Can you modernize all exterior lights on the FC?
#1
Junior Member
Thread Starter
Can you modernize all exterior lights on the FC?
Has anyone tried to modernize the side marker lights, front turn signals, and/or fog lights?
I love the modernized tail lights, and was wondering if it was possible to make similar changes to the other fixed lights to give the car a clean & flush look.
For the pop-up headlights, I can just grab a different housing.
Thank you!
I love the modernized tail lights, and was wondering if it was possible to make similar changes to the other fixed lights to give the car a clean & flush look.
For the pop-up headlights, I can just grab a different housing.
Thank you!
#2
Full Member
Like this?
re-japan-r-knight.com
In my opinion the most dated looking part of the car is the colored rectangles for lights. I just got some smoked lenses (with colored bulbs) since I have an s4 and they blend in to the side molding great.
re-japan-r-knight.com
In my opinion the most dated looking part of the car is the colored rectangles for lights. I just got some smoked lenses (with colored bulbs) since I have an s4 and they blend in to the side molding great.
#6
Super-Pinoy
iTrader: (3)
Yeah I figured it out the hard way. Ordered all the bulbs in white and failed miserably. The brake lights were weaker than stock.
I'm not an engineer but it has something to do with the color of the light and being absorbed vs not being absorbed by the color of the plastic.
Also on a side note LEDs are not very good for spreading out light as well as regular halogens. They are great for shooting the beam straight out and away but not so much when you need something to be fully illuminated from all angles.
Just throw a regular old bulb vs led in the brake lights for example and you can see the beam is pretty bright only in certain sections
#7
Winter Rotary
iTrader: (5)
Yeah I figured it out the hard way. Ordered all the bulbs in white and failed miserably. The brake lights were weaker than stock.
I'm not an engineer but it has something to do with the color of the light and being absorbed vs not being absorbed by the color of the plastic.
Also on a side note LEDs are not very good for spreading out light as well as regular halogens. They are great for shooting the beam straight out and away but not so much when you need something to be fully illuminated from all angles.
Just throw a regular old bulb vs led in the brake lights for example and you can see the beam is pretty bright only in certain sections
I'm not an engineer but it has something to do with the color of the light and being absorbed vs not being absorbed by the color of the plastic.
Also on a side note LEDs are not very good for spreading out light as well as regular halogens. They are great for shooting the beam straight out and away but not so much when you need something to be fully illuminated from all angles.
Just throw a regular old bulb vs led in the brake lights for example and you can see the beam is pretty bright only in certain sections
The Zevo LED bulbs are far brighter than the incandescents they replace and fill the housings and lenses with light evenly. They are brilliant in the brake lights, turn signals and side markers.
SYLVANIA ZEVO 1157 Red LED Bulb, (Contains 2 Bulbs)
Trending Topics
#8
Super-Pinoy
iTrader: (3)
This is wholly dependent on the design and quality of the LED drop in bulb.
The Zevo LED bulbs are far brighter than the incandescents they replace and fill the housings and lenses with light evenly. They are brilliant in the brake lights, turn signals and side markers.
SYLVANIA ZEVO 1157 Red LED Bulb, (Contains 2 Bulbs) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01A77TV4Q..._xARpBb6P9ESWY
The Zevo LED bulbs are far brighter than the incandescents they replace and fill the housings and lenses with light evenly. They are brilliant in the brake lights, turn signals and side markers.
SYLVANIA ZEVO 1157 Red LED Bulb, (Contains 2 Bulbs) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01A77TV4Q..._xARpBb6P9ESWY
Agreed. All I suggest is getting color matching LED bulbs to further help the situation. Usually I order fleabay ones that have quite a few LEDs on them from all angles
On a side note any ideas for replacing the guage cluster with LEDs? Will these zevo one spread light better in a closed environment like the clear tracks for the cluster ? (At least I think it has those last time I checked) I just don't want parts of my cluster dull and some super bright but if these zevo are good for this application I'll order some.
#9
Winter Rotary
iTrader: (5)
Agreed. All I suggest is getting color matching LED bulbs to further help the situation.
On a side note any ideas for replacing the guage cluster with LEDs? Will these zevo one spread light better in a closed environment like the clear tracks for the cluster ? (At least I think it has those last time I checked) I just don't want parts of my cluster dull and some super bright but if these zevo are good for this application I'll order some.
On a side note any ideas for replacing the guage cluster with LEDs? Will these zevo one spread light better in a closed environment like the clear tracks for the cluster ? (At least I think it has those last time I checked) I just don't want parts of my cluster dull and some super bright but if these zevo are good for this application I'll order some.
A lot of the 'hot spot' problems with LED's in gauge clusters is due to the diode having no diffusion of any kind.. the diode is usually quite a lot closer to what it is illuminating due to poor design vs. the light emitting focal point of the incandescent (which is essentially a sphere of light)... and the extra brightness of the LED also tends to play a part in it as well. However, the Zevo 194's are only a little taller physically than a standard 194 and have a frosted globe to diffuse the 'hot spot' effect and give a bit better dispersion. Couple that to the acrylic light channel that disperses light to the face of the gauges and I'd hazard a guess it'll be fine.
/novel
#12
REINCARNATED
iTrader: (4)
I just recently went on an LED extravaganza for my s5. I installed the Sylvania ZEVO 1157's in my tail lights. 4 total (40$. I went with the RED color and they worked fantastic. For the side markers I went with Phillips 194 LED, white for the rear sidemarkers and Amber 194's for the front side markers. If you use white LED's behind amber lenses the color will wash out. For my license plate lights *89 bulb*, reverse lights and 3rd brake light I used 1156 LED's for these 5 bulbs. 6000K and they are VERY bright. It does not wash out the 3rd brake light and the license plate lights look fantastic and modern. The 89 bulb was VERY hard to find but you CAN use an 1156 bulb in it's place.
I still have yet to find a FRONT turn signal LED (1157) and a rear turn signal (1156). The bulb needs to have a built in resistor to cancel the rapid flash since our relay is built into the CPU in the drivers foot well. I did find one (SERIUS LED) on Amazon with a built in resistor, but it's 40$ for two bulbs. I may still try them and see how they perform.
Lastly I am in search of a good h3c LED for the fog light location, I'm not sure if i'm going to go 5000-6000k or to a nice YELLOW JDM style fog light color.
And of course for headlights we have a few options, albiet EXPENSIVE. There's the GE LED 6054 bulb at $200 per bulb or the JWspeaker 8900 at about $200 per bulb also. I will not buy cheap headlights because of the safety issue, it has to be a known good quality LED if i'm going to use them in the headlights location. but at 400$ for the retrofit I need to wait a few weeks to do this.
-M
I still have yet to find a FRONT turn signal LED (1157) and a rear turn signal (1156). The bulb needs to have a built in resistor to cancel the rapid flash since our relay is built into the CPU in the drivers foot well. I did find one (SERIUS LED) on Amazon with a built in resistor, but it's 40$ for two bulbs. I may still try them and see how they perform.
Lastly I am in search of a good h3c LED for the fog light location, I'm not sure if i'm going to go 5000-6000k or to a nice YELLOW JDM style fog light color.
And of course for headlights we have a few options, albiet EXPENSIVE. There's the GE LED 6054 bulb at $200 per bulb or the JWspeaker 8900 at about $200 per bulb also. I will not buy cheap headlights because of the safety issue, it has to be a known good quality LED if i'm going to use them in the headlights location. but at 400$ for the retrofit I need to wait a few weeks to do this.
-M
The following users liked this post:
KNONFS (05-25-21)
#13
Professional Lurker
In regard to hyperflash with LEDs I recently modded my S5 taillight assemblies to led myself and I found a pretty easy mod to disable the hyperflash circuit. I followed this tutorial for the FD
since the blinker relay circuit is the same between both cars. It's a simple solder job to put in a larger resistor or you can straight up remove the stock resistor and leave the circuit open. Again this will disable hyperflash so you wont get a warning when a bulb goes out but I prefer that over creating unnecessary heat with a load resistor to trick the circuit.
Last edited by JuicyFC; 01-06-19 at 04:02 PM.
#14
Rotary Freak
In regard to hyperflash with LEDs I recently modded my S5 taillight assemblies to led myself and I found a pretty easy mod to disable the hyperflash circuit. I followed this tutorial for the FD https://youtu.be/R2vjSJXOoEI since the blinker relay circuit is the same between both cars. It's a simple solder job to put in a larger resistor or you can straight up remove the stock resistor and leave the circuit open. Again this will disable hyperflash so you wont get a warning when a bulb goes out but I prefer that over creating unnecessary heat with a load resistor to trick the circuit.
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
DC 91 fc3s
2nd Generation Non-Technical and pictures
11
12-26-09 04:13 AM