looking at my tailights it doesn't look smoked. can any 2004 IS owners show me pictures of their tailights? i've seen IS with darker lights than mine, now i'm thinking they might have painted it or it could just be my imagination.

 

Yes, they are smoked. It's hard to tell unless you have a regular and smoked side by side. But I see tons of cars everyday and I can tell instantly. They come that way from the factory. By the way, nice car. Is that a Longo plate frame I see...........

 

The smoked tails are more evident on lighter colors like MSM and CW. The 02-03 tails on the darker colored cars are actually darker than the 04 smoked tails. I believe the smoked tails and headlights we have on our 04's are carried over from 03 Sport Design models.

It may sound stupid but I actually chose MSM over GGP on a factor of the smoked tails/headlights and fogs were more evident...especially side by side.

Rear night shot with new Carson Tuned exhaust install.


Frontal shot @ Treasure Island - NorCal End of Summer Meet v.2 Trip.

 

Flipside......you showoff.









hahahahaha. j/k

 

LOL Don't hate! Shameless plug here!

 

i've seen a graphite grey IS and the lenses looked a lot darker than mine and i also saw a silver IS parked near my house and its also darker. is it the year and model cause i like the darker lense better.

longo was the only one with a black on black manual available while everyone else had it on "A" status.

 

i guess i'm not going nuts. after seeing the graphite with the darker lense and i guess it was an 02 or 03, is there a way to buy that lense.

 

Yes, you can buy the 02-03 dark lenses from Carson Toyota. Or if you want them really dark, you can go with the JDM Altezza Black tails....much darker than the OEM 02-03 Dark Smoke version.

 

Oh yeah, the JDM Black tails are pricey...way more pricey than the 02-03 black chrome/smoke tails. Call up carson toyota and they will give you a price quote. Ask for Steve or Bobby in parts.

www.carsontoyota.com or www.l-tunedparts.com

Carson is a forum sponsor for CL and .net.

-Ryan

 

how much are the 02-03 smoke lense?

 

What is the difference then?

 

Call them for a quote. I don't know how much they are off hand for the set. But they are much less than the JDM black housings.

 

hmmm i'm gonna have to compare mine with yours at a .net meet nexttime. As for some of the other threads on differences for the various years...i know many of the differences spanning from 01 and up interior and exterior wise...even down to the not so obvious detail like windshield misters instead of stream squirters for the fluid for 04.

 

alrighty. sounds good. i only know of 1 or 2 (non-SD) ppl who have gone to the length of buying SD lights, such as bad to the bone (neil rozz). the SD headlamps run approx $2k in the .NET store itself... the taillamps only run about $400...i don't remember if neil got both the front and rear lamps changed or just the rear...my bad!

in regards to your edit, since the lamp housings are such a big deal to ppl, it's noted in those threads...

 

Neil's car is clean. But 2k for headlights is insane!