Thought this cheap DIY mod looked great on my old '04 BSP xB, so we decided to give it a shot on the '06 RS3. Went smoothly and I think the results look 100x better than the stock.

Replaced the stock headlight & turnsignal bulbs with Sylvania Silverstars. I was pleasantly suprised that the turnsignal bulbs are now only $10 (they use to be about $20-30 a few years ago).

Next step is to do something about the grille.....

Before:



After about 2-hrs of work:

 

did you paint the inside black?

 

SERIOUSLY it lOOks Great, like there is a black housing...Sweet. I wanted to do the whole inside a super gloss black, dont know what that would do to the light output, or legality of the heads. Great job **** out of*****

 

NOw trow some i-lids and you got one mean lookin xb

 

That looks great .

Bat™

 

Very nice. Looks great!

 

got a write up?

 

sweet looking lights. did you do the cracked reflector method ? i'm wanting to clear the corners too but not sure of the best, effective method.

 

I did a pseudo write-up in this thread:
https://www.scionlife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=125155

We pulled it apart using the oven method then masked off the majority of the chrome lense and basically just painted the front most edge flat black. The light pattern and intensity is the same as it was before since we really didn't paint any of the portions that are critical to light reflection. The amber reflector portion was removed when we separated the lense. The only thing not up to DOT spec are the removed reflectors.

 

came out out good man.
look good on the RS3 as well.

still debating if i want
to smoke the headlights.

 

can some one end my constant pondering of wether or not to clear my head lights...is it legal in texas or not? anyoneknow, also it looks like you painted the refector.

 

Here you go, metal:
Texas Administrative Code

Note that section 21.1(d) of the code says
and here is what the feds say:





Notice THERE that the amber retro-reflectors are required by federal law. In Texas, that also means it is required by state law.

"Google is your friend."

Tom

 

Knock on wood....but I have yet to get pulled over for a reflector infraction. Generally a police officer won't pull you over specifically for not having the amber reflectors. Fix-it tickets are generally the "added bonus" citations added to whatever they pulled you over for in the first place.

metal112524...definately didn't paint the reflector. The portions painted black are on the outer edge of the light which do little to nothing for the light output on the headlights. Light output is just as good as stock and even better with the Silverstar bulbs.

 

Looks great and is clean nice work....

 

Yup. Most folks will never get stopped specificly for reflectors, but any changes that make a vehicle's systems no longer follow the law are just bonus 'gotchas' for the officer that stops you for whatever reason. :D

 

hmmm i'm probably missing something totally, but does that document really say headlight turn signal amber reflectors are required ? i was observing traffic on the drive to work the other day and wanted to check the validity of the document with my ultra-super validation technique, so i looked at passing cars' headlamps. i actually saw that most do have some little amber reflector on the side of the housing, but some stock oem cars do not. i think some of the german luxury cars (merc in particular) do not have an amber reflector built into the headlight. may be wrong though.

sorry for going off topic.

 

You're correct they do not have them in the head lights. But they do have reflectors close to the front on the sides of the car. I've noticed this as well on the mercs.

 

Step into a parking lot at night with a flashlight - you will find that all newer cars have amber reflectors near the front on the side, red reflectors near the rear on the side, and red reflectors on the rear as required by federal and state laws.

If the design of the front and rear light assemblies make including the reflectors in them easy, they generally are. If the design of the light assemblies are designed in such a way that there is insufficient room for a reflector inside, the reflector is separate.

On the bB/xB the 'bulge' in the headlight assembly is there on the US model to make room for the reflector, and not there on the JDM model because the requirement does not exist in Japan. At the rear, the xB tail light assemblies aren't designed in such a way as to allow for an adequate size side reflector, so it is separate, on the side of the car (the JDM bB doesn't have 'em).

On the xA, the front light assembly can't contain the side reflector and the rear can, so one is included in the rear, but separate in the front.

In any case ALL cars sold in the US for over a decade have side reflectors, amber in front, red in the rear, and all cars sold in the US since long before that have the required red reflectors on the rear. Why? They are required by federal and state laws.

In my state the law spells it out in detail, in Texas they just refer to the federal standard. (If you want to see what it says in my state's law, I can show you that, too.)

Just remember, if you 'modify' your vehicle not to comply with these laws and are involved in an accident where having them might have helped visibility for the other driver, a smart lawyer will hang you. Other than that, if you are lucky enough to get stopped by a cop who knows they are required and sees you don't have 'em, it's a freebie 'gotcha' for him.

Enjoy!

Tom

 

mmm, good to know Tomas. Thanks for clearing that up.

now just don't get caught.

 

So then just tape the removed reflectors onto the front somewhere.