well anyway the customer said as long as i "saved him some face" i could use his PM and its all in good fun. I get this kinda stuff all the time but this was too good to pass up. It will get all resolved and i am going to do any and everything i can as always to help make this right ( i had nothing to do with the light modifications up to this point).
Anyway , as i said i get this all the time where people need new lights , need them redone or finished and repaired because they wanted to save a few bucks. most of the time this kinda stuff costs a lot more in the long run .....i don't know how many times this stuff....sometimes its even from people going to other shops and having issues after modification. Pay now or pay later i guess....not like i even charge a lot. especially with a full warranty and quick turn around.


" Alright Dave, here's the story.The previous owner of my car put JDM evo headlights on it (HID). I had problems with blinding oncomming traffic, and I wanted 'em blacked out, so I opened up the housing, painted it, and added a shield into the HID housing.

In the process of doing that, I stripped the little plastic things that grab the adjuster bolts, so my HID's were no longer adjustable, and pointed the wrong way. So I used some epoxy to set them right again, but they're no longer adjustable.

I got hit (lightly) but it snapped off one of the mounting brackets (the one furthest to the middle) on the driver's headlight.

After paint, when I resealed them, I didn't reseal them well enough, so moisture got in. Pulled 'em off, and reasealed them.

In the process of opening them up (baking) I got it too hot and melted the two top mounting brackets on the driver's light..

Basically, my headlights are a complete mess! As a result, I definetly need new ones.

The passenger headlight is usable, but one of the adjustment bolts on the HID is stationary due to the epoxy.

The drivers side headlight is mostly unusable, but the reflectors, HID housing, HID ballast, HID bulb, HID adjuster motor....all that is salvagable.

I need new headlights! Blacked out, with HID (my evo is an '03, so it was made for 'em). USDM if possible, JDM if that's not an option (I guess oncomming traffic will just have to be blind!)

I'll send you my headlights, so you can use what you can use (I'll take pics if you like), and I'd like to know how much to purchase a new set of lights...

Thanks a ton dave! "


2nd pm to me:

"I'll try to take some good detailed pics for you, but I do NOT want to open up the housings again.

A continuation on the story: Even after re-sealing the driver's light, re-melting the brackets back into place, and sealing the top with silicone, it still freaking leaks. Already the inside is fogging up."



to make a long story short...this is the kinda reason i don't tune my car for example....live and learn i guess. If anyone needs help PLEASE Find me with your lights . Buying new ones (or even modded used ones) is very expensive.... either way i am always here to try to help any fellow evom.net members out.

 

Listen to EvoDave people. Send them to him, he does great work.

 

its not even just so much about the lights. Its just a lesson in general about evos. There are people like slickmotorsports, switzer, ams , turbotrix, buschur, dynoflash , vishnu, evodave and so on for a good reason. Much better results are had for the $ with the right places...just gotta use good judgement and your preference of shops. I have learned the hard way before myself...lol

 

Its scary that so many people in this world need to be protected from themselves.

 

YOU do fantastic work....and YOU did a great job on my headlights.....I'm still waiting to get my tails done and I'll continue to wait until I can arrange for a loaner car!
Thanks for sharing this poor guys horror mod story!
Keep up the good work Dave!

 

Thanks for admitting that. It's not as if a person needs to get an advanced degree in order to modify headlights/taillights. In fact, you've got to be faily inept in order to f- up the job enough to notice, and to do what this guy is describing, I'm guessing possess an IQ of somewhere south of the speed limit.

Are there guys out there that have no business turning their own wrenches on their cars? definately. Are there guys that shouldn't dream about tuning their own cars? without question. Is modifying a taillight housing as difficult as understanding the concept of EFI and being judicious enough to properly tune the car without exceeding the vehicle's limits? aw hell no.

I'm not saying I couldn't do it better the second time around, but I've never had anyone pick up on a flaw with my lights. Then again, I'm the type of guy that may buy the raw parts from these tuner companies through the mail, but chooses not to use them as a full-service shop. To each his own...

Dave, what I don't agree with is this tricky little advertisement for your services. You're using a questionable analogy with taillight mods compared to vehicle tuning, and capitalizing on one particular situation used as a cautionary tale to benefit yourself. And before you say that you're just offering to help, I should point out that I've talked to several guys (who happened to flag me down to compliment me on my lights and ask me if I did them myself) who said they had questions for you about the process of opening tails / headlight housings and they have all said that you were entirely unhelpful unless they paid for your services.

I've got no problem with making a dollar here and there on the side through your hard work, but if you're the self proclaimed 'taillight modification expert' why would you hurt your own bottom line by taking business away from yourself and giving truly helpful advice?

 

Here is why this isn't a advertisement...if i wanted to make good money i would let this happen time and time again as it has.... (btw headlights are about 25% as difficult to do as tails) and then sell modded headlights as complete units. I would prefer to save people the issues and mod their lights for much much less. I offer some info when asked about modding but people literally try to get me to give them a step by step on how to do it and cutting apart the taillights even after doing 100+ sets and getting them to seal well can still be challenging and i do still remember ruining a few sets to learn properly....why would i give out my hard earned proper methods of modding and testing the seal?
I have helped so many people here and taken away my business in the process one way or another. But i won't do write ups.... those are already on this site. Its sad that people think this is a advertisement..... honestly if you look how often i frequent this site and bump my threads regarding the lights you will see that i don't often try to advertise anymore. Yes 6-12 months ago i was bumping the threads daily or more....but i now bump them once a week or sometimes less. Now i am busy working on lights for people instead. This gentleman is a smart guy..he just got caught up in the web of getting in too deep..he isn't anything unordinary as you may think... i see and help 1-2 situations like this a month easy. I can't blaim people for trying ...if i didn't try then i wouldn't be here...lol

Oh btw....when you literally are cutting apart and making a huge mess of taillights and then have customers examining their taillights like this for issues of the lenses , paint or seal you do have to be an expert sorry this seemed something it wasn't.

 

hey evodave, just wondering if u could pm me prices for my tailights done in jdm mr style. i have seen many pics before and heard nothing but complements on ur work so i think it is about time i spend the money. thanks

 

Dave's track record speaks for itself folks.

100% customer satisfaction and a lifetime warranty on top of that is a rare thing, particularly with this sort of "product"!

to Dave!

 

Good thing I saw this b4 I attempted it myself due to me being broke . O well guess ill have to wait till the summer when I have money.