6GA Coupe Custom LED Retrofit Tail-Lights

[FNCONE]

How about sourcing a flexible led tube like this, solid light instead of multiple led in a row. (Obviously it still is multiple leds but in the tube it looks solid not dot dot dot dot) And keeping the light OEM red, instead of clear.


At least you can get the outer part done? Kinda like the new Jeeps and Dodge tails.

 

[Brad2274]

How about sourcing a flexible led tube like this, solid light instead of multiple led in a row. (Obviously it still is multiple leds but in the tube it looks solid not dot dot dot dot) And keeping the light OEM red, instead of clear.


At least you can get the outer part done? Kinda like the new Jeeps and Dodge tails.

yes thats exactly what i was planning on using, where did you find that? i was just gonna do the outline then replace oem bulbs with led ones, nothing crazy

 

[Varnell]

Definitely has my interest. DIY LEDs that I've come across rarely look clean. I can see myself giving this one a shot, though.

 

[FNCONE]

yes thats exactly what i was planning on using, where did you find that? i was just gonna do the outline then replace oem bulbs with led ones, nothing crazy

Hey Brad, I just googled LED flexible tube and that came up. Im pretty sure its possible. I heated my back lights to remove the orange Turn signal piece. I'm sure someone here will open them and try. If I had a coupe the lights would of been cracked open already lol!!! Worth a shot, junk yard lights and LED tube , some trial and error.... definitely cheaper than 1K.

 

[bdeitemeyer]

How about sourcing a flexible led tube like this, solid light instead of multiple led in a row. (Obviously it still is multiple leds but in the tube it looks solid not dot dot dot dot) And keeping the light OEM red, instead of clear.

At least you can get the outer part done? Kinda like the new Jeeps and Dodge tails.

Trying stuff like that may or may not be worthwhile, most of the flexible LEDs aren't nearly bright enough to look good, but my main argument would be with using the original red OEM lenses. They don't allow clean light output, so using fine light output sources such as LEDs becomes somewhat worthless. My advice would be to use the clear lenses & then apply red tint film to them. I can vouch for this personally.

 

[FNCONE]

ohh okkk, guess the red tint will show more light output? How about a white tube?... How about pointing the LEDS outwards with a diffuser?... or more LEDS closer to each other then some sort of diffuser to help them look solid?
Just throwing ideas out there, I don't own a coupe to try.
You said you can Vouch, you tried the tube LED? Any pics if you did try? That will be cool to see.

 

[bdeitemeyer]

Yes, the red tinted clear lens will show considerably more light output and without it looking distorted as well.

I was referring to vouching for the clear altezza lens with red tint film as opposed to a factory OEM light. Someone else on here has done a side-by-side comparison using LEDs, but for my sake I can only provide pics of my LED tail with the clear lens with red tint vs. a factory tail. The difference is far more noticeable in person, daytime or otherwise. Maybe these pics will help:

 

[FNCONE]

That's awesome!. The left light on the first pic towards the bottom would be my ideal look If I had a coupe. (I'm pretty sure that's just the reflection of the flash)

 

[Sil2DrV6]

ohh okkk, guess the red tint will show more light output? How about a white tube?... How about pointing the LEDS outwards with a diffuser?... or more LEDS closer to each other then some sort of diffuser to help them look solid?
Just throwing ideas out there, I don't own a coupe to try.
You said you can Vouch, you tried the tube LED? Any pics if you did try? That will be cool to see.

Regardless of the lenses being OEM or red tint, using white-emitting lights would look odd when its on, especially those "cool white" ones w/ more than 4000K. "Warm white" might work, but it is always safe to use the red bulbs / LEDs for taillights w/ red lenses.

 

[RedRyder]

^Yep, the LED color should always be the same color as the lens. An exception would be if you wanted a clear section of a tail light to illuminate amber. i.e.

But typically always put red light behind a red lens, amber light behind an amber lens, etc. Though for a while I had an amber LED bulb in the OEM tails (turn signal), and it worked. With the clear lens though, the amber color is much better.

That's awesome!. The left light on the first pic towards the bottom would be my ideal look If I had a coupe. (I'm pretty sure that's just the reflection of the flash)

I prefer the "surface lit LED" look as well, over the "dot matrix LED" style. That's one thing I actually like about the OEM lenses is that they diffuse and evenly spread the light (with the right bulb), so if you put a high quality/high power LED bulb with many radial firing LED's in the stock tails, you get a nice clean filled out shape that illuminates which looks pretty sharp imo. You can even brighten the output by disassembling the tails and using foil or reflective paint inside since the stock "reflector" is just a matte silver.

The watch outs with the OEM tails is the LED bulb can't have too many forward firing LED's or it will create a hot spot in the lens, and the bulb tower itself can't be too long or it gets too close to the lens. And you need to buy a high quality high power bulb, so you can get the best output. But like I said modifying the reflector can also enhance that.

How about sourcing a flexible led tube like this, solid light instead of multiple led in a row. (Obviously it still is multiple leds but in the tube it looks solid not dot dot dot dot) And keeping the light OEM red, instead of clear.
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e63/FNCONE/Flexible%20Red.jpg[IMG][/URL]

At least you can get the outer part done? Kinda like the new Jeeps and Dodge tails.[/quote]

With the LED tubes though, I think tinting clear lenses might make for cleaner output. THe back of the OEM lenses are "stepped" or textured, so with something as fine as an LED tube you won't get crisp output. Not that it would look bad, you'd have to look pretty close to see the distortion. Either way you need tubes that aren't too thick and are good quality. My question is, how would ideally get the tube to hold the desired shape inside the housing?