Joey's Cooper Thread; Suspension Thoughts

[Joey D]

Update!

So the bulbs are faulty. The driver side bulb flickers constantly and it's throwing my bulb out warning on. I have reinstalled the bulbs, made sure they fit properly, put tape around them, cleaned the contacts, among other things. I figured the vibrations from the car was cause the bulb to come loose. Well that isn't the case. I put my car in the garage, turned on the lights and let the car sit there with the engine off. After about 30 seconds the bulb started to flicker pretty bad.

I've contacted Hoen to see if they can either send me a new bulb or allow me to return these. So far my impression of the company isn't exactly fond. I spent $40 on bulbs that don't work correctly.

 

[Keef]

That sucks. They've got all sorts of stuff about quality and whatnot on their site too.

Looking at it though, how does it even connect?

I assume the two metal strips on the bottom are the contacts because they're in the same place as on the bulb. Do they have a springy effect like the bulb's contacts to keep the LED tight?

 

[Joey D]

They don't look like that, even though that's the picture on the site and that's what I ordered. I'm sort of pissed because I wanted non forward firing LED's and that's what I got. There are contacts on the bottom though, they claim it's silver but it isn't. And no there is no springiness to the contacts which is lame for a car since all cars have vibrations.

For $40 I am not amused. Hopefully their customer service e-mails me back soon.

 

[Eric.]

Might wanna give www.superbrightleds.com a try, Joey. I hear a lot of people use them.


And sort of related to this, I just ordered three plug and play LED lights to put in my dome lights. They're pure white and the factory incandescents are hardly white. $3.50 or so each on eBay. And now that I've looked at pictures of cars with red LEDs in the dome lighting, I think I will be ordering a set of those somewhere too, to see what I think.

 

[Joey D]

m4d tyt3 JDM y0!

Ok so not really, just yellow fog light bulbs. After going through the winter again with HID's and white fog lights I finally decided to order a pair of yellow one so I can see what I'm actually doing in inclimate weather. I got Halo Solaris Yellow H8 bulbs off of Amazon for $20, which isn't too bad. I thought about PIAA's but their life is pretty short and they are $80. If $20 crap out I'll be slightly more ok with it.

Before:

After:

I'm pretty happy with the colour of them, they aren't highlighter yellow but rather goldish yellow which is what I wanted.

I'll do night shots when it actually becomes night out.

Oh and I'll have my JCW side scuttles next week hopefully and my European plate should be shortly too.

 

[Keef]

After:

I'm pretty happy with the colour of them, they aren't highlighter yellow but rather goldish yellow which is what I wanted.

I'll do night shots when it actually becomes night out.

Looks good. I'm curious what produces better visibility, either yellow bulbs or stock bulbs with yellow laminate. I look forward to the night shots of these.

 

[Joey D]

That's a good question. I would think a proper laminate would produce better visibility since that is what most manufactures do if they want yellow fogs in a car. Look at the Lexus vehicles from a couple years back, they rocked yellow lens.

Here's what tinted bulbs vs. capsules actually do:

If you want to see more pictures and stuff go here:
http://forums.maxima.org/5th-genera...us-capsule-official-comparison-head-head.html

There is a language and idiocy warning on that though.

 

[Jim Prower]

I rock 'em. Cheapie Cibie knockoffs, but I rock 'em.

 

[Perfect Balance]

Do they have a springy effect like the bulb's contacts to keep the LED tight?

There's no "springy" effect with either of the bulbs.

 

[Eric.]

I've had thoughts of getting a yellow film for my fog lights. The only thing is that the site has a warning not to leave them on much if you're going to be stopped because it can get too hot and melt on there.

 

[Joey D]

I've had thoughts of getting a yellow film for my fog lights. The only thing is that the site has a warning not to leave them on much if you're going to be stopped because it can get too hot and melt on there.

That happened to a couple guys on the North American Motoring forums with their MINI's, they had to pick bits of film off their fog lights with tweezers and a knife.

 

[Joey D]

So I got some night shots, I'm not really sure how to take these to give off an accurate representation of the light output unfortunately. This gives you an idea though. And yes my driver side head lamp needs to be adjusted.

 

[niky]

The best comparison shot is one through the windshield pointing down a straight road.

A bulb that shows off brightly near the car or from the front might not always properly illuminate objects down the road.

 

[Joey D]

I got my JCW side scuttles from Prestige MINI of Mahwah, NJ today. They gave me a great deal on them and provided free shipping. This guys are an awesome dealership for the record. I think they dressed the car up nicely and got rid of the awful big ugly plastic ones that looked like they were off some Tyco R/C car.

The scuttles:

Before:

After:

 

[Keef]

Scuttle?

I like that the chrome matches the band under the windows. It's all in the details.

 

[Joey D]

Beats me, they call them side scuttles for some reason. They match the JCW grill I have too so it's all being pulled together nicely. So many people black out their MINI's chrome strips and I think it looks ridiculous. I like the Sparkling Silver/Black/Chrome look my car has going on and the exterior is about complete.

I'd still like to tint the windows and if I come into some serious money I'd love to do the JCW aero kit on the car but I don't think that's going to happen. The tinted windows will probably make an appearance though.

 

[Slick Rick]

Looks quality, didnt notice before but the old ones did look really cheap. Are you planning anything major like coilovers? A nicce drop would look great.

 

[eSZee]

There is a language and idiocy warning on that though.

LOL, you're not from the ORG are you?

 

[Joey D]

Looks quality, didnt notice before but the old ones did look really cheap. Are you planning anything major like coilovers? A nicce drop would look great.

Thanks!

I would love coilover and make the car sit hellaflush but it's a daily driver, in Michigan where the roads are awful and it snows. After owning the dropping Blazer I saw what the roads around here did to dropped suspension and it wasn't friendly.

LOL, you're not from the ORG are you?

ORG?

 

[Keef]

I personally think the regular Coopers have a much cleaner design than the JCW. It's on of the best designed cars on the road in my opinion. Having the S details without the body kits and whatnot looks great.

 

[Joey D]

Ya I like the way the Cooper is designed, but then again I'm biased . The S looks pretty goofy since the front is more bulbous and has the speed hump in the bonnet.

I got a good chance to stand back and look at my car today and I'm really happy with how the scuttles pulled the whole design together. I just need to darken the windows now and I'll be good. The only problem is in Michigan it's illegal to have tinted front windows and cops are a pain about it so I could only tint the rear three windows. Any thoughts on that?

I could attempt to convince my eye doctor to give me a prescription to allow me to get the fronts tinted though. It's typically not that hard to get, especially since I have an astigmatism.

 

[Rotary Junkie]

Ehr... It's not illegal to have the fronts tinted as far as I'm aware, just illegal past a certain level.

Could be wrong but it's what I've heard.

 

[Joey D]

You can have the top 4" tinted on the front side windows with a solar reflectivity no more then 35%.

 

[Jondot]

Seems a bit odd... Here in Englandland the fronts have to let in 70% of natural light or something. There's a little meter thing most traffic cops carry so they can tell off anyone with particularly drug-dealery looking ones. The rears can be as dark as you want (or indeed completely opaque).

 

[McLaren]

As far as I've read, the front windshield can not be below 50% with the top 4" below 20%.

 

[Joey D]

As far as I've read, the front windshield can not be below 50% with the top 4" below 20%.

The Michigan law reads in Section 257.709.1b

A sign, poster, nontransparent material, window application, reflective film, or nonreflective film upon or in the front windshield, the side windows immediately adjacent to the driver or front passenger, or the sidewings adjacent to and forward of the driver or front passenger, except that a tinted film may be used along the top edge of the windshield and the side windows or sidewings immediately adjacent to the driver or front passenger if the material does not extend more than 4 inches from the top of the windshield, or lower than the shade band, whichever is closer to the top of the windshield.

It looks like you can't put anything on your front windscreen here, which is lame. I'd be OK with doing just a light tint, although I probably could slide under the radar with that.

 

[Keef]

As far as I've read, the front windshield can not be below 50% with the top 4" below 20%.

It's different in every state. Even though you're in Texas, having 50 percent tint on the windshield sounds absolutely preposterous to me, and I love window tint. Here in Ohio the windshield can only have a visor, and the rest can only be 50%, but 35% is still by far the most popular even though it's "illegal". Many people get 20%, but with a dark interior you'll get hassled.

Tinting the windshield with anything but a visor blows my mind, you Texans are frickin crazy. Rebels. Outlaws.

In my opinion 35% tint all around is best. It blocks a bit of light but you can still see just fine. Kind of a pain at night, but whatever.

 

[McLaren]

That's weak, Joey. 👎 The Cooper would look good tinted all around.

It's different in every state. Even though you're in Texas, having 50 percent tint on the windshield sounds absolutely preposterous to me, and I love window tint. Here in Ohio the windshield can only have a visor, and the rest can only be 50%, but 35% is still by far the most popular even though it's "illegal". Many people get 20%, but with a dark interior you'll get hassled.

Tinting the windshield with anything but a visor blows my mind, you Texans are frickin crazy. Rebels. Outlaws.

In my opinion 35% tint all around is best. It blocks a bit of light but you can still see just fine. Kind of a pain at night, but whatever.

Texas law says the windshield can't be tinted below the first 5". However, I think nearly all states have such a law, but isn't very enforced, so 50% seems to be the general limt. My car is at 35% all around minus the windshield, but I know of shops that will go as far as 5% tint.

 

[Eric.]

Illinois law is all over the place with tint. You can have various combinations. Mine's illegal in one way or another. 20% tint on the rear windows, 35% on the front doors (and little windows by the mirrors), 6" 5% brow on the windshield. Being different front/rear makes it look a little more of a factory job in my opinion, which might divert a little bit of police attention. I don't understand having 5% anywhere but the brow, trying to look up through that for comparison's sake at night, you can't see anything...

 

[eSZee]

Thanks!

I would love coilover and make the car sit hellaflush but it's a daily driver, in Michigan where the roads are awful and it snows. After owning the dropping Blazer I saw what the roads around here did to dropped suspension and it wasn't friendly.




ORG?

maxima.org
I'm assuming you're not. Carry on.