My LED tail light conversion

[nubie]

Aftermarket, as far as I know Red or Blue lenses are illegal.

[Shawn D.]

Originally Posted by nubie

I know in Europe there is a standard for a rear-facing red fog lamp, I don't know why you can't get them over here.

You can get them over here -- they're available on many cars. The problem is that idiots leave them on all the time.

Originally Posted by Jetta90GL

2009 Olds Aurora rear fog lights:
2009 Oldsmobile Aurora

Hahahahaha... that site is so hokey and full of bunk! Did you not know that Oldsmobile went defunct in 2004? FYI, the last Aurora was a 2003 model! That site lists 5 "2009" Olds models (and even spells the Bravada as Bravado) and even lists a "2009" Pontiac Aztek, when the last one was a 2005 model.

Originally Posted by nubie

Aftermarket, as far as I know Red or Blue lenses are illegal.

Blue lenses are illegal on non-law-enforcement vehicles. Red lenses are illegal when forward-facing.

[nubie]

Originally Posted by Shawn D.

Blue lenses are illegal on non-law-enforcement vehicles. Red lenses are illegal when forward-facing.

Do you have a source for lenses? Like a 130w Halogen lens. I was looking and don't remember if I found them.

[Shawn D.]

Originally Posted by nubie

Do you have a source for lenses? Like a 130w Halogen lens. I was looking and don't remember if I found them.

You seem to be mixing up lenses and bulbs.

In any case, Susquehanna MotorSports has a pretty wide selection of aftermarket lighting.

[nubie]

Nope, a rear-facing driving light just needs a red glass lens.

Susquehanna MotorSports - Detail

And now that we are way off-topic, I do like these: 1156-PCB-R36 Red LED lamp

Product Listing - CAR

So I could keep my tail lenses stock. $9.95 apiece for 36 LEDs

Any word on the price of the ones used to do this mod?

[Shawn D.]

Originally Posted by nubie

Nope, a rear-facing driving light just needs a red glass lens.

Huh? Who are you talking to? I don't see where anyone said anything to the contrary. FWIW, plenty of rear fog lights (not "driving lights") have plastic lenses.

[Shawn D.]

Binger, I applaud your project, but I feel there are better fabrication tools and techniques that could have been used.

Originally Posted by Binger

I was originaly going to try to heat them up and pry them open to mount them inside the taillight housings. I couldn't get them apart...

You could've cut them apart with the technique I note below. Then you could've left the OE lens intact.

Originally Posted by Binger

I traced the LED lens onto the OEM lens. I then drilled a large hole at both ends of the traced oval, and cut the OEM lens with a key hole saw and ground down the edges with a grinding stone.
If you do this yourself use a fresh blade for the second lens. My blade was pretty dull after the first one and it actualy snagged and shattered the lens as I was cutting. Its still a tight fit but it has a bit of a gap...but that will be covered up later.

You already know that a keyhole saw can shatter the plastic, but you may not know that grinding stones aren't good for plastic, as they load up with melted plastic, get jittery, and don't work well for non-metals. The best tools for the job would have been a hole saw for the ends of the oval and a fine hacksaw blade in a open-end handle. Barring that, a Dremel with a #199 bit works well this type of plastic (for both curved and straight cuts).

Originally Posted by Binger

These LED lights as you can see in the picture have no mounting points...

They make cosmetic mounting gaskets for these housings that I will eventualy put over this gap.

They have no mounting points since (as you say) they are mounted in gaskets. The gaskets will not go "over" the gap -- they fit over a flange, so you will need to resize and reshape the gap to fit the gasket, then push the lights in. The manufacturer should have a template for the hole.

Good luck!

[Christ]

You might want to make sure that your new lights meet state requirements for tail light surface area... they seem a bit small-ish.

[8307c4]

I recently swapped out my trailer's standard lights with LED's but FE was hardly the reason.
Anyhow...
The reason I did it is because LED's are brighter, last longer, you can leave
them on overnight by accident, and no more replacing bulbs.

Originally Posted by Ryland

I bought some of the bright LED 1157 bulb replacements from superbrightleds.com and have been very pleased with them, brighter then stock light bulbs, they fit in the standard socket without any fabrication, and if I change vehicles or want to I can easly move them to another vehicle instead of leaving them with the vehicle.

Oh, I like this the best.

[cfg83]

Christ -

Originally Posted by Christ

You might want to make sure that your new lights meet state requirements for tail light surface area... they seem a bit small-ish.

, I hadn't thought of that.

Binger -

What was the packaging for the LED light? Was it a running light or a brake light? It sounds like it was a "supplementary" light that could also be used for brakes.

(still like the look)

CarloSW2