Aftermarket headlights for the supra

Hello all

Recently purchased 2 sets of used pre face headlights off the forum. Reason for this is I want to manufacture options with regards to headlights for our cars. Purpose for offering this would be to lower the cost as changing/refurbing headlights is a popular mod.

The option of Full headlight assembly oem style with

1.either plastic or glass lense.

2.The lense could be oem with lines or completely clear.

3.the inner backing will be black like face lift lights.

4.park light delete or leave it as is

All this is depending on what the cost is to manufacture.

So what do we think. Would there be Interest in a product like this?

Think there would definitely be interest. I can imagine it to be an expensive process though. Once you have prices definitely put it to the mods. Maybe a group buy?

intrested

The cost of the injection moulding tooling to produce the headlights would £100k's

The cost of the injection moulding tooling to produce the headlights would £100k's

The cost would be in the molds.the machinery is already there. I'm giving it to a factory that already manufactures headlights

The cost would be in the molds.the machinery is already there. I'm giving it to a factory that already manufactures headlights

Tooling = moulds, to produce the moulds will cost £100k's, a company wouldn't invest that amount of money for such a small market, they wouldn't make a fraction of their money back.

Tooling = moulds, to produce the moulds will cost £100k's, a company wouldn't invest that amount of money for such a small market, they wouldn't make a fraction of their money back.

I'm pretty sure you are wrong. I've been to an injection molding factory and the cost for molds are nowhere near that figure.in any case, I'll be meeting with a factory rep in 2 weeks and will see what happens.

Its anoying how there is so no aftermarket headlights for supras but there are for so many other cars ie: vw, seat, ford ect.

Im never happy with my headlights lol.. Only time I would be is if I bought band new ones. But I can justify That cost..

I'm pretty sure you are wrong. I've been to an injection molding factory and the cost for molds are nowhere near that figure.in any case, I'll be meeting with a factory rep in 2 weeks and will see what happens.

I've spent many years in the industry, injection moulding tooling is very expensive to produce. The investment cost in producing the multiple large moulds needed would far out weigh any money they would make back in sales.

Its anoying how there is so no aftermarket headlights for supras but there are for so many other cars ie: vw, seat, ford ect.

It's all in the numbers, how many Fords Focus's, VW Golf's, etc. do you see on the roads around the world and how many Supras do you see? If you're investing £10k's or £100k's in tooling you need to sell a significant quantity to make your money back.

Could you not try using the 3D printing stuff?

Could you not try using the 3D printing stuff?

I'm not sure what kind of materials printers use now but I'm sure they're too brittle when the process has been completed. If you had suitable materials you'd need a machine big enough and they're really slow. It wouldn't be a cost effective option.

That's my trade making injection mould tools, Nic is right it will be a very expensive thing to get made! Not sure on exact prices but I see and do work On similar mould tools and I can say it's not cheap!

Its anoying how there is so no aftermarket headlights for supras but there are for so many other cars ie: vw, seat, ford ect.

Im never happy with my headlights lol.. Only time I would be is if I bought band new ones. But I can justify That cost..

This

I spent £300 on used facelift lights, after 5 months one was condensating, so i bought a mint single light for £200, 4 months later and the other is fogging up now!

My next move is brand new, only way to go in my opinion

Im interested to hear what comes of this

Best of luck with it, if it turns out to be cost-effective I may be interested in a year or two.

Isn't this what Scott already does as a trader on here?

I dunno for a 1993-onwards car, I think the Supra headlights are pretty fresh, both front and rear.

Although wouldn't mind replacing my UK spec glass for clear plastic like the facelift JDM and USDM.

But certainly more options would be cool!

Pretty sure if there was a cost effective way to do this, then someone would of done it already. If you manage to make it work then yeah sure I bet there will be loads of interest

I have been looking at this for some time now and believe me the cost of getting the tools made is ridiculous, I looked at reverse engineering where the item wanted to be produced is scanned to produce a 3D computer model which is the cheap part. Trying to produce a new injection mould from scratch, you have to look at how it ejects the lense once it has been injected. The mould would have to be produced in separate components so it can slide apart and become an automated process.

Belive me its not worth the cost of getting it produced for a handful of headlights that you would sell on here, you would not be making any profit and could potentially be quite out of pocket.

Isn't this what Scott already does as a trader on here?

Na, I just refurbish lenses. This is a whole new level of new lighting

I'd 100% be up for this sort of thing but it's not going to get off the ground, there's just no chance IMO. It's not going to be worth it for a company. You would probably sell a couple of hundred sets initially (if the price was right) and then sales would dwindle massively to probably the same amount per year if the marketing was right. By that time, again depending on price, quality would come into question so they would need to be top notch items.

I hope you get somewhere with it, but I honestly can't see it.

Perhaps a more cost effective method would be to approach Toyota to either buy a bulk amount of new headlights, or enquire about buying the tooling (unlikely)

Either way is going to require several tens of thousands of pounds upfront imo.

Na, I just refurbish lenses. This is a whole new level of new lighting

 

I'd 100% be up for this sort of thing but it's not going to get off the ground, there's just no chance IMO. It's not going to be worth it for a company. You would probably sell a couple of hundred sets initially (if the price was right) and then sales would dwindle massively to probably the same amount per year if the marketing was right. By that time, again depending on price, quality would come into question so they would need to be top notch items.

 

I hope you get somewhere with it, but I honestly can't see it.

What am I missing here then as the first post just reads like refurb options?

No offence intended to the op.

What am I missing here then as the first post just reads like refurb options?

 

No offence intended to the op.

Brand new lenses, housings etc. So that you could have a pre-facelift glass light with a facelift insert etc. Effectively newly produced aftermarket lenses. I think it was just a poor choice of phrasing

Brand new lenses, housings etc. So that you could have a pre-facelift glass light with a facelift insert etc. Effectively newly produced aftermarket lenses. I think it was just a poor choice of phrasing

Ah right.

In that case, best wishes to the op but can't see it working without significant investment first.

All good! Well within the next month I will know and keep you all posted