Money wasted with RS package and wheel upgrades

[two_wheel_mayhem]

Those HID headlights are great but at night they really make your car stand out from far away. This can be both good and bad.

My new car I'm probably getting doesn't have an RS package. I decided it's not a deal breaker for me. It's a 1ss, although if I was getting another LT I'd probably still insist on RS for the larger wheels.

I ordered a lot of stuff on my 2010 that after 3 years I decided a lot of it I don't really need. Leather for example. Knowing that the car only has only about 20% real leather and it will look like crap in 5 years makes me not interested in having it.

[007s 'Vert]

Originally Posted by TaylorRyanSS

The non-RS headlights are so ugly. Thats the only reason I got the RS package and thats the only thing thats left of the RS package on my car. Wheels are gone, tail lights are tinted and my roof is black. I would have paid $1000 for the headlights alone. It completely changes the front of the car.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I am totally opposite when it comes to your opinion, although I do respect your opinion, so I wont bash the RS lights. Although if I had them I would have traded them straight across with someone in here with the "plain" ones,

Originally Posted by 2010SLVRBULIT

dunno, see plenty of rentals w/o the RS package. Pretty plain, imo.

On the contrary, the RS package is rather tacky looking to me, but to each their own. I actually get lots of cool compliments on my "plain" non RS 1LT, several times now others have told me that it is nice that my Camaro doesn't look like all the other "run of the mill" Camaros they see out there, and yes some have told me they like the RS look better.
Not trying to bash the RS lights but when I see them the first thing that comes to mind is "ricer"

Originally Posted by SimpleGreen

I just about purposely avoided the RS package. Got tired of seeing them.

I love my car the way it is. I see very few 1LT's that were left the way mine is. I couldn't see spending the extra $1500 for all the things I didn't need to look even more like all the other Camaros on the road. I was also shooting for better ride quality and MPG so I didn't want the heavier 20's and lower profile tires.

I too feel the same way about the 1LT, so I left it as is, I did however change one thing on the car and it is something that is not in the RS package, and that is the heritage grill.
I have a hard time grasping the fact that a set of headlights cost @ $1600 or more, or even justifies the extra $ you spend on the RS package. If I wanted Halos I would go aftermarket, heck I see so many folks in here that have the stock Halos and are swapping them out for aftermarket lights, why? I don't know.
Roof Ditch molding paint? Huh? Whats that? My car is dark blue! I never even noticed the roof ditch molding was black! and I don't care either!
All this "RS" extra stuff is cool for someone who wants it, but when I went out and bought my car I insisted NOT to have the RS package, for around $1600 less I STILL managed to drive the car off the lot because it STILL came with wheels and tires and headlights to see at night.
When I see another Camaro on the road I could give a rats arse what it has in it, I just like looking at the body style of this car, SS, RS, LT, LS, SS, etc......it really doesnt matter to me, I just like seeing them on the road, I could care less about what someone spent on one, that's their thing.
As for resale not being that good on a non-RS model? Hey, I drive the dog piss out of mine and by the time I even think of trading mine in it will have some serious high miles on it, and I dont even care if it was a ZL1, I wont get jack $hit for it for trade in value.
You all go ahead and pay extra money for all the extra goodies such as RS and other cool new fangled gadgets, after all it's your money, spend it as you wish. I have a certain preference for the 1LT non-RS models with the heritage grills myself, but that's my taste and opinion, and I will respect all of your opinions, thats what make this country so great....variety.

[ZED SLED]

Originally Posted by TaylorRyanSS

The non-RS headlights are so ugly. Thats the only reason I got the RS package and thats the only thing thats left of the RS package on my car. Wheels are gone, tail lights are tinted and my roof is black. I would have paid $1000 for the headlights alone. It completely changes the front of the car.

Same shape. Looks the same to me except for the raccoon eye effect. How do you feel about the Audi headlight accents that looks like the eye glitter on a black transvestite hooker you see in the movies?

[TaylorRyanSS]

Originally Posted by mclark10

Same shape. Looks the same to me except for the raccoon eye effect. How do you feel about the Audi headlight accents that looks like the eye glitter on a black transvestite hooker you see in the movies?

I love the Audi headlights. Those are my favorite. Halogen lights are outdated IMO.

[Revo1]

Originally Posted by Overflow

Because buying the wheels, tints, roof molding, and halo lights seperately would cost more money. Heck even buying the wheels and halo lights alone separately would cost more. IMHO, the RS package is a bang for your buck.

Originally Posted by Baba

The REAL waste of money is adding after-market parts to a vehicle that could've been purchased with those options already factory / dealer installed at less cost with a better warranty to boot. That's part of what constitutes "value" for your money.

Boom.

[caverman]

I specifically ordered my car without the RS package. It's all in what you want.

For me, I want the retro look of the 1st Gen Camaro. The Halogen lights give me that look over the OEM HID. I personally don't care for Halos nor the blacked out headlights.

Wheels....I paid for the polished wheel upgrade. RS wheels were meaningless to me.

Tailights....the difference is so minor that you have to have an RS and non-RS sitting side by side to see it.

Rood Ditch....honestly I kind of like the black. I have the black on my Red for a good rear until I had to take my car into the paintshop because someone scratched it. While there I had them paint them. When I got it back I was honestly dissapointed at first. I actually didn't like them painted. After a while I'm used to it but again I would just as assume have them black.

Emblems....for me I wanted the white SS espcially since my stripes were going to be white. Even without any stripes red SS badges on a red car is almost like not having them at all.

Now, with all that being said I definatley wanted HID headlights over Halogen. I was eventually shown how to do a HID retrofit. I bought some take off Halogens (I still have my original Halogens in the attic) and had them converted over to HID. My aftermarket HID projectors put out a lot wider throw and have a much crisper line than OEM HID lights. I've put my car side by side with an RS to see the difference. I then had a custom harness made that killed the DRL and makes my fog lights automatically come on with my headlights. All in all I have about $600 in my HID retrofit but I still have my orignial Halogens that I can go back to at any time. Personally I think my headlights turned out even better then going with the RS lights.....but I am a little bias though.

[L36L72LS3]

Originally Posted by DataWave

Cause that's a lot of money and trouble.
In my opinion, why would you do that if you could just buy it.
why would you make your car something it's not?
its not as far as putting a v8 facia on a v6 but to me the deal breaker was no RS package.
I didn't want it unless it was an RS.

Why make it something it's not?
You'd be cruzing in a fraud and the Camaro Gods don't approve of it.

[Chevy Troll SS]

It depends on a lot of stuff
1.) v6 or v8 - if you have a v6 and don't want aftermarket wheel ever then yes
2.) color of car and/or color of stripes - If the car is black the molding means nothing
3.) Your want/ability to mod your ride - If your not afraid to mod your car and have the ability to, you can get colorshift halo, retrofit projectors, and HID's for under $550 if you do the work yourself.

I got Black SS non-rs because I knew was going to buy (bought) black aftermarket wheels, blackout all the embelms, and do a retrofit with colorshift halos (including fog halos under $650) and it looks better and more unique then most everyone out on the roads. So if your fine with your wheels and the molding and you just want the HID's don't get it, buy a retrofit/HID's for $250-$270 (theretrofitsource.com) and aftermarket halo's for $300-$450 and save some money (O and you get to turn your fog lights on anytime you want)

[Patrick864 RS]

Like many have said...if it wasn't an RS I wasn't interested. Not bashing non RS Camaros, just giving my 2 cents. Personal taste always wins. No need to argue about what's cheaper and all of that. It's your car, your money, your decisions. Do what you want. In the end we can all say we are a proud owner of a Chevy Camaro

[Angrybird 12]

Originally Posted by caverman

Now, with all that being said I definatley wanted HID headlights over Halogen. I was eventually shown how to do a HID retrofit. I bought some take off Halogens (I still have my original Halogens in the attic) and had them converted over to HID. My aftermarket HID projectors put out a lot wider throw and have a much crisper line than OEM HID lights. I've put my car side by side with an RS to see the difference. I then had a custom harness made that killed the DRL and makes my fog lights automatically come on with my headlights. All in all I have about $600 in my HID retrofit but I still have my orignial Halogens that I can go back to at any time. Personally I think my headlights turned out even better then going with the RS lights.....but I am a little bias though.

If the factory HIDs looked like that I probably would have gotten them. But even a $600 retrofit is a little steep for me.

[caverman]

Originally Posted by Angrybird 12

If the factory HIDs looked like that I probably would have gotten them. But even a $600 retrofit is a little steep for me.

$650 was because I kept my orginal Halogens which meant I had to buy another set and I also had a cusom harness made to kill the DRL. If all you're looking to do is have the HID headlights you can get them done a lot cheaper.

Use your original Halogen housing and do everything yourself and it will only cost you about $300. Have someone like TheRetrofitSouce.com do the actual install of the projectors and it's about $450.

I've actually yet to see anyone do lights like mine. Almost everyone wants the Halos and then end up painting the housing flat black. So, as of now I think my lights are truely a one-off. To me they look like they came from the factory that way as well. A year and a half with them and no issues.

It's to bad that GM didn't do something like mine for the non-RS and then Halos for the RS. I really like how my headlights turned out.