside from a few sprayed layers of clearcoat. At that point I can get smooth-curved lips on the insets, cut out the circular inset, and glue a red lens inside. Probably have to paint the inside of the ABS piece with ten or twenty layers of matte black to keep light leakthrough from ruining the effect, so the taillights only shine through the circular lenses. That way it'll look a bit more OEM, and less like those shitty paint-over headlight vinyls ricers slap on to make their sealed beam headlights appear circular, so some idiot might mistake them for projectors.

Though the idea about using nightshades on the clear outer lens is damn hot as an alternative look... if someone did a custom LED-taillight grid behind that, it'd look awesome. No time to do it myself at the moment, with how work is taking over my life again.