Should I de-amber headlights on my 1998 986 ?
 

I recently purchased a 1998 986 (Midnight Blue with 52k miles) and have already de-ambered the tail lights and side running lights (including stealth bulbs).

Although I had intended on de-ambering the headlights too, I'm beginning to think it may actuallyt "balance" the front with the rear red tail lights.

Any thoughts or personal experiences would be appreciated.

cant de-amber the front lights unless you have litronics or you use a spray tint

Yes, I know.

I de-ambered my headlights using dark gray tint. $6 for tint on ebay.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7034/6...dec16df8_z.jpg

IMO the answer is simple; Is it worth $1000 or more to you for the "De-Ambered Look"? For me the answer was no, to others it was worth it. Good luck.....:cheers:

ProjectM96 - can you post a pic of your tinted lights? Would be great to see how they look.

+1, no way is it worth $1000.00 my first Box a 99 had clear lights, my current car that I have had since Oct, of this year does not have clear lights,I will try to tint them and see how they look. When I do I will post them on here.:)http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1324493986.jpg
http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1324494330.jpg

??? I did post the picture two posts before your post.

Here is another picture: FYI, my car is not that clean or nice in real life. The picture makes it look clean and spotless and hides the scratches and chips in bumper.
http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3101/5...d01459e9c9.jpg

I think the tint looks great on black cars.:cheers:

Ambers look fabulous on 996s and 986s. Don't deamber.

http://www.mynrma.com.au/images/moto...rrera-1998.jpg
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-z...yPk/s800/2.jpg

ProjectM96 - Sorry, my bad. I'm using my work computer at the moment and sometimes certain photo hosting sites get blocked. I checked using my other computer and all is well! Thanks. :cheers:

you can deamber the corner triangles $40 (Porsche part), do the amber-ectomy with the soldering gun and needle nose pliers to remove the orange in jbs986's silver Porsche, install clear side markers (also Porsche part) and maybe experiment with a light grey vinyl wrap over the remaining pumpkins.

I just finished de amber ing my 2000 s, arctic silver. I had it like yours (just side and rear lights), for a week while I waited for the headlights to come in. I just put in the headlights today, and I can say it really put the finishing touches on the job. I'm going to post a thread with details and pics after dinner.

I think de-ambering updates the car, but everyone has different opinions. I first bought the clear halogens to replace the original amber/egg style on my 2002, then went to Litronics this Spring which I fully de-ambered. It can get expensive, but if you sell your old lights you get some of the money back.

I don't mean to threadjack, but if anyone is looking for a very nice set of clear halogen headlights, I have a set for sale that are in excellent condition (they were only used for 2 short Minnesota summers). I've been planning to list them on eBay, but I'd sell them for $650 plus shipping on this forum. They will be shipped in the OEM boxes that they came in when I bought them.
I chose to buy this set new because I did not want to buy a set that looked 'sandblasted' or that were yellowing like many used lights out there. I have not seen many clear halogen sets on eBay (mostly used Litronics or the old orange/egg style, and Litronics prices have gone up for a nice set). I am sure someone could buy a cheaper set, but they won't look as good as these.
These lights will fit any Boxster from 1997 to 2004.http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1324517680.jpg

I beg to differ... See photo of my recent purchase of Bosch lights.

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1324604209.jpg

De-Amber
 

Another angle.http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1324605813.jpg

These bosch lights still cost $400+ per head light though.

True but I was replacing mine anyway... Over 200,000 miles on my old headlights, they were getting ugly.

I am not am ambler fan. I have replaced my rear taillights with '03s and took the amber out of my headlights to. It is all a taste thing.....


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...r/P1120375.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...r/P1120374.jpg

hey guys,

as a new owner i'm still feeling my way around the boxster world. i had thought that the only way to get rid of the "fried egg" look was to buy the litronics. like coreseller, i could not justify 1500.00-2500.00 just to de-amber the front end. however, i am interested to see the 03-04 bosch units for around 800.00. still a ridiculous price, but it's just part of the cost of entry to the porsche world. how much are fried egg lights worth used? i could be persuaded to go the bosch route if there is any market for used fried eggs.

brad

I think it depends on the color of the car.

Silver cars look fantastic de-ambered

Red and black cars look really nice with the amber

plus I think de-ambering the lights shows you're a "modder" and if you ever decide to sell the car I think that might detract from the ability to sell it.

The clear halogen Bosch units are what I bought brand new and used for 2 summers. I eventually did buy Litronics and fully deambered them, then sold my original ambers for $300. If you are interested in my Bosch clear halogens (which can be fully deambered), let me know. Price is earlier in this thread. They are in excellent condition and will come in to original boxes.

right now my thoughts are to add the bosch lights and then later add the pedros garage xenon conversion. seems like a less expensive proposition than the factory litronics with similar results.

I wouldn't. I like the amber.
http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/j...n/DSCF5329.jpg

imho, if you are going to deamber, do it the litronics way, or the bosch. i don't think the tinting/diy looks that good.

I have to agree, the amber looks great on the green car. On my black car however, I prefer the clear. I bought new Bosch, got them for about $900 including shipping.

I also completely agree that trying to mask the amber with dark tint just makes it look worse.

Sorry to get into this thread so late but again, what is the procedure for de-ambering my current headlights?

Buy Litronics headlights from a reputable source. That's the easy way. There's also the deambering that I believe Madmods did in the show and tell forum which is best mod I have ever seen for the Boxster cosmetically speaking, but not for the feint of heart as it involves some risky steps.

There is also the amber-ectomy of the Litronics so that you have no orange anywhere inside the light as well as outside. You basically take a soldering gun and a pair of needle nose pliers and break apart the little orange reflector inside and pull out the pieces. Its a very clean look.

I think amber looks so bad but it does make the car look dated. Even in the rear, I switched the clear tail lights for LED tailights and it looks much up to date.

I bought a set of Litronics with the harness and computer on eBay for $750. I did an amberectomy and sanded/polished the headlights. It was a bit of work, but well worth it. Not just for the looks, but the better visibility at night too.

Shop around and you can find a good deal on eBay. Just don' be in a hurry to buy and you'll find what you want at a reasonable price.

The headlights on my 2002S do not have amber. Does that mean a prior owner changed them? (they are xenon, with regular fog bulbs)

Yep. Lucky you - those are pricey.

I bought the Bosch units to replace the fried eggs. When the lights arrived the internal parts weren't attached to the housings, which I found out when I took them in to be aimed. Fortunately there are some really good people working at our local dealership. Big Mike spent over an hour with extended reach tools and fixed them - he looked like he was building a ship in a bottle, and I imagine it was about that hard. They only charged me $100 including the aiming. Considering that they were aftermarket lights bought somewhere else, I was very grateful that they didn't just tell me to take a hike!

buying used Litronics can be good luck. But then it can be a problem if one of the goes out and you don't have a warranty. Then your savings just went to zero.
I had to replace one recently after someone backed into it, and the dealer price was $1,000.