other than the half white/orange diffuser and black high beam housing, is there any other difference between a base 07-08 and a type-S headlight? I want to bake my headlight and black out at LEAST the high beam housing. I'm not sure what to do about the diffuser. I have a WDP, any suggestions? pics would be great!

 

Cosmetically, you got everything down.

You have a few choices with the diffuser:

You can remove the diffuser (you will lose light output)
You can replace the diffuser with a Type-S one (rare) or clear one from USR (pricy)
You can cut the diffuser so it's partially orange, like the Type-S.
You can keep the diffuser in there (many options when you do this too such as painting behind the diffuser area, etc).

 

i like the look of a clear headlight with no amber in it, but that's just me. having said that, i would replace the amber diffuser with a white USR style diffuser (costly at $120 just for the clear diffuser) or simply rip out the amber diffuser.

good luck on baking your headlights! i was thinking about baking my own headlights just the other day, but than the thought of condensation and not sealing it up correctly scared me.

i decided i'd let a team member do my headlights for me, since he does custom headlight/taillight work all the time, at the cost of some bud light

 

thank you for the replies! I personally dont like the naked look.. veering more towards keeping the amber and painting the part behind it black. Im comfortable baking the headlights. Ive done quite a few sets without problems except for one..... I was stuck in a poker hand and couldnt get to the oven in time! haha. it melted, but it was just a civic headlight.

 

You'll want to be keeping a close eye to your TL headlights...

 

just don't paint the chrome part of the turn signal because that is where light reflects off of when you turn your turn signal on so people can see it.

if you paint it black, your turn signal bulb won't have anything to reflect off of, so your turn signal may look dimmer and harder to see. especially during the day.

but you probably already knew this

 

+1 ^



If you paint anything behind the diffuser, you will still lose output, though. Just you won't lose as much output as if you were to paint the whole thing lol.

Here's a pic of a member's car I helped do headlights for.
(with partially painted turn signal reflector as seen above)



Comparison with stock headlights:

 

All my chrome was painted black, but I left the diffuser in to help reflect some of the light. It is definitely dimmer than the OEM look, but it isnt too drastic a change during the day - at night, it's fine.

 

Dont forget Type S headlights use 1157 park bulbs while base uses 7443 or something like that. My favorite TL headlight of all time is the bone stock Type S headlight left alone with no modding. Its perfect! Just enough amber so its not plain and all black/chrome looking, but not too much like the non-type S version.

James

 

Same =)

That's why I left behind the diffuser all chrome and left the Type-S diffuser alone.

The small amount of orange on the diffuser adds awesome contrast.

 

thanks this thread just answered my question!

 

I would go for Type S
I also love the look of the stock type S vs modified/stock headlights
here's my 04 headlight and type s headlight