I just got a set of Silverstar's for my car.. It was so frikkin cold last night, after working outside for 2 mins, my hands were stinging/numb, so I finished the install as quick as possible. Turn on the lights, the right side is high, the left side low..WTF? The pattern was weird...Definately worse than stock..I thought about it all night, was ready to re-aim the lights today, I figured I'd double check to make sure that the bulbs were in place correct, turned out the D/Side was not in properly, so I fixed that....My hands were so cold and numb, I didn't have the strength to position the harness and the bulb into the housing at the same time..Only thing is, I didn't have the chance to drive to see how the overall pattern is.. I know you all want to see pictures, so here they are!



I only changed the headlights so far (9006), which brings me to my next question:
I remember glancing at my owners manual about the high beams, I believe it said 9005. The foglights showed to be H3's. I go onto Sylvania's website, and they say that the foglight bulbs for the GS are 9006..
On doing a search, I came up to an old post: https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...s&pagenumber=1 by brendanlim. All it did was confuse me some more...

I was planning on changing the fogs to yellows without changing the whole foglight, I guess that's not possible? There are no yellow H3/9005/9006 bulbs out there? (see? more confusion)

Next up, With all this wonderful weather, washing cars are a real b!tch..I had these 2 "stains" on my hood, which looked like dry roadsalt. It was a round blot, and a line dripping, and running its way off the hood. I told myself that I'd pay extra attention when washing my car about that. 2 weeks go by since I can wash my car because the weather's been either too cold, or it's been snowing or raining(or both). As cold as 30 degrees was today(with wind chills in the teens), I was determined to wash my car. I did. The stains did not come out! I'm very knowledgable about cleaning cars, and know very well how to detail/buff/wax the car with a machine and not have to worry about burning the paint or abusing the paint.. I whipped out the good 'ol porter cable, added some Meguairs paint cleaner, didn't do a thing, Meguiars Clear Coat Scrub, didn't do a thing, 3M rubbing compound, didn't do a thing, 3M Polishing compound, didn't do a thing. I then figured I'd get crazy and try some other stuff: Denatured Alcohol Solvent, didn't do a thing, Bug/tar remover, nothing, Goo Gone, nope, Then My last resort, "Langka". I didn't think it would do anything, but if it was able to take a 2 year old pinstripe off my last car, it might have helped, guess not!
I took this pic just now, it was nighttime, so the pic isn't all too good, and I couldn't get the entire stain, I just got a shot of the drip..


I'm going Bananas! I have no idea what it is, or how to take it off! I buffed the hood again before I gave up to protect the finish until I attack the stain next time.. Anybody have any suggestions? Sorry for the long post, just venting..
Ed
P.S. I also put on the Silicone wiper blades too..Good stuff! www.silblade.com

 

hey man, don't panic yet, let's do it one step at a time.

first your light. so it's level now right? that's good. the low beam is 9006, the high beam is 9005, and the fog is actaully 9006 too. for yellow fog, you can get the piaa ion yellow 9006 bulbs if you want about 100 bucks. but personally i got the yellow fogs housing for gs instead, that's pure yellow. the piaa bulb, it's yellow from side, but from straight on it's bright

for the hood, umm.... have you tried some vinegar, it might just help

if so, try this. can you feel the stuff with your fingernail? is it above the clear or below the clear? if it's above, good. if it's below, harder....

if it's above, take this risk. get some 2000 grit sand paper, and wet sand the area, perpendicular to the thingy. try small area first, and see how it comes off. then use the 3m stuff you have there (rubbing compound followed by polish stuff) to get back the shine

if it's below, that's weird, i would try to find out why first. any case, you can try to put in the touchup paint, and then use langka, follow by the 3m stuff. i have actually just repaird two quite HUGE chip on my hood and it turned out pretty good

 

let us know how it goes, i have some insight on auto detailing too, i will try my best to help

man you put lighting stuff and maintenance stuff in the same thread, i don't know where to move this thread to, hahah

 

Instead spending $100.00 for yellow bulbs, you can get new stock fog lights with the yellow lens inserts inside for the same money from Ed (DevilDog)!
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...threadid=67265

Good Luck

 

The mark is above the clear. You can feel it if you rub your finger over it. It was much worse, but I got some of it out. I'll try to get a better picture to show you. I didn't try vinegar, I guess I'll have to try that tonight! I'll let you know..
Ed

 

I used to do a lot of work for a large hotel with an underground parking lot, and I got many calls to fix/ solve their customers cars that had suffered from cement/silica water that ran off the garage's ceiling. It was HIGHLY alkaline and sometimes etched the paint in a matter of hours. But it left marks, spots and trails much like in the picture of your car. Roadsalt chemical components would be even more corrosive in nature.

The vinegar was a good suggestion. You might also try CLR, just don't leave it on for more than 3-4 minutes. If either are going to work they'll work within that time, and you'll see it start to melt away . The bad news is, when you get it off may see the "etch" marks on the periphery of the spot / trail. For that you may have to wet sand, if a compound dosen't work first. Followed by a milder polish to remove the compounding haze.

On some of the cars, the CLR and some polish were all that were needed, on others, I had to break out the wet sandpaper. On at least one car that had sat for a week, the etch was too deep for me to repair, and the hotel had to pay for a hood repaint on this guest's car. Most all the others were fixable if I got to them soon enough.

I'm not saying it's definitely that, but from the photo it sure looks like what I used to encounter on those cars. I could imagine a scenario where you're in traffic under an overpass and the chemical mix of water, salt and cement silica runs off onto the car, during a thaw or with rain present, and causes this. Good luck.

 

if wet sand is the last resort, maybe it's worth a try before going to get it repaint too. i was very scared before i first did wet sanding on my car, but after working for more than a few times, i feel quite comfortable now. just need to know how to do it right

 

It looks like some penetrating type of liquid spilled on your hood...........octane bost, brake fluid, tranny fluid, etc. These type of chemicals/liquids eat their way right through the clear coat and absorb into the paint. Nop amount of buffing or cleaning will get it out........not even wet sanding.I had a similar problem with a white VR4 years ago. I wound up having to get the rear 1/4 panel repainted.

 

Well, I noticed the stain after I parked the car in an indoor parking garage in NYC, but again, the car had road salt all over, so I didn't think anything of it. Somebody mentioned to me that it might be asbestos from a dripping pipe, or the silica that guitarman mentioned. I spoke with the guy who details the car here at our store, and he told me to bring it in, he will wet sand it. That was my last resort, and probably will be until I give up with all my other methods..
Ed