Should I de-amber headlights on my 1998 986 ?

[sgt brad]

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

[MN 986]

Originally Posted by sgt brad

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

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.

[sgt brad]

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.

[DenverSteve]

I wouldn't. I like the amber.

[John Bergen]

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

[Perfectlap]

Originally Posted by John Bergen

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.

[AKnowles]

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.

[ganseg]

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

[Hayden]

Yep. Lucky you - those are pricey.

[Perfectlap]

Originally Posted by Hayden

Yep. Lucky you - those are pricey.

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.

[Mark_T]

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!