What Did You Do With Your Kizashi Today?

[KuroNekko]

People, please don't tint your tails.

I'm with you on this. I don't think it's safe, especially when it's done too dark. I've seen some tail lights tinted so dark, even the brake lights were hard to see at night. That's like asking for someone to rear-end you. I don't think headlights or tail lights should be tinted much, if at all. You're basically limiting the amount of light emitted through the lens to both see and be seen so it kind of defeats the point of a light. I'm down with tinted window (not a fan of something too dark though) but headlights and tail lights should be bright for optimal visibility for your own safety.

In all fairness, I was attempting to do it lightly, and part of the reason I switched to LEDs was because I figured the combination of tint and LEDs would bring it back to stock brightness anyway. The LEDs are way, way brighter than my stock halogens were. Unfortunately, they also cause interference with the only radio station I like to listen to. All the other stations I checked work fine.

Since I've failed twice though, that will be put on the backburner for now. I guess I'll have to grow to like the taillights. I just wish they didn't extend so far around the side of the car.

What kind of LEDs did you get?

[KuroNekko]

I think as long as the bushings aren't blasted with water, they should hold the grease for a decent amount of time. Of course, the type of grease would matter quite a bit and I agree that the original grease was probably less than ideal. However, my bushings didn't start making noise until I rinsed off the underbody with a hose. My guess is that water got into the bushings that way given the grease was mostly gone by that point.
I'm hoping the Sil-Glyde will last a while given its water and heat resistance but it may also be that these polyurethane bushings simply need a re-greasing every 1 to 2 years to maintain optimal lubrication. Time will tell.

An update.
My bushings are starting to squeak again. It's only over the harsher bumps though. They also only started to squeak after I got the car back from the body shop that also detailed my car. I'm thinking maybe they cleaned the underbody which may have caused water to enter the bushings. The last time they squeaked, it was shortly after an underbody cleaning.
My local Harbor Freight Tools now stocks Super Lube that they didn't have in stock last time so I'll try that this time.

[DesRado]

So here's what I've been up to lately.

First off, had picked up an extra set of GTS wheels off eBay for cheap, originally was going to paint them myself... however after a bit of debating with myself I opted to go ahead and get them powder coated a metallic silver. The finish is darker, and has visible flakes in it, much like the plat silver paint.







I also went ahead and purchased some chrome turn signal bulbs to get rid of that egg yolkey look in the corner of the lights. Wow! what a difference it makes too. They illuminate amber (as they should) and are visible in both day and night use, although a little bit dimmer than no chrome coating at all. At night they are perfectly visible.





So what's next I suppose... a novelty shift knob ahaha.

[KuroNekko]

Nice touches on the car.
With the shift knob, make sure it will properly fit the reverse lock-out collar. The Kizashi's is rather big with the spring's retainer plate. The Razo knob I bought in Japan was even designed for the GT-86/FR-S/BRZ's wide reverse lock-out collar but still doesn't fit the Kizashi's with the spring retainer plate on. I had to remove it for my knob to fit. My universal-type knob is also going to require gluing on so the knob stays put.
The picture is of my shifter. The retainer I'm talking about is the white plastic piece which has the widest diameter that the knob must accommodate or it won't fit/allow the lock-out collar to rise up to engage reverse. For my Razo knob to fit, I had to remove the metal clip and plastic retainer plate and have the spring directly go against the knob. Because of this, you can only screw in the knob to a certain point before it prevents the lock-out collar from fully rising to engage reverse. This is why glue is needed to keep the knob at the right place and position.


While some may wonder why I even bother with a custom knob given the trouble, it's because the OE one's finish is chipping and the plastic is cutting into my palm. Not only that, I find the shape less than optimal compared to a round type that's weighted nicely.

[Speed_Racer]

So here's what I've been up to lately.

First off, had picked up an extra set of GTS wheels off eBay for cheap, originally was going to paint them myself... however after a bit of debating with myself I opted to go ahead and get them powder coated a metallic silver. The finish is darker, and has visible flakes in it, much like the plat silver paint.

If you don't mind me asking, about what did the powdercoating run you? Mine are chipping so I may as well start saving to have them refinished.

And the swapped turn signal looks great, I want to do that one!

[BLyons]

What kind of LEDs did you get?

I got these.

Nice mods DesRado. The powder coat looks great. I'm curious on the cost too because mine are chipping like crazy.

[KuroNekko]

What kind of LEDs did you get?

I got these.

Interesting. I'm curious to see how they look in the tail light, especially with the bulb's lens that houses 6 LEDs at the end. Please upload a pic sometime if it's not too much of a hassle.

[BLyons]

What kind of LEDs did you get?

I got these.

Interesting. I'm curious to see how they look in the tail light, especially with the bulb's lens that houses 6 LEDs at the end. Please upload a pic sometime if it's not too much of a hassle.

Here's a vid I took during install that shows the LED vs the halogen bulb. I'll snap a pic of it in the housing later.

[youtube][/youtube]

[KuroNekko]

Wow, those are bright!
I can see now how some tail light tints may actually not diminish their effectiveness.
Would you say that in tail light mode, they look like a normal bulb's brake mode? That's what the video looks like.

[BLyons]

Yeah I would say that. When I first installed them I thought maybe there was a glitch and they were in brake light mode all the time. That's actually why I shot the video, I wanted to see if there was a difference when I put the brakes on.