Mike1220's 2014 Sierra

Mike1220 · November 19, 2014

Alright guys, so I am torn between what I am gonna do with my headlights. I have already talked to Phil at Fastheadlights and have his time booked to do my headlights this Christmas season. So hopefully I can get my headlights back by Christmas and have them to open up on Christmas morning!

But here's what I'm not sure on what I want to do

I know I will be doing the following for sure:

RGB color change halos

RGB color change DRLs (yes the LED DRLs will be able to change colors!)

FXR 3.0 projector retrofit (been waiting a while to do this)

And here's where I'm just not sure anymore, the turn signal.

My original plans were to have a clear/frosted piece in hand to send with the headlights that would replace the Amber plastic and I would put a switchback LED behind it. Now I am nearing my time to send the headlights off (it's still a few weeks away but time is ticking and no progress has been able to be made on the clear replacements), the headlights and tail lights will all be shipped out on December 13th (I am getting the tail lights dark smoke tinted to go with my black/white/chrome theme of my truck).

What do you guys think? Should I just completely remove the Amber piece and put a VLEDs V3 triton switchback?

Or should I smoke the Amber piece? (Don't have any pics, sorry!)

Or should I just leave the Amber as is?

Or should I try to hold out for the clear/frosted plastic replacements?

Here's a photoshop of something similar to this set up on my truck:

[nevermind, will have to post the pic after I finish this post, getting the good ole "upload failed_too large".]

Hope Echavez and JaronM3 don't mind me using pics of their trucks! Both sent their headlights to Phil and neither have had any issues.

Let me know what y'all think! After asking friends I have currently gotten 3 votes to leave the Amber alone, 2 vote to smoke it, and 3 votes to remove the amber and install switchbacks.

Here's the photoshopped "clear plastic cover" option!

Edited November 19, 2014 by Mike1220

Mike1220 · November 19, 2014

Here's some quickly done, rough representations of how it would look if I just got the amber smoked

It would probably actually be a bit darker than this now that I think about it.

Edited November 19, 2014 by Mike1220

MThompsonjr115 · November 19, 2014

I used to think that cleared headlights looked good years ago, but I'm not a huge fan of it anymore. The headlights lose character/dimension to me when the amber is removed. It's kind of the same thing when someone color matches every piece on their car/truck... It needs something to break up the monotone color, or add some sort of dimension back.

Obviously it's personal preference, but my vote is to keep the amber pieces.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

JimmyVal · November 19, 2014

My vote is to keep the amber. I like Mike feel the amber breaks up the look and adds contrast. I'm not a big fan of mono color.

Mike1220 · November 19, 2014

So both of yall say to just keep the Amber completely stock? Don't smoke it or anything?

MThompsonjr115 · November 19, 2014

So both of yall say to just keep the Amber completely stock? Don't smoke it or anything?

Correct! By painting over it its reflectivity is lost, then what's the point of it. I don't like to remove original intent of components.

I think the amber is also a menacing look at night. Yes, there would be amber bulbs, but the look is much different than the large piece of amber plastic lit up. Just my opinion.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Mike1220 · November 19, 2014

Correct! By painting over it its reflectivity is lost, then what's the point of it. I don't like to remove original intent of components.

I think the amber is also a menacing look at night. Yes, there would be amber bulbs, but the look is much different than the large piece of amber plastic lit up. Just my opinion.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks! I'm really starting to not think of removing it anymore. Having it in there does add some depth to the headlight and taking out makes it look a bit more like a show truck and I don't really want the show truck look, I want the tough truck kinda look.

I was thinking of smoking/tinting the amber because I'm getting the tail lights done. I figured it would look better overall if both were smoked/tinted. I would have the tail lights between a dark smoke and blacked out and I would do the turn signal dark smoke.

The smoke level is based off of what Fastheadlights have on their website as 'dark smoke' and 'blacked out'

MThompsonjr115 · November 20, 2014

Tinting them would help keep the theme. To ted tails with non tinted fronts might look odd.

I've never been one for tinting tail lights. I can't stand driving behind someone that has them during the day and you can't see their brake lights. I like the aesthetics, but the functionality is reduced. I'm all about function>form, especially when it comes to safety equipment.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Edited November 20, 2014 by MThompsonjr115

Mike1220 · November 20, 2014

Tinting them would help keep the theme. To ted tails with non tinted fronts might look odd.

I've never been one for tinting tail lights. I can't stand driving behind someone that has them during the day and you can't see their brake lights. I like the aesthetics, but the functionality is reduced. I'm all about function>form, especially when it comes to safety equipment.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yes BUT I'm not getting them blacked out or half ass tinted. They will be done professionally. This is a picture of another member's tail lights. He got them professionally tinted. I'm looking to send them to the same place or send them to fastheadlights

This picture was taken on a bright California day with the lights aimed toward the sun. I specially requested this picture to make sure that the lights would still be very easily visible. I don't want them so dark that they cannot be seen cause then if I get rear ended, they could blame my tail lights and I am now at fault.

Here's a shot with the sun on the side

Edit: I also plan to get them slightly lighter than this so they would be more visible.

Edited November 20, 2014 by Mike1220

MThompsonjr115 · November 20, 2014

Those don't look too bad, better than I thought.

Are those the same LED tail lights that you have? How do you like them? Any problems/defects/fit-finish issues?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Texas Husker · November 20, 2014

My vote would be either amber or light tinting. The definition is a good look over clear imho. As for the tails, if not to dark as posted would look good. As long as visibility is maintained for the reasons you gave.

Mike1220 · November 20, 2014

Those don't look too bad, better than I thought.

Are those the same LED tail lights that you have? How do you like them? Any problems/defects/fit-finish issues?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The tail lights are great! And yes they are the same ones I purchased. They are much brighter and easier to see than stock especially during the day when the sun is shining directly on them. I also think it adds some class to the truck. Like I really believe these trucks should've had LED tail lights from the factory. Especially at $50K

I definitely recommend getting the LED tails from Anzo. They look like stock until they get turned on. And then when they are turned on, they look better than stock

My vote would be either amber or light tinting. The definition is a good look over clear imho. As for the tails, if not to dark as posted would look good. As long as visibility is maintained for the reasons you gave.

Yes visibility will be remained. That is a very big necessity to me. I want the tinted lights but they need to be visible. Abunch of people near my home do some weird stuff to their tail lights. Makes it way too hard to see. I want the looks while maintaining the function. So I'm saying I'll go with dark smoked to blacked out. But chances are the tails and turn signals will get dark smoked (it's really not that dark tbh, check oh fastheadlights.com) and I will be changing the front turn signal to a bright as hell V3 triton LED from VLEDs. That way the turn signal will look very dark when the light is not on but will look around 3/4 as bright as stock when it is turned on.

Mike1220 · November 20, 2014

Oh and an update to the rim and tire set up! I may not be getting the black 22s. There might be a little plot twist to the lift and rim/tire combo I go with. I'm gonna keep things just a bit simpler for the first lift [emoji6] but this time I think I'll keep my current intentions a secret. I saw a new set up that'll save me some money and allow me to get my lift now with 35x12.5s. I will say I'm going to go with the R/Ts for my first set of tires though. So look out this Christmas!