Product Review -- 1987-93 Mustang Ultra Smoked Headlight Kit From Latemodel Restoration Supply

90lxcoupe

Dirt-Old 20+Year Member
Oct 7, 2003
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Ok, so i figured i would share my expierience with how my LRS ultra clear smoked headlights are working out.

I bought the headlights, opened them quick, and brought them straight to the body shop, they installed them and the lights looked great, they even said AMERICAN right on th front of the lens. I thought that was cool...



So fast forward to a few months later, its summer time and i am just realizing the adjustment is way off on the lights. So i took one of them off and find a sticker on the back, MADE IN CHINA. I thought to myself, thats pretty dissapointing, to market the front side with America only to find out they are chinese quality.



So i reinstalled the lights and started adjusting them, about 5 minutes into the process the adjuster broke the plastic on one of the headlights, i made it work, but the light placement isnt ideal. Not much could be done about it since one of the adjusters was stuck in one position.

Now fast forward to this summer, im driving at night and i cant see anything, its like i dont have lights at all. I look at the headlights the next day and i see there is all kinds of moisture on the inside of the lens. Now, this is not my daily driver. The car sits in my garage, gets taken out on nice days either to the track, a car show, or just to go for a cruise. To me, there is no good reason why these headlights are junk already, the car has about 3 to 5k miles on it since i put the lights in and it what really bothers me the most about them is the american stamp on the lens and the china sticker on the back.

I called LRS about the issue, they told me they would sell me another set at a discounted rate, but since the warrantee was up i was SOL, they also said that im not the first with this problem. Personally, im not going to spend money on something that may do this again in a year or two. I'd like to see LRS make this right. I have bought a fair share of parts from them, but if this is the kind of quality i can expect in the future, ill have to start looking eleswhere for parts. LRSjmac
 
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A buddy of mine had the same problem. He even tried siliconing around the edges to try and make it seal. No luck. Got about the same response from LMRS. I have had to use their customer service department before, and they were pretty helpful; although, I don't guess they are going to replace the hundreds, or thousands, of headlights they have sold.

Joe
 
90lxcoupe:

This is Jarrod with LRS. Jmac is no longer on the forums. This was brought to my attention, so I would like for you to get a hold of me please. I would like to talk to you about this, and see whats going on. I'm sorry that you feel that we haven't treated you right. Please call me directly at 254-296-6531, or you can send me a message here.

Thanks,
Jarrod
 
I talked to Jarrod a couple hours ago, he confirmed what the other employee at LRS said that they could give me a discounted set, but he also told me that he would give me a $50 dollar credit on my next order i place at LRS whether i buy a new set of headlights or not. I think all in all its a fair solution to the problem. I am going to look into some other headlight options and see what i can find at this point. Thanks again to Jarrod at LRS for the help.
 
Last year I installed a set of LRS clear OEM-style lights. They look great , but they were an absolute bear to adjust. I thought it might be my adjusters, but I cranked on them all when I had my bumper off and they moved in and out just fine. This spring I finally have them adjusted well enough to see at night, but far from perfect. I also had to shim out the the center parking lights 1/4" to 1/2" to match the headlights extreme adjustment.
 
i found that the lower price kits are just that Ive probably purchased 4 sets over the years some are great and some leak after 6 months. the last set I purchased were like 300 for the pair put they looked OEM "ish" and have been perfect


maybe LRS can educate us on who makes the kits and why there so crappy. I would assume that people buy these kits 100% based on price so if they don't stock these (chinese) kits they won't sell any. Hell there may only be one place making these.
 
S&B Do you have a link to those oemish ones you speak of? Were they smoked? At this point i really dont care about whether they are smoked or not, i just want a quality set

Also, FYI i called CJ pony parts and asked them if the smoked ultra clears they sell are made in america. The guy on the phone just gave me a quick "yup" I didnt really believe him, and a message to 93project confirmed that he also had a made in china sticker on his lights.
 
Ive been looking at the LMR units too. Its sad, but what ISNT made in china?
Im thinking that maybe Ill keep my stockers for legall reasons, and just add some quality driving lights for some real vision.
 
even said AMERICAN right on th front of the lens

Maybe that meant that it meets AMERICAN stats or is intended for the AMERICAN market.

Just because its from China doesnt mean that its junk. I put these sort of things on the importer/distributor. They can "spec out" a higher quality, or not even sell the junk.
 
Maybe that meant that it meets AMERICAN stats or is intended for the AMERICAN market.

Just because its from China doesnt mean that its junk. I put these sort of things on the importer/distributor. They can "spec out" a higher quality, or not even sell the junk.


Generally, that's EXACTLY what it means. Some factory pooped out a million or so units then retooled and moved on to making a million kid's meal toys. R&D? What's that? They have a list of specifications, a drawing, and an order for X amount of units. Chances are, that they don't even know what the part is that they're making. The pieces and parts are assembled by some other company who's job it is to also paint toys being delivered to Matel with a lead based red epoxy.

For all they know they're floatation cells for the next unsinkable cruise liner.
 
S&B Do you have a link to those oemish ones you speak of? Were they smoked? At this point i really dont care about whether they are smoked or not, i just want a quality set

Also, FYI i called CJ pony parts and asked them if the smoked ultra clears they sell are made in america. The guy on the phone just gave me a quick "yup" I didnt really believe him, and a message to 93project confirmed that he also had a made in china sticker on his lights.

You don't know who you talked to do you? I would really like to know. We do have some kit that combine OEM Ford Headlights with Aftermarket Marker/Parking Lights, but for the smoked kits at those prices you guys are paying you can pretty much guarantee that it's not made in the USA.