LED Tailight kit

[dmc6960]

How did you detach the lens surrounds? I haven't figured out how they're attached and don't want to break them...

You dont, the plastic is bonded together. He reached inside through the bulb opening. I would not recommend painting the parabolic portion if it is currently reflective.

[Shep]

Okay, so I went with DeLorean03's listing of the bulbs he used (Post #71). I bought it from iPremierTek, although instead of buying it from eBay and dealing with the hassle of contacting them to combine shipping etc. etc., I went straight to their website, HIDLightsUSA.com and bought it from there. They were out of the Red and White bulbs, but instead of putting them on backorder, they changed them to the 24 SMD versions and left a post-it note on the white bulbs that read "Upgrade". I may have bought from them a whim, but the free upgrade was a huge, huge bonus, especially being my first purchase. They've definitely gained me as a customer!

Here's the god's honest truth: if you're looking for LED replacements for stock bulbs that are identical in brightness and light dispersion, here's the bulbs you want:
GP Thunder 1156SMD-24A (Amber, 1x)
GP Thunder 1156SMD-24R (Red, 3x)
GP Thunder 1156SMD-24W (White, 1x)

They are actually slightly brighter than stock when brand new, however it's marginal. The white bulbs are a pure white, not a yellowish-white like the stock ones, and while the amber ones I got are a slightly different color, I got the 18A version instead of the 24A version. I'll be switching from the former to the latter soon for consistency and because the 18A is dimmer than stock.

So I waited until about 7:30 PM with overcast skies, put some weight on the brake pedal, pulled the E-brake up, put the shifter in Reverse, turned the hazards and parking lights on, then turned the key to "on" and snapped this picture of every single light on simultaneously:



Frankly I don't know what all the hubub is about not being able to photograph LED's. The pictures I took with my point-and-shoot came out just fine. You just have to set the exposure properly. I could take them with my smartphone with the same results if I had the settings right.

Who in their right mind would make lighting with black reflectors??

I wonder was the "chrome" poorly applied and just peeled off?

Um, no, mine are like that too. Completely black with minor gloss, just like the outside of the housings. There's no difference inside or out; it's just bare unpainted plastic. Frankly I thought it was just one of those 1981 quirks and had no idea it was a production change. I've still got the original sticker on the passenger taillight, so I always thought it was a NOS unit and not a production unit, but evidently they're original if both have bare insides. One of those triple-digit-VIN things I'd imagine.

[NightFlyer]

Um, no, mine are like that too. Completely black with minor gloss, just like the outside of the housings. There's no difference inside or out; it's just bare unpainted plastic. Frankly I thought it was just one of those 1981 quirks and had no idea it was a production change. I've still got the original sticker on the passenger taillight, so I always thought it was a NOS unit and not a production unit, but evidently they're original if both have bare insides. One of those triple-digit-VIN things I'd imagine.

Nice pics!

So, do you plan on painting the reflectors or are you happy with the current light output/dispersion?

[Shep]

Nice pics!

So, do you plan on painting the reflectors or are you happy with the current light output/dispersion?

For now, I'm leaving them as is. They're fairly sufficient even for daytime. If anything, I'd buy new housings for a more complete reflector, but I'm not sure I need to. Really my only complaint is that the inner column of the amber portion is the only one that lights up; the outer column does not illuminate whatsoever. Is this different in the later taillights? If it is, that would give me more incentive to make the switch. I'd like it to light up the whole triangle instead of just the thin/tall rectangle, but currently it does not.

[Bitsyncmaster]

For now, I'm leaving them as is. They're fairly sufficient even for daytime. If anything, I'd buy new housings for a more complete reflector, but I'm not sure I need to. Really my only complaint is that the inner column of the amber portion is the only one that lights up; the outer column does not illuminate whatsoever. Is this different in the later taillights? If it is, that would give me more incentive to make the switch. I'd like it to light up the whole triangle instead of just the thin/tall rectangle, but currently it does not.

None of the outer amber lights on any stock D. I was thinking about modifying mine to light but so much work for what to gain.

[Shep]

None of the outer amber lights on any stock D. I was thinking about modifying mine to light but so much work for what to gain.

I'll have to double-check the design of the housings, but as much as this is a Steve Rice kind of approach, a well-placed hole or two in the housing and some aluminum foil I believe would get you a good mock-up. Then it should just be a matter of getting the right shape and making it out of a more permanent material. I might actually give this a try if I ever get my hands on some spare housings.

Naturally, much easier said than done

And to get things back on topic (sorry for the sidetracking guys), I will most definitely be upgrading to the 24A version of the amber bulbs. I forgot to mention this before, but on vs. off was barely any difference when standing about 3-4 feet back. It doesn't exactly catch your eye like it should, whereas the stock ones are fine.

That being said, I do have the black housings, so I'm sure that factors into it quite a bit. I may actually try to see if I can find a similar bulb that has even more SMD LED's on it to see if I can get brighter than stock. I can't imagine DeLorean03 would be recommending these if he had similar results, so my thinking is that the side-facing LED's are mostly lost with the black reflectors, and the 24A's have more front-facing LED's than the 18A's do, so they're naturally brighter.

[DeLorean03]

The 24 SMD LEDs have 6 on the end - the 18s have 3.

I'm going to be putting up some new videos soon. Nightflyer sent me all sorts of LEDs to try, and I'll be doing a couple comparison videos of 18 SMD LEDs vs CREE/SMD LEDs soon. Keep an eye out later this week!

[NightFlyer]

The 24 SMD LEDs have 6 on the end - the 18s have 3.

I'm going to be putting up some new videos soon. Nightflyer sent me all sorts of LEDs to try, and I'll be doing a couple comparison videos of 18 SMD LEDs vs CREE/SMD LEDs soon. Keep an eye out later this week!

COOL - Hopefully I bought some half-way decent stuff...

[Shep]

Just thought I'd share this with everyone. Jeff (jmpdmc) linked me to a mod he did for the rear running lights [link]. In the picture I posted above, you can see that mine are quite dim, even though they have the same exact LED's as the brake lights, and the stock incandescents suffer from the same problem. In his mod, he put reflective vinyl on the sides of the housing for the light, helping to evenly distribute the light. The only hitch is that the GP Thunder bulbs I linked to have only directly-forward-facing and directly-side-facing LED's, with nothing angled between the two, so the reflectors would mostly bounce light from the side LED's off of the walls and back onto the bulb.

That's when the light bulb ( ) went off in my head: every other light on the taillight is surrounded in a dome. The running lights have absolutely nothing directing the light forwards. Instead of putting reflectors on the sides, why not go one step further and create a dome? Considering the shape of the housing, even a primitive pyramid-like shape should do wonders.

[Steven]

The 24 SMD LEDs have 6 on the end - the 18s have 3.

I'm going to be putting up some new videos soon. Nightflyer sent me all sorts of LEDs to try, and I'll be doing a couple comparison videos of 18 SMD LEDs vs CREE/SMD LEDs soon. Keep an eye out later this week!

Looking forward to the vids! I'm about to do a big LED upgrade so I can't wait to see the results.