I agree the rear fog lights are great. I wish they would make it mandatory here like in the EU. All cares should have side repeaters too.
I agree the rear fog lights are great. I wish they would make it mandatory here like in the EU. All cares should have side repeaters too.
Have not read this thread in whole. Depending on chassis you may also find OE fitment of Fog Projectors from overseas (seems to be ebay sellers from Latavia) that fits into the tungsten/halogen spots. Have done this in past model
I have upgraded to LED bulbs in my tails, turn signals, and reverse lights. Depending on your vehicle, you can buy an LED specific relay for the turn signals (Diode Dynamics or TapTurn, I have TapTurn). For taillights, you can either buy canbus specific bulbs or you can make a mini wiring harness to go between the oem harness and the bulb socket, you can add a resistor to the mini harness. For tail lights, I live with my tail light warning light because it isn`t a good idea to add resistors to tail lights, the resistors slow down their activation. I have had the JDM Astar bulbs specific to my vehicle for almost two years without any problems, they are affordable, not the most expensive and not the cheapest. The light output is great for a three sided LED bulb, nice and even and bright, relative to the bulb. Of course the shape of the housing is important, mine are circular and find the output acceptable. The importance of optics really only becomes a concern with regards to a vehicles driving lights. With the brightness of the bulbs in my tail lamps, the tail lamps pretty much act as functional fog lights. Since I installed the bulbs, I have never had a problem with someone tailgating me during inclement weather.
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Here are some photos to aid in research:
All bulbs are JDM Astar, 7440 turn signals F/R, 7443 Tail/stop lights, and 921 Reverse lights
Photo process: Today, 9:50pm, iPhone 6s camera, little to no moon light, no flash, no editing, let the phone focus itself.
Notice the light striations on the fence, they are all consistent and do not make any weird shapes relative to the shape of the bulb.
Lit ground for rear tail lights is within legal limit of the State of Texas
OEM GS300 Tail light housing for reference
I know the quality of the photos isn`t the best, the tail lights and reverse are 90% accurate representation and the turn signals are about 80% accurate representation of brightness.
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Don’t forget to take into consideration if your car has bulb monitoring- it’s not just defeating the warning in the dash, it’s quelling the bulb check flicker. In my experience the “CAN bus” LEDs are able to fool the bulb check into not tripping the warning, but due to the low power required to light the LED they end up “wig wagging” the light during the bulb check cycle if the lights are off.
Was going to put in LED reverse light bulbs to aid nighttime reversing with tinted windows, but found out they’d rapidly blink a few times at a regular interval. I’m sure with enough effort I could find a capacitor to absorb the little voltage applied during the bulb check, I just elected to leave them alone. A friend of mine with another avant did LED foglights, his fogs wig wag unless they’re switched on. (Making him one of those guys...)
+1 for the benefits of rear fog lights. I use mine when conditions require, as well as a 2 stage brake light of sorts to try and keep people off my back bumper during big braking events. (Guess I should rethink the effectiveness though, since I still collected a teenager who was looking over her shoulder when the rest of us were stopping).
Another perk is that during big snowfalls, the back of the avant collects a lot of snow. With (factory) LED taillights, there’s no heat in the housing to keep the lens clear. Except where the incandescent rear fog bulbs live.
Some mullings/musings on LED bulbs in housings not originally meant for LED.
The many LED design of the bulbs have come a looooong way. Some now are good for backups as far as (throw) is concerned.
Canbus does work - turn off cold check, adjust PWM settings, resistors/caps - the usual you need to do if putting in a LED bulb....
I think the answer is not universal. Sometimes I think a LED bulb for example in a turn signal, may be too Bright in a housing. May look fine in the day but driver blinding at night
I would say the tritons are too bright for tails and they aren`t compatible with most European cars that have a plate that hold the base of the socket in place. Personally, if you can wire in a resistor these are the best for tails lights. I`ve had them in my R for 3 years an they still look amazing.
You just need to find your base.
https://www.amazon.com/Philips-7440-.../dp/B00P2D418M
Sounds like there are some BULB NERDS in here. Whaddya say. I want to slap a set of H7 High replacements . I`m wired on Bi-Xenon already.
Ordering from overseas. Do I go for NiteBreakers H7 (leaning on this direction) or the Philips Vision+. I googled the beejeezus out of this. Was not comfortable from the many no-name vendors who seem to the be only one carrying the H7.
Reputable spots a dime a dozen for D2S like TRS. I`m looking for a good H7 High
Ended up buying rallye lights. not sure as I`ve read both sides of the camp - others saying NiteBreaker/VisionPlus is just as good as Rallye lights these days. Then the other side of the camp, saying the latter is still far superior
Thanks for all the inputs. I was afraid it would take a bit more work than simply plugging in the bulbs or adding a module between the bulb and existing wiring. I know nothing about electronics and wouldn`t be comfortable trying to self-teach on my daily driver.
There are plug-and-play LED tail light assemblies for my car, both Euro OEM and aftermarket, but they aren`t perfect and pretty expensive. The aftermarket assemblies have REALLY dim blinkers and both the OEM and aftermarket suffer from being very directional. If you aren`t positioned directly in line with the LED`s, the ability to tell if the brakes lights are lit drops off pretty quickly the farther you stray from center.
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Just a reminder to consider all the potential legal ramifications of changing a vehicle`s exterior lighting. Get in an accident and have somebody notice your exterior lights aren`t OE, and prepare for the lawsuits. Yeah, I know..."it`ll never happen to me".
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Is those with higher watts? The rallye lights.
Be carefull if so. Some reflectors especially the half light is very heat sensitive. Audi at least those year modells around 2000 is almost too strong lights for even the oem lights recommended. The S4 1992 I had they have used stronger lights and the reflectors in the half light where melted. You could barely see the road at night. And the replacement parts is often a high price on them. Saab had the same problem with theres. On the shops that sells LED and xenon lights they print in big text not to use them on Saab cars lol. And even with kits you buy. Make sure the cooling part of the lamp is outside of the reflector house at the back. Otherwise the heat will be trapped inside of them and cause damage in the long run.
I have everything home to do the switch to the LED and HiD inside and out. It`s some cheap stuff so will see how it works. Have non-cambus so it`s en easy switch. Just the half light I will get stay oem. And it`s acceptable good accually. But afraid of burn the reflector since they are so small. It`s projection ones if that`s right translate. Think I bought to strong of a full light. It`s 70w each headlight. Have heard that with too strong ones the reflection of road signs can be blinding. The LED ramp I had on the previous car was doing that and that was an 240w.
To switch out the interior lights in the roof or other places that light up the coupé. Is great when needed extra light when detailing the interior LOL. And a little risk that the battery goes dead too LOL.
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