I bet it is something you don't want to hear. Lol

If I would guess 99% of people use those two prong 5mm round LEDs. Also I bet they are just going to drill holes through the lens and the LEDs will be exposed when looking at the tails because that is the easiest way.

Another thing is they are not diffused you can see the split in the rows of LEDs.

 

From my understanding and their post on their Facebook page yesterday, it seemed they were gonna produce these for the public

"Get ready for some changes as we team up with car shop GLOW to bring you cool **** for your FD."

 

Preview:






More photos to come once we have the first sets on our cars.

 

whoa.

 

That looks good! Is there any way to run the leds through the center piece as well? I've never taken the center piece off mine or seen one off an fd to make sure if it is even possible but it would be pretty cool to make it all flow together.

 

Well, like turboIIrotary stated, those use two-prong 5mm leds. Counted over 170 of those suckers in there. What that means is those are going to be pretty dim as you just can't get enough brightness from that technology - you have to use the more high powered surface mounted leds like what Cree makes. Looks like they swapped out the inside lens assembly for an entire board.

Also not liking the individual led look. Needs to be a solid surface "glow".

Sorry to be harsh about this but it's a fail for me.

 

You can use a glow tube similar to how BMW uses it. I may have to look into this project!

 

^ BMW doesn't use "glow tube" technology like the above. They use led-based optical plastic to achieve what you see on their cars.

Don't bother with the "glow" wire/tube stuff, it is probably the dimmest of all the technologies I have tested. Have some of it in the garage in a box and that is where it will stay.

 

Didnt know about how dim they are. I did have a 135i with LCI tails for a few months and a f10 rear tail taken apart sitting in my garage. Guess its time to look further into this.

 

No offense here taken! Thanks for your opinion!

Will have photos and video once we have these.

 

when can I order a pair?

I have a pair of core taillights you can use

 

I should finish mine soldering all the LEDs are brutal though.

 

If at all possible take the video showing brake and turn in full daylight.

 

^ What he said. It would be most helpful to have pics/videos of these during the daytime and with sunlight. Would you leave one side OEM and show the difference between the two? That would be key as sunlight usually becomes the downfall of LED conversions. It's really important to have proper lighting here as they are break lights and you don't want anyone rear ending you.

Having done way too much LED design work, I can attest it is easy to put together an LED taillight design, but very difficult to produce something that meets or exceeds the OEM units. I know 5mm LEDs have gotten brighter, but I have never seen a retrofit with that style LED that comes close to being OEM safe. By 5mm unit, this is what I refer to and is being used in these units:



People use these because they are easy to work with and are cheap, costing 10 to 20 cents per led. So, with 170 leds per taillight, the producer has around $35 max in cost.

By contrast, here is a Cree led I am using for a new DRL turn signal design:



These are 100+ lumens each or like a factor of 1,000X brighter than the 5mm units. For a reference, you need 1,600+ lumens to qualify as headlight acceptable. You don't see them being used often because they cost $2.50 per unit.

My bet for anyone interested in led taillights is to stick with the LED retrofit bulbs or to use the LEDs like I did in my taillight conversion:

https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-generati...cation-955336/

Or better yet, wait for turboIIrotary to complete his work

 

Make sure you send your tail lights to the DHSA for testing That's the only opinion that REALLY matters.

Looking forward to seeing what they look like on a car in person. I think they'd look better diffused personally.

 

mayday, i will totally buy a set of those if they are bright enough out in the sunlight.

i do have one beef though: the turn signals look very YELLOW, and not amber.

 

The nice thing about Car Shop GLOW is that Ken will make any LED tails custom, we even tossed around the idea of hearts (yes, hearts <3) and other things such as clear housings, sequential lights and so forth. We tossed those designs out and settled for the original LED tails as seen on the famous CSG FD. So while these lights will be on our cars, that's not to say we may or may not ask Ken to tweak them a bit. Cost was also another factor.

But CSG CAN make custom LED tails for the FD to your specs, but the catch is we would have to have them make a certain amount for it to be profitable enough to even manufacture them.

We are not in it to make a profit. The profit margin for us as Mayday is super slim and we are only bringing to market a part that currently does not exist here yet. Well, that, and we wanted a set for ourselves.

We WILL take photos and videos during the day and at night with both OEM and CSG lights so you, the RX7 FD community can decide if they are as cool as we think they are.

 

so about ordering?

 

I second this!!

 

UPDATE!







We should be getting these within the next two weeks. The metal badges are made and riveted on, we are only waiting for one final smoke/tint and it'll be on our FD's this month!

 

When you get these, will you take pics with one side being the LED lights and the other, the stock OEM ones?

I think most folks will want to know how bright these are. Not saying you need to do this, but I have the tools to test taillight output and would be happy to test these for you.

 

Those Mayday garage lights looks ok illuminated , but at a closer looks, I'm not really a big fan of seeing all those led's. Perhaps forming some kind of cover over them to give a more solid one piece when lit up?

Something similar to newer Audi and Benz tail lights? Otherwise, it's a good step towards something more modern.

 

anymore pictures of the brown FD?

 

IMO they look a little too DIY and retro; the OP definitely looks better and appears diffused. If the lights could be on par with let's say, the new Audi's then that would be perfect!

 

really?

google image search "car shop glow"

however, that is the only picture I've seen w/ the LED tail lights illuminated.