Brand New 2015 OEM Lightwerkz Retrofit FS

Up for sale is a brand new (never installed on truck) retrofit from Lightwerkz. I sent in brand new OEM Toyota TRD Pro/SR headlights to be retrofit. I chose not to go through Burt/Rechelon/Ambiguous because of his turnaround time. I paid $500 + shipping to Lightwerkz for the new housings, then another $1067 for labor, parts (not including bulbs/ballasts), and shipping to me. After ordering black shroud centric rings (to cover up the silver around the projector), I opened the box to find they were not installed. Caesar later told me they do not use centric rings, but this was not mentioned during the several times I inquired about them.

I received them with a scratch on one of the projector lenses as well as some small particle residue inside one of the housings and a few small scratches on the upper corner of one of the housing lenses. I have done my best to photograph these blemishes and they can all be found in my media gallery if I can't get them to embed properly.

Lightwerkz will replace the scratched projector lens but expects me to pay for their highly-overpriced labor AGAIN. I've given up. It will only bother me if I install these on my truck and look at them every day. I'll wait in line for one of Burt's retrofits.

What you see is what you get:

New OEM Toyota TRD Pro/SR Headlight Assemblies
FX-R 3.0 2.5-inch Bixenon Projectors
Apollo 1.0 Shrouds
Semi-Flat Black Housing/Shrouds.
Original Chrome DRL
Original Amber Reflectors

No Bulbs/Ballasts

According to Lightwerkz, these should be plug and play with any d2s bulb/ballast setup.

These are professionally packaged as they were originally sent from Camelback Toyota. Lights are wrapped in saran wrap, placed into original boxes padded with the original form-fitting foam. Each individual box is then wrapped in Toyota bubble wrap and placed into one large box. Shipping will be insured for the selling price or my original price at buyer's discretion.

Asking $900 + shipping via PayPal only. Boxed and ready to ship right now. I'm losing around $700 in the hopes of getting rid of these quickly. I'm located in NW Montana if there's any interest locally. I also want to give a heads up that I will be driving a uhaul to Arizona on Monday Sep. 7th and flying back Thursday Sep. 10th. I will be unable to ship during that time period.

Please let me know if you have any questions/concerns. Thanks for looking.

Leif

 

Darn

 

So sexy.

 

damn u paid that much for these? geez. kinda a hard sell w/o the bulbs and ballasts at this price when u can get quality work from others for not much more or the same with everything included.

 

Pouring salt in a wound, man. Thanks for your helpful comment. Not pleased with the work considering the price I paid--which is why I'm selling at a huge hit to my wallet and going with Burt's work. I'd be happy to include my original invoices if you don't believe that's what Lightwerkz charges...

I'm willing to throw in my 2-year-old 4300k Morimoto bulbs and ballasts (35 watt) but they've been sitting in a box for two years and were never used. Not sure if they'll fire up.

Cheers

 

Why wouldn't Lightwerx make it right and replace them?

 

^^^

+1 ????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

The scratched projector lens is apparently just something to expect from Morimoto and upon Lightwerkz's final inspection they didn't notice it and still didn't see it after I emailed these photos. It can't be proven that they caused the small chips/scratches in the upper corner on the outside lens. They recently informed me that the silver ring wouldn't have been covered had a shroud centric ring been used, so I was mistaken about that. They have since offered to make things right with the projector lens but are not confident in achieving a satisfactory result as apparently the lenses can't be replaced as securely as from the factory.

More than anything, I just don't want to send them across the country to be baked and pried open again, and risk more problems down the road. They are responding defensively and don't seem to want to deal with me and my apparently overly-high expectations any longer. It's mutual. Thought you got what you paid for, quality-wise.

 

But for the amount of $$ paid on your part they need to make it right. BTW did you send them new lights or the set that you had on your Taco. Just sounded like you sent them a new set from your first post.

 

I wonder why Caesar didn't put a centric ring on this 2.5" FXR. Curious, why did you pick 2.5" vs 3.0"?

 

Well that makes it easy. Don't go to Lighworkz for retro fits. $1000 in labor and there's and "acceptable" scratch. That doesn't sound like a reputable business practice to me.

@StupidPanda I'm the same way brother. I'm OCD and a perfectionist, a terrible combination.

 

I did send them a new set. Shipped straight from Camelback Toyota to Lightwerkz (never even saw them in their original state). Still can't be proven that I didn't cause the small outer scratches by unpacking them.

They have been doing retrofits for a "LONG" time and never use them. Epoxied for strength, instead. Apparently the centric ring wouldn't have covered the silver ring anyways, so it's a moot point. At the end of the day I was the one that chose a 2.5 (not knowing the silver would be exposed). It was very clear that EVERYTHING was to be black except the DRL bowl and amber reflector, however. It just wasn't mentioned to me that it would be impossible to do with a 2.5.

I went with 2.5 because I read the smaller optic actually has slightly better output and a brighter/higher high beam.

Thanks, man. Not the best combo, for sure. I don't really think complaining about scratches/damaged products is really being super picky or OCD considering the price paid on labor alone. Went with Lightwerkz and paid their premium to avoid these exact issues with a lesser-known retrofitter.

 

Do they not have a return policy? Almost $2000 in a set of headlights is outrageous.
You're the customer, they're the one doing the service.
Had to happen on their end - should be able to return them for a refund IMO.

 

Just a few comments from the builders of this conversion.

A note about the projectors used.....The FXR 2.5" projector, when used with most, if not all, shrouds will have it's silver/chrome lens holder exposed. This is simply the way it is and cannot be changed; unless painted. It's not something that we have ever done, but technically can be done. OP wanted a full black out and I did show plenty of examples with full black outs, all which showed the exposed lens holder. Its possible I am so used to seeing it this way I didn't think much of it. I believe the OP listed out the centric rings in his original build/order inquiry, because he thought that since they are black it would hide the chrome face of the lens holder. Unfortunately they go around the lens retainer ring, so it makes no difference. We don't like using them as it limits some things such as depth of the shrouds. The rings are best used with epoxy anyways, so we simply don't use them. In the end, I believe we can chalk this up to a miscommunication error between us.

Labor rate... it's $680 on this model. It's been this way for years. Yes, its higher than the rest of the guys that do this at home as a side business, but unfortunately we cannot compete pricing wise. I can assure you, it will be hard to find someone else who matches our level of quality, communication, and turn around times. To be clear, It's not $1000 as I saw referred to above. The difference in the price mentioned was return shipping, parts, and painting fees.

The only mention of paying Lightwerkz any extra fees, was if the OP wanted to change his shrouds. This was in the original inquiry when the OP first receive the lights and noticed the chrome lens retainer rings. To change the shrouds our to a different style, Lights have to be reopened, shrouds removed, new shrouds trimmed up, new shrouds painted, and cleaned/resealed. We cannot take responsibility for a shroud swap when this was the one specifically requested only due to a simple changing of opinion.

In my original response, I mentioned even though there would be a charge, I would work with him directly to come up with a fair rate. "Fair rate" was never discussed as it lead into other "issues" such as the scratches on the lens retainer ring, and a few specks of dust. A scratch on the lens was also mentioned, although I am fairly confident the lens is not scratched, and its a reflection. We would never use a projector with a defect such as a scratched lens. Anyone from our parts supplier, TRS can verify we never order any "B Stock" products from them, only the A stock which is the best of the best. Even A Stock will have slight imperfections, such as small scuffs on a lens holder lets say. Not all units are created without a single flaw, this refers to OEM headlights and OEM projectors as well.

Regarding the dust, it can happen. We fully clean out all components prior to sealing with special blower. There was no dust in it prior to shipping as you can see in our photos on the blog, but its possible some primer specks or something similar, made there way from a hidden location and ended up on the inside of the lens during the impacts of shipping cross country.

http://www.lightwerkz.net/photo/leifs-2015-toyota-tacoma-morimoto-fxr-bixenon-projector-conversion/

My latest response to the concerns mentioned above have offered the OP a full resolution to each and every one of his issues. This also includes shipping both ways, ultimately at no cost and no hassle.

OP: I'm waiting for your response, and I can ensure 100% satisfaction to you at the end of this transaction, as with each and every one of our other customers.

Caesar Rowinski
President - Lightwerkz Global Inc.

 

Seems more like drama than a sale post.

Its kinda hard to chose to go with when getting projectors done. I recently got some done from a member here(won't say names simply because he owned up to a mistake he might have done) and had a few issues good guy really straight up dude best i've dealt with here and would even continue doing business with him as he offered my full refund. It takes a lot of work and skill to get these "right" GLWS if you decide to go cheaper on the lights LMK

 

Despite all the drama, price is a bit high, since you can have ones built to your liking from other vendors for similar pricing. Sucks for OP but regardless market dictates price.

 

Still for sale?

 

Dude they should eat the cost. If you look close, you can see the scratch on the lense in two different pics, which are from two different angles. I'm no wordmatittion, but "blacked out" to me, means blacked out=no chrome, silver, blue, hot pink, etc.

Sometimes a vendor needs to take responsibility. I'm not going to go through their website or whatever and read the fine print, but saying "it can happen" and not try and correct it for free (they did it) is something I would say when I did mine, in my living room. For a business to say that and not correct the issue, says a lot, especially when you're talking the kind of money this guy paid. When you're wrong, and you put out a product that has flaws, own up to it. Harbor freight does.

I couldn't buy these if I wanted, nor would I with those flaws and at that price. OP won't be able to get 100% satisfaction unless the flaws are fixed and the build is what he paid for WITHOUT paying additional. I don't know this guy and I'd probably throw a few jabs his way for spending that much on these lights when he could've done them in his backyard for a quarter of what he paid. You get what you pay for they say. Well here's a good example of that!

Sorry you have to go through this, guy, and sorry for the rant, but after reading the vendors post and trying to pawn off the responsibility, that's just chicken $hit. An invoice for a build like this is black and white, no gray areas. There's no "miscommunication."

GLWS