Good quality head lamps
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From: Rain Island, NY
Good quality head lamps Where can I get them? I dont want to spend $500 on factory OEM ones, but want the stock look. I bought aftermarket ones a while back but they fit like **** and the rubber came off.
Joined: Nov 2001
Posts: 34,647
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From: Schiller Park, ILL Member: #317
Several years prior to this, I had ordered new OEM headlights through the dealer and received modules that were identicle to the originals and still made in USA. I'm not sure when GM made the switch, but they are charging a fortune for junk aftermarket headlights that you can buy online for a fraction of the price.
If you want originals at this point, you'll need to find nice used ones or just restore your originals.
It would be way cool if somebody was able to (say)
water-jet-cut some glass to fit the shell. I wonder
if a local glass shop would be able to wet-saw to an
outline (water jet CNC being rare and expensive, no
doubt).
You'd maybe look a little odd with flat face headlights,
maybe, but at least they'd never yellow out.
Once way back when, I made a frame and had a glass
place slump some plate into it in a kiln (replacing a
china cabinet door that got busted). Do that and then
cut to match the shell, and you'd have a forever kind
of fix.
I also think of just fabbing brackets to co back to
LT1 style individual replaceable lamps. That might be
a bit homely but maybe a matching bezel (6LE?) could
make it look kinda not-ghetto.
water-jet-cut some glass to fit the shell. I wonder
if a local glass shop would be able to wet-saw to an
outline (water jet CNC being rare and expensive, no
doubt).
You'd maybe look a little odd with flat face headlights,
maybe, but at least they'd never yellow out.
Once way back when, I made a frame and had a glass
place slump some plate into it in a kiln (replacing a
china cabinet door that got busted). Do that and then
cut to match the shell, and you'd have a forever kind
of fix.
I also think of just fabbing brackets to co back to
LT1 style individual replaceable lamps. That might be
a bit homely but maybe a matching bezel (6LE?) could
make it look kinda not-ghetto.
Joined: Nov 2001
Posts: 34,647
Likes: 2,574
From: Schiller Park, ILL Member: #317
Yellowing lenses seems to be a huge problem with all modern headlights that are consistantly exposed to UV rays. Only ones that seem to hold up to daily use for many years are those that are shrouded from the worst of UV exposure by hood/fender/grill design overhangs.
In the earlier days of headlight modules, the lenses were in fact made of glass, similar to the old sealed beam replaceable headlights. I've owned a few late '80s and early '90s cars like that. I guess the OEMs moved away from glass due to weight and impact breakage, but none of mine ever broke. I'd rather take my chances with (possibile) breakage over (definite eventual) yellowing.
In the earlier days of headlight modules, the lenses were in fact made of glass, similar to the old sealed beam replaceable headlights. I've owned a few late '80s and early '90s cars like that. I guess the OEMs moved away from glass due to weight and impact breakage, but none of mine ever broke. I'd rather take my chances with (possibile) breakage over (definite eventual) yellowing.
TECH Fanatic
Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 1,313
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From: Maryland
I had these $200 OEM China headlights on mines I got off of Amazon, I believe they were made by a company called TYC, you should look into them, they fit really good. The rubber was a little thicker than stock but other than that they fit exactly like my old ones. You honestly couldn't really tell that they weren't OEM.
Registered User
Joined: Jul 2013
Posts: 5
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I would just buy a 3rd party one. I think the oem ones look alright, but I always prefer something different. There are a lot of amazon and ebay. Make sure you read the reviews and that is is compatible with your model.
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If you can find a decent pair from a salvage yard that aren't yellow, you can polish them. I used a 3M kit to polish my rear lenses after getting scraped all to hell by a teenager with a learner's permit and they look better than new.
Joined: Nov 2001
Posts: 34,647
Likes: 2,574
From: Schiller Park, ILL Member: #317
Seems that the only 4th gens that are free from any sort of headlight issue are the sealed beam fixed headlights of the '93-'97 Camaro. If I have to wet sand my originals again, which is looks like I might, then I'll probably spray them with some clear coat this time.