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For clarification, the endlinks are too short. About 2 inches. Exactly how much I am unsure as once it was clear they would not reach the bracket it was decided to use the OEM links. Pictures were not taken.
USDMJON, we'd like to reach out and make sure the new endlinks fit properly and that you were successfully able to install them. We were finally able to get ISC to take action and ship you a new set last month that are of a new updated design. You can also email us again if you have any questions.
We apologize for the delay, we had to reach out to ISC multiple times to resolve it. We hope this closes the matter and we look forward to moving forward.
USDMJON, we'd like to reach out and make sure the new endlinks fit properly and that you were successfully able to install them. We were finally able to get ISC to take action and ship you a new set last month that are of a new updated design. You can also email us again if you have any questions.
We apologize for the delay, we had to reach out to ISC multiple times to resolve it. We hope this closes the matter and we look forward to moving forward.
Thank you guys for following up on the situation.
Sadly isc has messed up one more time so i have yet to install the new endlinks.
They emailed me confirming my shipping address and i gave them my home address.
They then responded that they shipped the part via ups to a different address. The same one i had the coils shipped to 2 years ago which was my old place of work. But they would change the address via ups since it just went out.
A few days later i get a call from my buddy i trained to take my position saying he just signed for a shipment in my name. WTF
So i now have to swing by my buddies place to pick up the endlinks. I dont hang out with him often nor really care to so itll be some time before i get around to seeing him.
But they are here, so it is on me now to get them and install them.
Some new fogs on the way. Excited for these ones to replace my cheap ebay LEDs. They will be much more gold verse amber. I may go with some new white drls as the amber they are now wont really match anything anymore. We'll see.
Looking into finishing up replacing the cheaper ebay LEDs. Still need DRLs and brake lights.
Saving up for an air set up now. I may end up dropping money on the rest of the OE kit before going with an air set up but Id really like to stop repping ISC and sit on air.
Before then I'll be rolling the fenders and may test out some 25mm spacers I have laying around. Wont be until after the new drop that I figure out how wide I want to go then wheel rebuilding will be my next step.
I may even rebuild them myself. If I do I'll make a DIY thread on it. Its pretty simple. Just take the wheels apart using the right tools which anyone can buy. Then strip the silicone, clean it up best as possible, put the new lips on, tighten new hardware to spec then resilicone. I can do all that in my garage then take them to my buddies tire shop for balancing and mounting.
Fenders rolled all four corners. Probably going to raise the rear up a tad tomorrow but we'll see.
25mm Garageline spacers have been sitting in my garage for a while now. Finally put those on. Lots of rubbing but mainly from the low and a little bulge from the liner. I cut that part of the liner out and all but turning rubbing has been eliminated.
I romped around town quite liberally to get an idea of how bad the rubbing is. After a bit the only wear anywhere on the tire was from the small ridge that runs around the tire inbetween the sidewall and tread. It'll probably be fine as is.
Much happier with the rear. Doesnt look sunk anymore.
Last week I put my new fog lights in. Made a DIY for everyone. I'll make one for the new lighting as well. Here are the new Philips fogs. They provide a new and much brighter and wider pattern over the OE halogen bulbs.
Great little write up. Glad you like the Philips H11s.
They really were the first PnP LED kit that actually worked. I mean really works. They are a little more expensive then the clones out now, but Philips started the Homogeneous led trend, and there's a reason. Output
i always look at the ilx and think how can it less like a civic to people. dont get me wrong to me its a good looking car but acura really needs to do something to lose the civic comparison. i think i know what they should do. aggressive wider fenders for lower wider stance. what do you think Jon?
I am an absolute whore for yellow fog lights. It's the first mod I do on any car I own, whether just film, or actual bulbs, or both. Turned out good, Jon.
Great little write up. Glad you like the Philips H11s.
They really were the first PnP LED kit that actually worked. I mean really works. They are a little more expensive then the clones out now, but Philips started the Homogeneous led trend, and there's a reason. Output
They are truly awesome. I love seeing the corners of yellow.
Originally Posted by TacoBello
I am an absolute whore for yellow fog lights. It's the first mod I do on any car I own, whether just film, or actual bulbs, or both. Turned out good, Jon.
Agreed. My first mod on the ILX was yellow Lamin X film for the fogs.
Later I got gold LEDs but they werent very bright. Then swapped to amber LEDs to match my DRLs and loved the amber look on Jeremy's black TL.
Thmanx has been sitting on these for me for a while and Im glad I finally picked them up. Better than everything before including the OEM bulbs.
Originally Posted by Nexx
i always look at the ilx and think how can it less like a civic to people. dont get me wrong to me its a good looking car but acura really needs to do something to lose the civic comparison. i think i know what they should do. aggressive wider fenders for lower wider stance. what do you think Jon?
I see zero issue in the ILX reminding people of the Civic. That's what it is after all. A Civic with the Acura badge. Similar to how my '94 integra was a Civic with the Acura badge. Friends would get in my integra and say "damn this looks exactly like my (my friend's) Civic. Except sleeker."
Further down and you have the RSX which again, was very similar to the k20/24 civics at the time.
And now, following in similar steps as they always have. The new bottom trim Acura is once again similar to the Civic.
The Civic is a great car. The ILX is extremely similar but agian, a bit sleeker (this may be an opinion) and more luxurious.
So to answer your question. I dont think Acura NEEDS to do something to lose the civic comparison. I think they should embrace it. Nor do I think an aggressive stance would change anything. Now you just have a lowered Civic with the A badge.
sup man, all looks good. Ive been mulling over if I should get yellow fogs or not lol. Seeing this makes it a lil easier. I think i might do it and try it out for a bit.
To add- fog lights should technically always be yellow. In foggy conditions, yellow light provides for the highest visibility. So in this case, think of it as you're actually improving the OEM function of your fog lights
Great job Jon! I like the amber fogs looks great especially your set up. I also have appreciated you thread and your support for most of us ILX owners out there. I have swapped my fogs for HID's as I had an after market kit lying around and was debating on switching the bulbs to 3000K amber color temp.
It is interesting as you can actually see the headlight cut shield line now from the projectors. I was trying to figure out why Acura would do that, but it maybe to allow the fog lights to show without being drowned out by the main projectors. I took my headlight assembly apart recently to take out the orange plastic corner marker covers (hated that look) and noticed it when I was examining the projectors.
Just to clarify: Of course there is a cut shield on the upper portion which is common (to stop other motorist from being blinded by the headlights), however the bottom curved cut shield is something I had not seen before. The above picture is from looking into the ILX HID housing.
Im not sure if Acura did in to make the fogs more noticeable but it definitely does that if you look at the pic further up where I show a side profile of the fog output. Love it.
Also I hear painting those shields different colors makes for some pretty cool effects.
Two pics after a wash with the new GarageLine 25mm spacers and fenders rolled.
I'm not sure how painting the shields would make a difference, perhaps you mean the reflectors? However have you considered removing the orange plastic covers inside the headlight lens, it makes for a much modern and cleaner look!
There is a small plastic orange piece of reflector that pops out of the plastic housing. I used double sided tape and epoxy to adhere it inside the lens to keep it compliant. I think your car would look sweet with it done as well!!!
I wasn't going to include my full car pic on your thread (I know sorry), but the look on the lens doesn't show the same without showing more of the front of the car. I love this car in white, but yours in the dark grey looks pretty sweet especially with all of your mods. IMO this would make your car look even more modern in the front, I find all of the orange inside reflectors date the car.
I was a bit nervous about doing it as it was a first for me. However it actually is not that bad as long as you remember a couple musts:
1) You will have to take off your bumper and make sure you have a proper clip removal tool (I purchased mine for $9 at Canadian Tire - Yup I'm Canadian). I tried without it to install my cold air intake and ruined a few clips.
2) If you are going to bake your lens in the oven to heat up the adhesive, take your time and don't be afraid to put in the oven more than once to get the job done.
3) Make sure you have replacement bulbs handy when you take out orange reflector as the stock bulbs will be white/clear.
If you use the smaller reflector like I did, make sure you have a strong epoxy as I used double sided tape the first time and the reflector didn't stay after going over some bumps. The whole process only takes about 3 hours for me(after the 2nd time it went pretty quickly).
There is a small plastic orange piece of reflector that pops out of the plastic housing. I used double sided tape and epoxy to adhere it inside the lens to keep it compliant.
Looks even better than the Chinese ILX which still has the turn signal covers, except in clear. With the shiny, clear internals exposed, the headlights look more detailed and premium, and keeping the orange reflectors breaks up the monochrome-ness. Good job!
Whoa, what the heck is that a fricken UFO?!? Hahaha them lights are bright bro!
Right?!
I love it. A pet peeve of mine are people not caring or not seeing when you are about to reverse out. I' hoping these will really let people not they need to stop their god damn car. lol
Something I really noticed was around dusk, the OE halogen bulbs have an issue lighting up the entire red brake cover. These LEDs, as well the 20w ones AFspec also has, really do a far better job illuminating the entire red cover. Looks way better.
I just wish the trunk light portion lit up. Oh well. 2016 tails in my future for sure. Maybe with a little VIP retrofitting.
Clean this pic up a bit. Edited the background to highlight the car better. (just added some blur on the right and soft lighting from the left)
I wish I left that Medieval Times flag in the rear door. hahaha Super VIP status
End goal for fitment is to have the front sit like the rear is. Right now rear is on 25mm spacers with wheels at only 18x8 +38. I will ditch the 25mm spacers for an extra inch of lip on all 4 corners. Bringing each corner to a conservative 18x9 +13ish. The rear should sit exactly as it is now. The front will sit about 25mm more flush. Front will likely need a camber kit to sit with the same camber the rear has.
That's my goal anyways. I'm hoping to have all that done within about a year and a half... or I could save for bags. Both need to be done for me to be really really happy with this thing. I'd say add another year and it'll be bagged too.
Hard keeping your priorities in check when all you want to do is throw money at the build.
Look at all the god damn LEDs I don't use. Some of those are the old OE bulbs. I like to keep what isn't broken just in case.
And here are new plate lights. Philips xtreme white 194 from retrofitsource.
The old cheap ebay LEDs were starting to flicker. When I went to pull them out I could see at least one of the LED diodes had burnt out. These philips should last a lot longer and the white is a lot nicer. It looks to be just as bright but it fills the area with even light verse the ebay LEDs were very hot spotty.
You can see with the old LEDs the diodes were starting to die. Cheap is as cheap does.
New left. Old right. You can see the philips LEDs give a more full light pattern where as the cheaper ebay light pattern breaks up into rays.
In the end they both looked similarly bright but once it got dark I was surprised by how much light was emitted. Easily twice as bright IMO.
Happy with all my lighting now thanks to Thmanx/AFspec. Only lighting left would be interior but none of it bothers me so I'll keep that oe for a while. Same for the headlights. They preform perfectly.
Today I took one of the rear 25mm spacers and tested them out up front. It actually fit really nicely. I drove around as quickly as I was willing to with 25mm spacers on front/rear on just one side of the car and only 3 torqued lugs on each side. But I didnt get any rubbing while turning. I'm happy with how they fit so I'll be ordering two more soon for the front.
First though I have to pick up some new tires. While doing this I saw the front is about down to the metal. In a couple spots you can see metal. Which means Ive already ordered tires and I'll get them on asap. Once I have some time off. Sadly I'm working this Saturday and tires wont be in until Thursday earliest. So I'm thinking maybe early next week, latest next weekend.
I never got an alignment before but I will be immediately after getting these mounted. I'll see if Big John's can muster up a little more camber for the front and maybe they'll even raise the rear a tad for me. LOL If not I may do it. I'm too lazy to raise it myself. I was going to today but I measured and found I'm at 21.5 fender to ground at all 4 corners pretty damn even. So while I thought I had rake, and while I do, when measuring fender to ground it's perfect... but I may say fuck that and even it out to the eye. Which would probably mean half inch at most higher for the rear. Probably 1/4in.
Pic of driver side with both 25mm in front and rear.
Front just needs about half an inch more low. Aside from that this is about how wide they will sit once I ditch the spacers and get 2in out lips to replace the 1in outers. I'll probably just raise the rear a little since the front is maxed.
New tires on. Nitto Gen Neos 215/40. My buddy at the tire shop suggested these over the Falkens I had. Said they are more "camber friendly". All I know is my tires dont rub anymore! Wooo.
Alignment done. Rear is about -3.5 and front about -1. Toe and Cast is square.
25mm GarageLine front spacers ordered.
Oil change in the next coming weeks then this car wont be seeing a dime for 12 months.
This time next year I will be leaving for a 24 day trip to Japan. Two half days for traveling and 23 days to visit Kyoto, Hiroshima, Kobe, Tokyo, and more. It will be my buddies 3rd trip and my 1st. I can't fucking wait!
Hoping to grab a couple small souvenirs for the car. Maybe I'll be able to find a Honda Verno or Honda Pimo banner out there. lol
New tires on. Nitto Gen Neos 215/40. My buddy at the tire shop suggested these over the Falkens I had. Said they are more "camber friendly". All I know is my tires dont rub anymore! Wooo.
Alignment done. Rear is about -3.5 and front about -1. Toe and Cast is square.
25mm GarageLine front spacers ordered.
Oil change in the next coming weeks then this car wont be seeing a dime for 12 months.
This time next year I will be leaving for a 24 day trip to Japan. Two half days for traveling and 23 days to visit Kyoto, Hiroshima, Kobe, Tokyo, and more. It will be my buddies 3rd trip and my 1st. I can't fucking wait!
Hoping to grab a couple small souvenirs for the car. Maybe I'll be able to find a Honda Verno or Honda Pimo banner out there. lol
forget the banners, scoop up some used wheels for cheap and send them back state side, shipping the slowest and cheapest method possible. You're already in the land of the rising sun- that's 3/4s of the battle of trying to get cheap wheels from over there.
you didn't let everyone know you made it on the Acura IG page
it's okay, I'm here for you!
great job man!
Oh yeah... that happened. lol Thanks man. That Acura page is weird. They have asked I think three times to use a pic. Then they used this one without expressing interest in this exact one. I'm just thinking "I could have given you guys a better quality version but yeah thanks for the love!" They never got me an ILX ornament so Im still butt hurt over that.
Originally Posted by rockstar143
dude, 3300 likes is awesome.
Looking good, Jon...hadn't been in here in a while.
Loving the flush look!
Thanks. Me too. Last few days I have been running around getting shit for the car so it has been out and around town far more than I typically am. I was surprised at the reaction I got from Acura and the performance shop I go to since they are all domestic guys and the Acura lot don't care for modded cars. I bet that's how you feel daily driving around town to baptisms and other holy gatherings.
Originally Posted by TacoBello
forget the banners, scoop up some used wheels for cheap and send them back state side, shipping the slowest and cheapest method possible. You're already in the land of the rising sun- that's 3/4s of the battle of trying to get cheap wheels from over there.
I mean ideally yeah that would be sweet but I wont have the money for that. Im just trying to make it out there.
Just bought the same license plate bulbs... noticed a cop was following close today... got home and noticed the left LED had died... Aftermarket pair... They were either IJDMTOY brand, or a no name brand... Honestly can't remember... Time to replace tho... I tried to do a quick search to find the same set of Phillips you have, but for cheaper.. but couldn't really find another omni-directional set... Although I did find cheaper in the straight facing set... I did end up finding them on Powerbulbs.com for about 5 bucks cheaper, along with free shipping... and then realized it was a British website... So I said fuck it... LOL... They still ship for free to the US tho!!!.....price was a little much for me... but then again... it claims a 12 year life span... which is a lot better then the MAYBE 2 years i got out of the cheap couple bucks set.... And also appears to be WAY better...
Not super into lighting mods... I did go with a decent HID fog light kit... WAY brighter and wider then stock... But maybe I would have gone with an LED set if i had seen your guys mods before I did that...
I will definitely be following whatever bulbs and light mods you guys are getting tho, because you guys are picking some good stuff... The lighting does make a big difference in the drive-ability/safety/vision of the car.... And also gives a higher end appearance to the car....
Last edited by aomechmarine; Jun 29, 2016 at 06:45 AM.
Looks even better than the Chinese ILX which still has the turn signal covers, except in clear. With the shiny, clear internals exposed, the headlights look more detailed and premium, and keeping the orange reflectors breaks up the monochrome-ness. Good job!
