What's different about this AP2 headlight? Thoughts?
Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 5,651
Likes: 107
From: Mt. ________
Thoughts? I am not just here to hate but this type of thing has been popping up for 10+ years now..
It looks unbelievably cheesy to me, the same goes for the Rick's "S" badges as well. The JDM OEM AP1 clear headlamps (any variation) look much much better than this to me. The slight orange accent behind the clear lens is what sells those things. This is just trying way too hard. Also, how many more ways can you replace the amber reflectors with clear ones?
I think when people look at a car they kind of always do it with that mindset of, "that is nice but I would do it like this" and every time I see an S2000 with mods like this I want to socially engineer the owner to going back to the stock headlights. To show that this isn't just a subjective thing and only down to personal preference..
A simple objective look at headlamps..
First taking the clear headlights into consideration, from a simple automotive and overall design perspective. In most countries, cars are required to be designed under certain regulations, in the U.S. it's the orange reflectors, other countries it is something else. When a designer works hard and comes up with a headlight design for the U.S. that is so damn good (designed around a compromise perfectly) that it ends up on every car around the world that is when you step back and leave well enough alone. From a basic design standpoint, a headlight is an important design element in a car, not only is it an extremely functional element, they without question become the eyes of the car, the first place someone looks just as when looking at a person. Seeing a person with "clear" eyes would be quite disturbing. WIth the headlight in the S2000 already being pretty elaborate, especially the AP2, the amber sections help "simplify" the headlight design, in that, the parts that put out this color of light are this color, and the parts that put out this type of light are this color, you don't look at all of this complexity at one due to the difference in color, the same goes for all clear AP1 lights vs. the Standard JDM AP1 clear lights, that bit of orange helps simplify. Making everything clear, makes it all a bit visual mess, with 4-5 things that could be the headlamp and all putout the same color. There is no longer any contrast to help balance out the design.
The EXACT same thing can be said for pretty much all of Honda's JDM headlamps/corner lamps. DC2, good god, the USDM design is probably THE ugliest headlamp design of all time, for reasons that are already explained above, they were a complete hack job, with a bumper that was painfully slapped on as well. The JDM DC2, follows all of the same rules mentioned above, colors that reflect the lamps intended purpose, and although they are subtle, they are always clearly visible. USDM EG6 corner lights? Amber done very poorly, EG headlights were very very simple, and the USDM design tried to make the corner lamp look like it was meant to do more than it really was. the JDM corner lamp was a simple clear ribbed design with a subtle orange of the internal bulb, just like the AP1 headlight, just like the DC2, JDM EK9 headlight, FD2 CTR, etc.
There were definitely misses though, I always though darker/non-painted modern NSX headlights looked better than the painted, but they both still look pretty damn nice overall, the painted was just too obvious for my taste.
So, all that bullshit aside, instead of making everything completely clear, try something a little more subtle next time, or keep the amber bulb visible inside the clear lenses, or just leave it alone and go driving instead
Don't let my opinion stop you though, I won't ever knock people for experimenting, sometimes experiments aren't always a success though, don't be afraid to kill ideas you thought were great.
The "S" badges I just won't get into right now.
(drops mic..)
It looks unbelievably cheesy to me, the same goes for the Rick's "S" badges as well. The JDM OEM AP1 clear headlamps (any variation) look much much better than this to me. The slight orange accent behind the clear lens is what sells those things. This is just trying way too hard. Also, how many more ways can you replace the amber reflectors with clear ones?
I think when people look at a car they kind of always do it with that mindset of, "that is nice but I would do it like this" and every time I see an S2000 with mods like this I want to socially engineer the owner to going back to the stock headlights. To show that this isn't just a subjective thing and only down to personal preference..
A simple objective look at headlamps..
First taking the clear headlights into consideration, from a simple automotive and overall design perspective. In most countries, cars are required to be designed under certain regulations, in the U.S. it's the orange reflectors, other countries it is something else. When a designer works hard and comes up with a headlight design for the U.S. that is so damn good (designed around a compromise perfectly) that it ends up on every car around the world that is when you step back and leave well enough alone. From a basic design standpoint, a headlight is an important design element in a car, not only is it an extremely functional element, they without question become the eyes of the car, the first place someone looks just as when looking at a person. Seeing a person with "clear" eyes would be quite disturbing. WIth the headlight in the S2000 already being pretty elaborate, especially the AP2, the amber sections help "simplify" the headlight design, in that, the parts that put out this color of light are this color, and the parts that put out this type of light are this color, you don't look at all of this complexity at one due to the difference in color, the same goes for all clear AP1 lights vs. the Standard JDM AP1 clear lights, that bit of orange helps simplify. Making everything clear, makes it all a bit visual mess, with 4-5 things that could be the headlamp and all putout the same color. There is no longer any contrast to help balance out the design.
The EXACT same thing can be said for pretty much all of Honda's JDM headlamps/corner lamps. DC2, good god, the USDM design is probably THE ugliest headlamp design of all time, for reasons that are already explained above, they were a complete hack job, with a bumper that was painfully slapped on as well. The JDM DC2, follows all of the same rules mentioned above, colors that reflect the lamps intended purpose, and although they are subtle, they are always clearly visible. USDM EG6 corner lights? Amber done very poorly, EG headlights were very very simple, and the USDM design tried to make the corner lamp look like it was meant to do more than it really was. the JDM corner lamp was a simple clear ribbed design with a subtle orange of the internal bulb, just like the AP1 headlight, just like the DC2, JDM EK9 headlight, FD2 CTR, etc.
There were definitely misses though, I always though darker/non-painted modern NSX headlights looked better than the painted, but they both still look pretty damn nice overall, the painted was just too obvious for my taste.
So, all that bullshit aside, instead of making everything completely clear, try something a little more subtle next time, or keep the amber bulb visible inside the clear lenses, or just leave it alone and go driving instead
Don't let my opinion stop you though, I won't ever knock people for experimenting, sometimes experiments aren't always a success though, don't be afraid to kill ideas you thought were great.The "S" badges I just won't get into right now.
(drops mic..)
...to LEDs also.
much cleaner IMO
Registered User
Joined: Feb 2010
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From: San Francisco, Ca
Cheers!
Banned
Joined: Feb 2009
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I think with the Ap1 headlights, u can get away without the amber. But with the Ap2 headlights with the clear, from a distance or with a little hazing, they look like Ap1 headlights.
And yes, the Rick's "S" badges are ugly and actually stopped me from buying a S2000. I'm in Florida and there is always 45-65 S2k's for sale in a 300 mile radius.
And yes, the Rick's "S" badges are ugly and actually stopped me from buying a S2000. I'm in Florida and there is always 45-65 S2k's for sale in a 300 mile radius.
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 3,664
Likes: 2
From: LO5 AN6ELE2
I think with the Ap1 headlights, u can get away without the amber. But with the Ap2 headlights with the clear, from a distance or with a little hazing, they look like Ap1 headlights.
And yes, the Rick's "S" badges are ugly and actually stopped me from buying a S2000. I'm in Florida and there is always 45-65 S2k's for sale in a 300 mile radius.
And yes, the Rick's "S" badges are ugly and actually stopped me from buying a S2000. I'm in Florida and there is always 45-65 S2k's for sale in a 300 mile radius.
You could always romove them or it. I bought a s2k with rear ricks badge, not much of a fan so I removed it, well it kind of grew on me so I still have it put away lol
There are far more important things then badges to worry about..
