My latest upgrade was finally putting in some items I'd had sitting around the house for a month or so - new style taillights and the chrome shift bezel. Thought I'd post about them since there have been a number of recent questions about them both.

I'll start off by thanking Dex - Charlotte's resident CL mechanic extraordinare for his help (or more accurately, he did it while I took pics).

As mentioned in a recent post - the new style taillights are a perfect fit on 98 - 00 GS's. If you get the lights new-in-box, they come with the pigtail connector that you basically just snap right into the socket where the old one came out. To change out both my taillights took about 40 minutes from start-to-finish, including some cleaning (while the lenses were out) finding tools and snapping pictures. Plug and play, all lights work.

I'm not going to do a complete DIY writeup here because Dex already has a great one on his website
click here for a link. Four screws and some plastic pop rivets, that's all.

It took a while for me to decide to do the upgrade... What actually pushed me over the edge were the nice pics of his GS Manaray posted a while back. IMO I like the new lights on dark GSs (especially black), but not as much on lighter colored cars.

I'm attaching a pic below of one taillight changed with the other stock for those folks who may want to compare styles on the same car.

 

The gaping hole. "Hey, somebody stole my taillight!"

 

After pic.

Edit - sorry for the messy garage, I'll get that all cleaned up next weekend .

 

And second item is the much-sought-after chrome bezel that I was very lucky to get (thanks lexus-parts.com !).

Dex and I did a comparison and there IS a slight difference in fittment clips. However, the chrome one does still pop on without modification. It isn't on quite as tight as the old one, but I don't forsee any issues.

 

Comparison of clips on the chrome vs black shift bezel.

 

The two smaller lights stay the same?
I was told by my lexus dealer that I had to change those as well, I guess it was an attempt to rip me off then...
Awesome pics, I for 1 appreciate stuff like that..
By the way did u get the lights from the famous "steve", if so how much shipped?

 

Good question - I didn't change mine out (they still work just fine), but I've never done a side-by-side to see if they're different too. I suspect if anything changes it may be the pattern on the interior of the light. Not a big bother for me, but the nextmeet (or when I go to the dealer sometime) I'll try to do a side-by-side with a 01+ GS to see if they are different.

Yes, got the lights from Steve at the same time I got my Supra TT brakes. Don't recall the exact price, but I think it was around $125 - 130 per light? Just give him a ring/email to be sure - don't quote me on that!

 

Dave, clean out your mailbox please. It's full.

 

dave,

not sure if you ever posted pics of your wheels (piaa rozza if I recall correctly), if it's not too much trouble, I would love to see them,

thanks,

 

My bad, just looked in the gallery, and found pics of your car, VERY nice

 

hey dave..

what's up..

i'm planing to put new tail lights this weekend too and i got my black pearl emblem kit.. going do it as soon as it dryies up a little bit

.. gotta put my hands on chrome shifter bezel..

 

Quote:

Yes, got the lights from Steve at the same time I got my Supra TT brakes. Don't recall the exact price, but I think it was around $125 - 130 per light? Just give him a ring/email to be sure - don't quote me on that!

Very nice! I'm also thinking about changing my tail lights.
I hope this will work on my Euro GS 300. Could sombody send me Steves email?
/Fredric

 

It's gonzo4u@earthlink.net, their website is www.l-tunedparts.com

 

Thanks Dave!
/Fredric

 

Lucky You!