Are External Led's Always Considered Ricey?

[Chythar]

I had an idea to paint the mesh/grille my side vents and hood vents red, and put red LED's inside them. I'd have the LED's wired up to a separate switch, so I could turn them on or off at will. If those looked good, I was debating adding halos to my Cobra fog lights, and/or adding some lighting behind the Mustang logo in my grille.

The idea sounds cool in my head, but I'd rather run it by other folks whose judgement I trust - namely, you guys. Opinions?

 

[attackoftheclone]

Yah that sounds super fast and furious. Id spend my money money elsewhere. Smoked headlights and tail lights with an HID kit would look way better. What your describing seems over the top

 

[jozsefsz]

I think you should do whatever makes you happy. As the old saying goes, opinions are like a@#holes. For everyone that thinks my car has too much rice (some pretty vocally), there are just as many who think it's pretty cool. Personally I don't think you can have too many exterior lights. Just make sure reds are ok with your local law enforcement, they're illegal here except on the tail, but as you mention you can switch them off. Smoked heads, tails, and HID are boring imho. I like the halos / projectors myself.

 

[attackoftheclone]

Hes right, what YOU think about it is the most important, and decorating is a matter of taste, either you have it or you dont

 

[jozsefsz]

Hes right, what YOU think about it is the most important, and decorating is a matter of taste, either you have it or you dont

Hey, I'd like to think I have pretty good taste in some respects, pretty bad in others.

I hope you didn't take offense at my calling simple mods boring, that's just my opinion as I started out with simple tasteful mods myself (I've had this car for almost 20 years which is more than enough time to get bored of anything). Though tasteful has changed a few times in those decades too -- in my day it was black plastic headlight covers and car bras.

Even when the car was new, no one seemed to really notice or care about my little mods unless I pointed them out, and I simply like the attention that a loud looking car gets (especially from the girls when I was younger, and now that I'm hitting mid-life crisis age). The brighter the color, the wilder the design, the more people notice, and the more conversations it starts. If that's what you want, cool, if not, just as cool, that's why I firmly believe you should always go with what makes you happy. Heck with everyone else's opinion.

 

[attackoftheclone]

The excitment from a car should come from driving it, i see exuberated body kits and lights as boring If its no fun to drive, why throw all that money at bells and whistles when you can upgrade the drivetrain/suspension. If its an ugly car stock, paint it, or put the higher trim package on it.
The flash is just distraction from the fact that its probly slow. If you want a "loud" car, how about headers or a cam. That says alot more than blinking lights and exagerated body lines.
Its sad to see that the true heart of the custom car scene is slowly dieing because the artistic side of molding a cars personality is convoluted by trying to twist what you have into what you really want.
Basically if you want a ricer, buy foreign, if you want exotic, buy luxury, if you want muscle, buy American. If you try to mash all of it together, you get crap. Have some respect for the manufacturer and buy the right car for the portrait you want to paint.

 

[jozsefsz]

We were purely discussing appearance, not performance or handling modifications, I have and like both. As to what I buy, or what you buy, or what anyone else buys, and however they see fit to modify it, we can feel free to opine, but beyond that, I believe in showing respect to people and their individuality, and not to some arbitrary acceptability rules. You've expressed your opinion articulately, but you'll have to agree there's nothing factual there. It's arbitrary, it's how you like to see things, and it's not universally accepted.

Personally I think the true heart of the custom car scene is slowly dying because of the insane levels of conformity present in modern youth. I have more respect for the ridiculous custom ricer than for someone who's afraid to do something that doesn't get enough peer-approval or 'likes' on Facebook, or who lives according to some rigid rulebook about what's 'acceptable' or 'respectful' to the car manufacturer. If someone disagrees with the hivemind, bully them until they conform. It's a fundamental alteration of character and individuality, self-inflicted, and courtesy of social media, political correctness, and closed-minded liberal socialism. Bruce Jenner can identify as a woman, but we can't allow exterior lights on an American car?

How's about showing some respect for American ideals (and the spirit of the Mustang), primarily individuality and freedom? The appearance of one's car is artistic self-expression, and I enjoy a wide variety of that expression. Some I find ugly, some I find hilarious, some I think are amazing, but I appreciate everyone's unique individual expression and the effort and courage it takes to show it. You may not, and that's your prerogative, and it's not really an area where there are any grounds to morally lecture one another.

 

[attackoftheclone]

Where i come from, its car guys against everyone else, i dont like to see someone embarass themselves and the car community by building a clown car. This is not a a freedom thing, cuz its just as much my right to voice my hate for it, and since your looking for attention and feedback, your going to get the negative as well as the positive. It comes with the territory. Aside from taking the opportunity to be an a**hole, im also demonstrating the reactions Cythar is going to recieve rugularly.
It sounds like you dont know what your getting into turning your mustang into a ukrainian rave party. And since that doubt your voicing tells me you do have some good taste that can be translated into asthetics im urginging you to go a more unique route, because lights are juvenile, and a sign of inexperience. LIGHTING UP AN UGLY CAR DOENST MAKE IT PRETTIER.
I gain confidance and pride knowing i built a nice car. It doubles when i get positve feedback from everybody, not just children.
iv built some nice cars, and bikes, and in my experience, if its not full on positive opinions, its constructive criticism. This is not constructive, its full on disgust. Stemming from the atrocities iv seen roaming around every city iv lived in. And its digust you will most definitely have to confront on the regular if you build something like that, believe me. It may come in dissaproving faces of passers by, full on rants (like mine),shouting and teasing, or silent dissmisal, as to not hurt your feelings. So if your fully prepared to deal with that, then tell yourself were all jelouse and go get yourself the hotwheelz starter kit.

 

[jozsefsz]

I'll let you have the last word my friend, we'll have to agree to disagree. You sound like a smart kid and I'd enjoy continuing the conversation, perhaps privately or in another forum (this isn't exactly 94-95 Tech). I don't know if Cythar's even reading this, he probably thinks we're both nuts if he is, hopefully he'll just do what he wants.

 

[attackoftheclone]

I'll let you have the last word my friend, we'll have to agree to disagree. You sound like a smart kid and I'd enjoy continuing the conversation, perhaps privately or in another forum (this isn't exactly 94-95 Tech). I don't know if Cythar's even reading this, he probably thinks we're both nuts if he is, hopefully he'll just do what he wants.

True

 

[Chythar]

I am reading this, and opinions are what I was looking for. So discuss (or bicker) all you want. Besides, with all the work we all do on our cars most of the rest of the world probably thinks we're nuts anyway. It just depends on what kind of "nuts" you feel you are. Walnuts? Peanuts? Or all the way into cashews? Crazy talk.

 

[attackoftheclone]

Look at it however you like, bottom line is nobody is goin to laugh at my builds.

 

[jozsefsz]

I think this looks pretty awesome myself (though I'm not a fan of the white). Were you shooting for something like this in red?

I also think this is one of the cooler things Ford slapped on the late models. This pic didn't work for some reason, it's a picture of the door light logo projection.

 

[Chythar]

That's exactly the kind of look I wanted! Especially with the hood vents. I might go with orange instead of red - there might be a law against front-facing red lights in California, even if they're not flashing. Now, imagine the effect of the hood vents, but coming out the side vents too.

Too bad these are illegal, as it covers the lens:

 

[jozsefsz]

Man I love those snake eyes, I know what I'm doing next with my Cobra II.

I really do like that accent look in the vents and grill. You're usually safe going with an amber color, that's what my local laws say as well.

You're not changing the fundamental look of your car in any way, and you can shut them off whenever you want, so I wouldn't even worry about the rice conversation.

 

[94GTCoupe]

I've always been of the opinion of keep it factory appearance, let the performance do the talking.

Never cared for mods that served no purpose.
Most lights, wings, wild paint jobs and body kits fall into that category.

However, in the end, its your car, do as you please.

 

[Noobz347]

I've always been of the opinion of keep it factory appearance, let the performance do the talking.

Never cared for mods that served no purpose.
Most lights, wings, wild paint jobs and body kits fall into that category.

However, in the end, its your car, do as you please.

I generally follow this with a small exception. Mods don't need to look OEM from the factory but in my opinion, they should be installed and have enough quality to look like they could have been factory.

I generally appreciate the more subtle queues that accentuate the shape of the car. You will not find anything that looks like it could have been a factory option on a Scion in my garage. I'd probably buy a Scion if that's what I were into. My kids do love the gerbil commercials though.

I don't have 1.21Gigawatts of bleeding ear stereo either.