Has anyone had any body work done on their coach at Parliament Coach in Clearwater, Fl.. I'd love to have Xtreme do my conversion, but by the time I travel from Tampa to Nac, stay somewhere while the work is being done, then travel back, I've probably added another 1.5k to the price. Parliament does headlight upgrades on Prevosts and Bluebirds so I'm getting them to give me a quote on doing mine. Sure would like to have some idea of their track record.
my wife would NEVER be able to tolerate the fiberglass smell. I thought we were going to have to move when we had our gunite pool resurfaced with fiberglass
Steve,
You can get a Xtreme headlight upgrade at any good boat fiberglass shop near you. Got to be a bunch in the Tampa area.
James Stallings will ship them the headlight panel fully assembled, gel-coated and ready to go. The shop makes a vertical cut and horizontal cut on each side to remove the old lights. They simply glass in the new panels, finish the joints and you are ready to go.
Any shop that can talk fiberglass work can understand James' instructions to install his headlight upgrade kit. Just call him. 936.560.5888
No travel, no hotel (would not need one if at Xtreme) and no smell.
IIRC Foretravel will sell you the "kit" for their headlight conversion if you have a shop that can do fiberglass.
Thanks, Rudy, and Michelle. That's good info.
I have had a couple of service encounters at Parliament (no body work) back when the Mitchell's ran the place. All was fine with courteous efficient work. The labor rate was high compared to Nacogdoches but that was more than made up by the savings over a trip to Texas.
This place is under new management now, I think, so things may be different.
For what it may be worth, you can purchase the headlight conversion as a "kit" from FOT. I forget what I paid, but thought it quite reasonable. Includes the molded fiberglass panels, and all the associated hardware (including new, round, fog-lights). If you have a local trustworthy fiberglass shop, it's at least an option some are perhaps not aware of.
I just had some email correspondence with James Stallings, and he told me they have recently come up with a one-piece kit that has the lights already installed that just requires one horizontal cut and patch. It is shippable by truck.
Are any pictures available?
DJ, James is supposed to be sending me some. I will post as soon as I get them.
Excellent! I keep thinking about getting the conversion done, but I'm still undecided about several details and so additional information is appreciated.
Well, after all this, I think we've decided to just wait until we can get the coach to Nac, and let James do it. No doubt, he's the best. In the meantime, I'll try to figure out some way to make these headlights useable. I refuse to drive the coach at nite with these stock headlights. I simply can't see. What has anyone else done to improve the performance of their stock headlights?
Put inexpensive HID setups in my housings. $35 both sides including the ballasts
Steve, I agree the stock headlights are pretty sorry at night, I think they are like 91 ford Bronco assemblies, you might find some new lenses are needed if the old ones are cloudy. Also I think Phillips makes some brighter Bulbs that are direct fit. Be careful with changing the wattage of the bulbs so you don't overload the stock wiring. I'll drive mine at night on the interstate but 2 lane mountain back roads can get a little scary.
My stock headlights are (barely) adequate--but they are adequate. Make sure the lenses aren't fogged, and polish or replace them if required. Install some high-quality halogen bulbs (not the silly "HID-look" blue bulbs). Finally, use the high beams whenever possible (without bothering other drivers). The "fog lights" also put out a lot of light--but be careful to aim them correctly.
I look forward to a headlight upgrade in the future, but I've done a significant amount of nighttime driving with my current lights and I'm able to successfully get by.