With all this fuss going on about clear taillamps..

Let's examine...even with that little red sticker on the clear taillamps... seeing someone brake is half as visible as someone with regular red taillamps. Why risk the rear end of your precious maxima (or any car?!)?? You think that little old lady in her SUV has problems seeing you brake with regular red taillamps, you think it's going to make it that much more noticable with clears?

Let's use a typical example that will happen to 90% of us.

It's 5pm. You're heading home on a Friday, after a long week. You're heading east and the Sun is shining...shining right into your clear taillamps. Mr. Dullwitt behind you, in his Ford Exploder is too busy talking on the phone to drive cautiously. You have to make a sudden stop with Mr. Dullwit having the proper 2-one-thousand rule spacing doesn't realize that you have begun braking until a second has passed and finally comes to a complete stop 8 inches into your trunk. Now that you have a funked up car, you think about suing the idiot in the SUV...but, you won't win cause he'll mention your clear taillamps and will have your heinie. Why? All because you thought a pair of queer (clear for those with speech impediments) taillamps looked good on your street car. Is your safety and your beloved car worth stupid looking taillamps?

Clear taillamps... stupid and not that much better looking than stock.

 

would you necessarily have to put super white bulbs in the rear tailights? could you not leave the stock yellow and a red bulb in there and also have the clear tail lamp effect?
Just curious.

Anyway i want another type of rear tailight, I hate the carbon fiber look. I would really just like the body color match for my black car. Anyone know if it exists?
Is courtesy nissan STILL the cheapest place to get the SE ones at 93 each?

Roger

 

heheh i totally agree on how it would kill the function of the tail light. but i was just curious on how the tails would look if the reds were cleared out. heheh. i think it looks good but i know not to put them in because the red lights won't reflect all that well.

 

The look of clear tail lamps is subjective. While some may agree or disagree on whether they look good or not, one fact remains: a clear lamp is much less noticeable than a red lamp. People may argue that you should not depend on lights to help you slow down your car and that you have to pay more attention. But, when it comes down to split-second decisions when you are driving at high speeds, being able to react quickly counts the most. I agree with the argument SCCA gave. This is exactly the type of situation you may have to face with clear tails, regardless of whether they look good or not.

 

oh yeah to further prove your point. clear tails with red bulbs are almost invisible when there is heavy fog. and that's when u depend on the tails when u drive. in the fog.. but still i thot the clears looks cool. i wonder what it'd look like with chrome rims around the edges of the circles? or maybe a 3mm inch thick red reflective material around the clear edges.. heheh sorry for my odd ideas.. my major used to be transportation designs.

 

You see thats what i like to hear, chrome talk.
I want the chrome effect round the borders also. That would look so off the hook. Hell, i'd be happy if they sold the tailights to match the body color.
Carbon fiber look is not for me.

 

car you drive. I mean on a honda yeah of course but I ve seen it on a 4th gen max and it doesnt look pretty. Basically I think clear tails are for the hondas and the lexus' and some trucks as well. even mitsu's the eclipse. Now some clear tails actually do show a great visibility of red. Some I ve seen have shown the brightness of a regular rear red light and some times brighter than. But thats very rare that you find that though. I guess it might depend on the cars lights as well. I mean not all cars give off the same amount of watts through there lights. thus some either show better or look better than others. On some cars you wouldnt tell if the red light was brighter for braking or not. I t basically just depends on the car and then the taste of the person criticizing the car. my $.02 cents!

 

Transportation design is what Id like to get into what school did you or do you go to.To become a car designer is my ultimate dream. I would like to design them with compter graphics of course. hehe

 

art center. can't get ne better than them in that department. if u get in, i'll buy u a beer. but i culd teach u how to somewhat cheat their admissions. hehehe. i didint' go there. but wanted to. i moved to pasadena and stuff to get into their part time program and attend fulltime at some other JC> but i registered to late at the JC and coudlnt' get in all the classes i wanted. so i thot, why spend 1250 for a one bedroom apartment when i'm not even gonna go to school. so i moved back here in the bay. just keep in mind that the drop out rate is roughly 49% and the whole four year band of students in that department consist of around 120heads. average age. 25. so if you are under 20 and get in, and make it out. then we'll all be seeing the car you design rolling out on our streets.

 

or was that something you jst decided to pick , being that was what you wanted. I mean I used to draw alot but since high school and girls and band and track got in my way time was an issue, I never had any. So I went to a community college and took some 2d art classes and 3d art classes but t dealt with painting and not the actual design. Turns out that there was an individual drawing and design class I couldve taken. But if I could ever get into becoming a computer graphics deigner making cars off of the comp. That would be tight. Right now I m going to major in either computer programming or electronics engineeer and become a computer technician or sometihng and post pone my dream of actually beign a car designer till I get my self situated. But since I am 19 and you said 25 is the main age of students there then that gives me time hehe.

 

i've always been into designing as a child. and my cousine was the one that introduced me into the whole trans design thing (frosh year of highschool). we all loved cars and all so he said , since you're really good at drawing and take great fascination in cars and design, you should consider trans design. so since he lived in arcadia (15min from art center) he got me a brochure and stuff. i never took art in highschool, however i have taken a few art courses at the jC i'm currently enrolled in. i'm on my 6th quarter right now. but i've switched my major to psychology.

 

Well I understand wat SCAA is talkin bout, espcially fools tat change the color of their brake lights to like super white, which looks like they r backin up wen they r braking, now i think tat is just plain stupid. However i think changin blinker lights or clear corners arent as bad, cuz fixin ur car is a hobby, at least its my hobby, and every1 wants their car to stand out. It makes myself as the owner feel proud of my car and the work ive done on it.

 

I like the lights the way they are now (unless something really nice comes out).

I just wanted to show all of you how the clears would look on a Max.

 

i agree with the negative comment on the clears. I also see that alot of people get great enjoyment out of personalizing their cars - good for them. where you draw the line usually is some kind of function of age, taste, location, marital status, ethnicity, etc.
It's kind of like the picture i saw posted about the spoiler where some guy mounted a huge sheet metal thing to the trunk of his new max. He obviously thought it was way cool. I'd feel like such an idiot driving around with something like that on my car that it would remove nearly all the enjoyment.
It gets back to where one draws the line. Picture your mother driving around in a lowered honda with mosqito exhaust and tinted windows, or your father in a beater metro smothered with grateful dead,tool,surf shop & **** star stickers.

TO EACH HIS OWN

 

My friend's mom just bought a used Infinity J30, where the previous owner had installed what look like 20" 5-star chrome rims in it. He told me that she likes the wheels, but wishes they had more spokes!

As for the answer to the first post, I feel the same way that Y2KevSE does, and though I agree with SCCA, I would modify the statement to: I think clear taillamps are stupid for ME, not everyone.

Another factor here: cops probably pay more attention to modded cars... I'd prefer my car to be as non-descript as possible. The last time I rode in a visibly modded car, the a Highway Patrol followed us for 5 miles, changing lanes and even taking an offramp with us. It's mildly annoying to be scrutinized like that

 

Let me rephrase... the placement of clear taillamps on a road going vehicle is dangerous and inhibits me and others to drive in a normal way. Added clear taillamps adds more NEEDED spacing between you and the idiot in front of you with the clears. I'm not gonna say it looks bad, i find the clear taillamp effect that Kev made was very nice. BUT, the functionality of the whole taillamp is killed. Why not just shave the taillamps off?! It'd be cleaner and look much better...and it'd function as well as the clear taillamp effect.

sometimes, I find myself honestly thinking of rear-ended a car with clear taillamps to sue their heinies to better equip my own vehicle(s) after fixing the damage. Why? Cause someone's gonna get seriously injured or killed cause some idiot thinks his street vehicle looks good with clears.

I might add some clear taillamps to my trailer-queen CRX, because the crx is white and it would flow very well...but, I would never drive the car on the street due tot he sheer stupidity...placing myself, others, and my vehicle in a lot of unnecessary danger. It's not like people are driving any better, but, to remove or hinder the function of a very important safety device for the appearance factor is adolescent thinking.

At least twice a week I see an accident involving some idiot with clear taillamps... with another car imbedding in his rear bumper.

This isn't about side markers, front markers, etc. Change those all you want. That's a dumb law to try to control people's modding habits...but the taillamp is for good reason...