Location: Middleburg Heights, OH
Posts: 1,939
Dave M vin 03572
http://dm-eng.weebly.com/
Location: Brisbane, Australia
Posts: 51
My VIN: 966
Club(s): (PNDC)
One of the other big things you can do to even out the light spread is to paint the inside of the light housing white. A latex/acrylic-based house paint is fine for the job, it'll bond to the rubber without damaging it or flaking off. The internal light reflections will increase the brightness plus even out its spread.
The same can be said for the tail lights. Use a small brush & paint as much of the sides white as you can reach. I need to get around to uploading those before/after photos, but that's probably for another thread...
-Mike, Professional Geek, owner of VIN966
I had been thinking about this problem for a while now. I finally (and coincidently today) decided on putting in a very thin defuser. What to use? Construction paper! That's right, construction paper. Extreamly cheap. Just cut to size with sissors.
My lenses are the standard red in back, yellow in the middle, but non-standard blue in front (looks way cooler than four yellow lenses, especially at car shows when it's dark out), so all three colors in construction paper are needed. As of today, I have them all.
Anyway, I'll try to get before and after pictures, and post here later.
Thomas
...
Well, sorry for the kludgy hack job on the attached photo, but it shows all six shots. All on the left are without the defuser, and on the right are with the new defuser. All photos have the smooth side of the lense on the outside.
I don't think the camera does the pictures justice, as the defused LED's look much better looking straight at them, albthough a little dimmer. Still, looks pretty darn good at night.
Thomas
...
DeLo-Door-LEDs.JPG
Location: Middleburg Heights, OH
Posts: 1,939
Do you guys think wax paper would be opaque enough to disperse light effectively? House paint sounds like it would block quite a bit of light, as would construction paper. I won't be doing much night driving, but I may be doing some driving around dusk, so for me it needs to be bright enough to see when there's still light out.
Location: Atlanta OTP GA
Posts: 7,084
My VIN: 2743
Club(s): (SEDOC) (DCH) (DCUK) (DOC-UK)
I think he meant paint the inside housing white, not the lens (what would be the reflector part of a headlight, say)
Dermot
VIN 2743, B/A, Frame 2227, engine 2320
I don't always drive cars, but when I do, I prefer DeLoreans
http://www.will-to-live.org
No-one is to stone anyone, even, and I want to make this absolutely clear, even if they do say "carburetor"
Location: Middleburg Heights, OH
Posts: 1,939