Acura TL Type S Install (V1 + Blinders)

[REBinc]

Nice install. I was greatly disappointed in CR8APL8 too, I don't understand why so many people praise it. It looks like crap.

[Cyberdemon]

Nice install. I was greatly disappointed in CR8APL8 too, I don't understand why so many people praise it. It looks like crap.

Sounds like they probably use the same letters for every plate. Some states those fonts probably match, and some states they don't. The graphics I wasn't that disappointed in, they matched fairly well. But the letters were way off.

[TSi+WRX]

Do you think the fact that most of my headlight is blacked out has any impact on their IR reflectivity? I'd imagine most of the reflection on headlights is happening on the typical chrome housings, rather then the clear lense itself. The reason I ask is I have a camcorder with nightshot (IR) and the brightest areas that reflect seem to be the plate and the paint itself. The only portion of the headlight I seem to get much reflection back on is the actual projector housing which is only 2" diameter or so.

Yes and no.

Yes - in that the les exposed reflectors from your setup will likely cut-down a bit on your overall reflectivity profile.

But also, unfortunately, no - the other part of your theory, unfortunately, doesn't quite pan-out.

It seems that the lens is just that big of a problem - it serves as an optical collimator (which, if you've ever looked inside a V1's laser receiver area, or at the same of the AL G8, LPP, PASS, and LaserStar, you'll see a similar "lens" apparatus), which serves as an optical amplifier.

REF:
http://www.radardetector.net/forums/...work-good.html
http://www.radardetector.net/forums/430603-post12.html

[Stealth Stalker]

I agree with Allen. The frames may be blacked out, but the parabolic reflectors behind each headlight, as well as those big, bright, reflective cornering lights, leave you extremely vulnerable to angle shots, which most LEO shots you encounter will be. The Blinder just doesn't put out enough power to protect you well from angle shots by itself. And Veil looks most complimentary with a silver car.

[RoadWarrior86]

i have always had the questoin of mounting the v1, it seems like yo mount it all the way to the right. How does this affect performance when there are leos comming from the opposite side on the left and leos sitting on the left lange using I/O. I have made a therd about this a while back but I didnt get any good respnonse to this. Sorry if iam trying to jack your theard which iam not. Thanks

[TSi+WRX]

I agree with Allen. The frames may be blacked out, but the parabolic reflectors behind each headlight,

^ I apologize, I'd meant to get back to that posting, but I let it get away from me.

Indeed, what SS said above is what I was getting to - you may have cut-down, drastically, on the overall reflective surface, with a projector-lens being in-front of the rest of the optics, but the problem remains, as SS cited, that behind that lens sits the same reflector or reflector array that will, with the lens itself serving as an optical collimator, still cause an easy reflection to be seen by the optics of the police LIDAR device.

Heck, forget that kind of "mind visual" - just take a look at The VEIL Guy's IR-video series for some first-hand evidence that's as easy to see as day. Look at happya$$'s two front AntiLaser heads (they flank his front plate, and are just below the bumper), see those two IR hot-spots? That's the optical collimator lens of the AL's receiving diode, reflecting back the IR-light.

In referencing back to that '07 Subaru WRX-STi that I linked to, look at the difference, VEIL'ed, between his headlights: a similar arrangement to the setup on your TL, whereby an aesthetic/aero/protective "overlens" shields the underlying headlight optics - and his fogs: which can be said to be a "naked" projector lens, with no such overlens. Look at the difference in the ability of VEIL to serve as good protection for the "overlens" equipped headlights, versus the "naked" fogs.

This again demonstrates that, beyond the focusing lens, the remaining reflector can and will be a problem.

The same scenario also plays out in a comparison of the C5 and C6 Corvettes.

The previous-generation Corvettes were regarded as among the most "naturally LIDAR-stealth" vehicles to-date.

But with the change to the C6, we saw a noted decrease in this "natural LIDAR-stealth," with significantly higher PT numbers (baseline, without jammers or any additional passive measures, of course).

The only real difference to their frontal aspects? The exposed, projector, headlights.

So, as I've said in the other thread referenced above, is such a less-obviously "chromed" setup - be it of exposed reflector assemblies or chrome decorative trim within such housings - better than a more reflective setup?

Certainly.

But at the same time, be realistic - know that you're definitely, by no means, out of the woods.

as well as those big, bright, reflective cornering lights

^ Not just that - for while that's a very good point about his cornering/fog/driving lamps, don't get me wrong - it skips over his headlamp unit's other weaknesses.

Revisiting the headlamps, we see a fresnel overlens for each of his turn-signals/side-markers.

That's a big weakness, too.

And in all honesty, this came as a surprise, somewhat, to me.

It was recently demonstrated on a SpeedTrapHunter post, by a Blinder M25/VEIL G4 video from steagall, that a lucky upper-outboard-corner shot on the headlamp unit of a previous-generation, "peanut eye" ('04-'05 model year, WRX-STi) was able to elicit early PT.

I, at-first, was puzzled.

I'd imagined that the VEIL would have conferred good protection.

But an examination of my wife's WRX's headlamp units (which, in physical configuration, with the exception of its use of conventional halogen lighting, versus the HID low-beam of the STi variant) quickly told me why the PT occurred.....

It was because a decorative marker lamp existed in this area, with a reflector covered-over by a heavily fresnel'ed lens.

Undoubtedly, this underlying "reflector" proceeded to give VEIL a harder time.

[Cyberdemon]

Thanks for the info guys.

Hopefully at some point in the future I can track down a member with a lidar gun to go out and try to get some test figures.

Roadwarrior: I have not noticed any performance issues with the V1 mounted on the right. Any time I've encounted a LEO running radar (both IO and normal) I've had a pretty big window of time where I knew. The only time I got hit with IO and had virtually no advanced noticed was when a LEO going in the opposite direction quickly looped around the median and shot me from behind. I still got full warning (and wasn't speeding enough to have him notice) but he caught me off guard and there was nothing I could do.

On Veil:
I have a few issues with the Veil. The first being that aesthetics aside, I have had multiple friends up here in NY with those tinted headlight covers. Almost all of them have been pulled over at one point for them when they were doing nothing else wrong. Now not that I'm an advocate of drinking and driviing, but I can think of plenty of situations where I've gone out to dinner or happy hour with some friends, had 2-3 beers with dinner and then drove home. Having had friends with DUI's I would absolutely hate to get pulled over for headlight tint and have the cop smell beer on my breath. I know thats a side topic, but for me its an issue that I don't want my car to appear in any way "illegal". It's the same reason I have concerns about plate covers and illegal tint.

I went into this basing a lot of my decisions on the guys of lidar tests. Even in the worst case scenarios it seems they were still able to cut 1000 feet off the punch through, which based on my initial criteria :

80+mph = 120fps, so if I got hit at 2000 feet that would potentially give me around 8 seconds of "slow down time" which is more then the 4-5 seconds I had hoped for (if you figure 1-2 second reaction time plus an easy decelleration).

I realize the flaw in my logic comes if I get hit by a cop whos only 500 feet away, but since I try to be fairly cautious about speeding where I don't have any good visibility, I try to reduce that.

I guess it comes down to would I rather potentially risk the speeding ticket, vs the potential hassles (and aesthetics) of the Veil. To me I would rather spend some extra cash and get another 2 blinder heads to try and cover the headlights rather then go with the Veil.

I do recognize the front plate is a big issue though, I just need to figure out what I want to do on that end.

[TSi+WRX]

Thanks for the info guys.

No thanks needed - just glad to help.

On Veil:
I have a few issues with the Veil. The first being that aesthetics aside....

Indeed, even with G4, it's far from perfect.

If you daily-use your vehicle, it's not much of an aesthetic "negative," as the rather quick build-up of road-grime and environmental dusting will readily render the lens surface, no matter how badly applied the VEIL happens to be, to be homogeneous - as if you simply had a "film" on the light.

^ But towards that end.....

I have had multiple friends up here in NY with those tinted headlight covers. Almost all of them have been pulled over at one point for them when they were doing nothing else wrong. ....I know thats a side topic, but for me its an issue that I don't want my car to appear in any way "illegal". It's the same reason I have concerns about plate covers and illegal tint.

I can totally understand that, and I totally agree.

One of my tenants of this hobby is that I do nothing to attract more attention to it than what the car presents with, already (being that we both drive vehicles which are supposedly "family sedans," but are either factory or aftermarket "modified" for higher performance, we both have one foot in, and one foot out, of the Import Sport Compact genre, and we are discriminated against, thusly).

My entire concern is that I value my time more than anything else, in terms of materials/possessions. As such, I simply don't want the time-lost from being stopped, for any reason - citation or not.

In this manner, towards this specific end-goal, we are very similar.

With a single, VERY, light coat of G4, the tinting effect is all but un-noticeable - both during the day, and even moreso during the night, when your very bright factory HIDs will literally "burn through" what little tint there is.

With that said, you can see how G4 looks, on my blue vehicle:

http://www.radardetector.net/forums/...pressions.html

Don't get me wrong - I'm not trying to convince you to VEIL your car. I'm just acting as the foil, in a good discussion, pointing out the other side of the equation.

80+mph = 120fps, so if I got hit at 2000 feet that would potentially give me around 8 seconds of "slow down time" which is more then the 4-5 seconds I had hoped for (if you figure 1-2 second reaction time plus an easy decelleration).

To be more realistic, recalculate for a max initial engagement distance of 1300 ft., and a minimal likely of 800.

[Cyberdemon]

Seems to be less noticable on your car.

A bigger concern is the fact that I do almost 80 miles a day in basically bumper to bumper traffic. My car has so many rock chips already that I think I'd be reapplying the veil every month to keep it from getting "salt and peppered".; My headlights already have a ton of surface imperfecions that would keep me from getting much of a smooth coat I think.

I did order the laser shield though since that was a big priority.

Hopefully I'll be able to track someone down in the tri state area with a gun and get some runs to see how vulnerable I am. It seemed from the IR camera that my metallic silver paint is going to be as big of an issue as the headlights.

My car seems to be pretty good at not getting noticed. Even when I have been driving fairly quickly I've gone past cops running laser and not registered any hits - I think they're too busy running the HOV lanes.

I certainly hear what you're saying, I guess ultimately this comes down to the next time I have a run in with Lidar and am going too fast. Then we'll see where the cookie crumbles.

[TSi+WRX]

Seems to be less noticable on your car.

I think it's because my car's blue, and the backdrop to much of the headlight housing is also dark. The CF eyelines may also work to further "blend" the entire darker theme together, making the VEIL'ing less noticeable.

But also, I have a *very* light coating on.

JDS has a heavier application - although still on the lighter side - on his VW, via airbrush:

http://www.radardetector.net/forums/...g-sucks-2.html

- and you can see how "blue" it is, versus G2's more grayish hues.

This is likely a large part of why, on my vehicle, G4 is nearly un-noticeable.

A bigger concern is the fact that I do almost 80 miles a day in basically bumper to bumper traffic. My car has so many rock chips already that I think I'd be reapplying the veil every month to keep it from getting "salt and peppered".; My headlights already have a ton of surface imperfecions that would keep me from getting much of a smooth coat I think.

Good point.

I don't think that you'd necessarily have to re-apply every month, but I think that refreshing at least quarterly would be necessary, given your commute's rough conditions.

Hopefully I'll be able to track someone down in the tri state area with a gun and get some runs to see how vulnerable I am. It seemed from the IR camera that my metallic silver paint is going to be as big of an issue as the headlights.

Give The VEIL Guy's IR-video series a try, as well as follow-along our discussions here:

http://www.radardetector.net/forums/...r-veil-g4.html

Although I do think that both paint color as well as finish can be either favorable or detrimental, I think that the bigger concern may be one of body-contours - and that there may be synergistic effects, both plus and minus.

My car seems to be pretty good at not getting noticed. Even when I have been driving fairly quickly I've gone past cops running laser and not registered any hits - I think they're too busy running the HOV lanes.

I've been rather surprised at how relatively "invisible" I've been, too.

I guess that given the demographics of those who drive the LGT (i.e. older type), as well as the fact that my car is blue, with a taupe interior (and no tint on the windows at all, and with a decently muted exhaust note, despite the embarrassing size of the canisters), even with the visible modifications, I still get an overall "pass."

Your TL should be even more "invisible."