I've had a few threads early on with new headlights questions. I've been bitten by the modification bug. To start, I bought XML2 fogs and they are noticeably different than the headlights (obviously). I hate the amber lights, I realize I need to keep those for the blinker but I have done a little research, so forgive me if this is long but if I'm spending this kind of money I want to be sure.

My top 3 headlight preferences are the dual iron-man, dual halos, and panamera with an LED flash back. I've been quoted for the panamera and dual halos at one place for $780 and $750, respectively. Paint would be $190 tacked onto both of those.
First question is, are these fair prices?
Second, is painting going to make THAT much ($190) of a difference?

Finally, I contacted 180 customs and they quoted dual halos at $500 and iron man at about $800. I am in Boston and they are in NYC, so the drive factors into the decision. I love the way the iron man looks and matches my tail lights. Probably my first choice, but that drive/price combo is a deal breaker. Haven't been able to find anyone local (New England area) who does the iron man modification...so if you know anyone, let me know please.

If anyone has these modifications, I would love to know the life, performance, brightness, etc. Also if anyone could give me a ballpark/reference as to these prices and their fairness that would be extremely helpful!

 

Those quotes seem about right. Paying shops to do quality work can be costly. I had ONEighty do mine. It was very pricey, but it was professional flawless work, so it was worth it to me. The Halo's are very bright too.

Also, if you are going to open and modify your headlights, I'd say that swapping out the OEM projector lens for an STI-R clear lens is the best bang for your buck headlight mod you can do. The difference is AMAZING.

And yes, absolutely! Getting rid of the chrome on the inside of your headlights will completely change the look of the car. Unless you like the chrome.

Personally, I'd prioritize painting them and swapping out the projector lenses over Halo rings or LED's or anything else. But that's just my opinion.

 

Vled triton switchbacks for turns. XB35 5500K D2S for high/low. Phillips 194 led for parking for a nice uniform white look up front. For fogs I'm running a bulb with 4 Cree XHP50 diodes that puts out an insane amount of width in the stock housings. Color on fogs is a tab bluer than everything else but it's very very close to matching.

 

In my honest opinion, hell no $800 + $190 for painted headlights is NOT a fair price.. However I am biased because I got my headlights done for less than half that price. That also included a layer of Lamin-X over the headlights to protect them from UV rays which stops the headlights from hazing, oxidizing and eventually turning dull and yellow..

Sorry but I can not provide a source for the work.

I will say that having the headlights painted "will" make a huge difference depending on what you are trying to accomplish..

I got my headlights painted as well as my front grill painted. They both have a same theme going on. Both of those two pieces mesh together perfectly imo.

No fancy LED halos or iron man or panamera (wtf is that anyways?) here...

Headlights were painted, amber reflector removed, swapped out stock projector lens for STi-R clear lenses.

I'm running Osram CBI D2S headlight bulbs $175
v3 Triton 5k switchback turn signals $150
VLEDs 5k parking/city/side marker lights $25
VLEDs 5k VX3 (discontinued) fog lights $100

 

looking good!

 

I couldn't justify spending more than a pair of new headlights to modify my existing headlights.

For what its worth, my $20 painted headlights:







My biggest regret was doing this in a rush (I only had a couple days before I needed the car functioning again) and not installing halo's or the sti-r lens while I was in there.

 

If you're going to be driving down to NYC from Boston, you might as well go to New Jersey and have LightWerkz do your headlights. Much more reasonable headlights and they're one of the best retrofit shops in the US. VERY reasonable pricing compared to others and they are amazing at what they do. I highly recommend you go with quad 90mm Diode Dynamics HD halos.

They will be doing my headlights on March 8th.
Quad Diode 90mm Dynamics HD Switchback halos
Matte black housing, gloss black shrouds
STI-R Clear Lens
Osram CBI 5500k HID bulbs
Philips X-Treme Ultinon T20 LED turn signal

 

^ dang, me like

 

Swore off doing anything to headlights with this car since I did them on my Mazda. All that work and precision ruined by one deer less than 2 weeks later...

But these look pretty awesome and are swaying me. Perhaps in the future but for now...must...resist...

 

get the halos, paint, sandpaper, butyl and do it yourself, be ready for a weekend of work

 

this is why i came to this site for my question, i appreciate all the help. I understand mods are unique to each person, but the feedback and suggestions are extremely helpful. I think "qmantran" said it perfectly that it depends what I am trying to do. I want the aesthetics and the performance of this particular modification.

"ZahyMatar" than you for the video, that actually looks really good and I'm kinda leaning towards re-creating that (if I have your permission hahaha). Would I be able to purchase those items and just go to a shop and say "here you go please help?" cause when it comes to assembly I have NO idea what I'm doing haha.

 

Those aren't my headlights, they're owned by VIVID on these forums.
He has a 110mm Halo behind the panamera shroud, and 90mm halos on the front and turn signals.

The parts you'd need are any 90mm halos(Diode Dynamics or Morimoto), STI-R 3" clear lens, LED turn signal bulb (VLED, Philips or Diode Dynamics), and whatever HID you choose to go with (Osram, Philips or Morimoto D2S bulbs).

You can buy these parts on Amazon (careful with the bulbs, there's a lot fakes), LightWerkz.net and TheRetrofitSource.com.

 

I would need the panamera shrouds installed too? and I've looked into the retrofit store. They have a few places in Mass that I think would install so that could be great!

 

The Panamera shroud is optional, it looks awesome, but I wouldn't do it. If you just want quad halos, stock shroud is fine.

 

I don't know how mechanically inclined you are but I'd say do it yourself. I tried a while ago and have done a few Headlights since opening up mine when I was upgrading to the 2010+ front end. I opened them up twice already and tinkered around (painted the bezel black, gray metallic for the shrouds and added the iron man leds and "demon" eyes. I'm probably gonna open them up again when I see or think of something new. My total cost was under 50$. It's a bit of work but very doable and for that amount of money you were quoted, you could find a used pair of Headlights and work on them. Then if you like them, sell your stock ones and you may even break even. But like it's been said before, it's a bit of a pain and it's labor intensive but once you do it the first time, it gets easier to take the lights apart. I find it more rewarding when you do it yourself and the knowledge you gain is always a good thing. Either way, gl. Modded headlights are great!