led + smoked tail lights?

[whoopnip]

smoked tail lights sometimes come out too dark, and you can't see the lights well during the day, i've heard. has anyone tried using leds to counteract this problem? i think for two reasons this might work:

1. if you get super bright leds, and enough of them, they'd brighter than the stock tails
2. led light is more pinpointed than incandescent, so it might be better for shining through the dark surface.

i've been searching around and haven't been able to find anyone who's done this. does anyone have any info or pics on it? thanks.

 

[4bangincivic]

you cant buy some smoked ones on ebay with the leds in them..but ebay lights are cheesy and ricey :

 

[Destroy]

Just smear human poo over it, you'll get the same effect.

 

[whoopnip]

you cant buy some smoked ones on ebay with the leds in them..but ebay lights are cheesy and ricey :

i was kinda thinking of the oem tails. the leds probably wouldn't look too ricey if they were just in a rectangle where the incandescent normally is. at least right now in my head it looks pretty good... but who knows.

if nobody's done it, i may have to try it myself somewhere along the line.

 

[Esotericimage]

Save your $ and just wax your OEM lights and make em shiny FTW. Its better to rock OE's than let eeryone see some failed experimental lights. Use the $ u saved for some underbody lights or ebay POS fogs lol. (kidding)

 

[6thgenex]

i would wax the lights and just smoked the bottom half where the turning/reverse lights are out.
the smoke tint should come in different percentages

 

[whoopnip]

i would wax the lights and just smoked the bottom half where the turning/reverse lights are out.
the smoke tint should come in different percentages

Ah, someone found one of my crazy old threads! Man, this is one of the first threads I made on CC. Brings back memories.

If you're using tint film, it'll come in different percentages. If you're using spray tint, it's based on how much you put on.

I might as well give an update at this point. I did end up smoking my tails using three coats of VHT Niteshades, so they're pretty dark. And I did manage to find tail light bulbs that were bright enough to look stock through the smoked tails. I was waiting to give the update, though, because I'm not done. I've tried four different kinds of LED tail bulbs, and only one of them was bright enough. So right now, I only have the inner two tail light bulbs bright enough, and not the outer two, or the turn signals and backup lights. Still working on it, but it's been going slowly, both with frustration and lack of effort. I'll probably end up posting a small DIY thread when I'm done.

 

[year_zero]

Just smear human poo over it, you'll get the same effect.

why human poo? as oppose to any other animal? I don't get it.

 

[6thgenex]

yes!
a DIY thread would be awesome.
I'm gonna be lazy and just smoked out the turning/reverse signals

 

[cycleguy83]

LED's arent safe at night. with your lights on, your brake lights dont get any brighter when pressed. its something to do with the wattage. your OEM bulbs have two filaments so that second one turns on when triggered

 

[whoopnip]

LED's arent safe at night. with your lights on, your brake lights dont get any brighter when pressed. its something to do with the wattage. your OEM bulbs have two filaments so that second one turns on when triggered

This is not true. The correct type of LED bulbs are better in every way to incandescent (except price). They DO get brighter when you press the brake pedal, I don't know where you're getting that they don't. They function the same as incandescent, except they have no warm up time, take less power, and can be brighter.

 

[CamelNo.9]

The correct type of LED bulbs are better in every way to incandescent (except price). They DO get brighter when you press the brake pedal, I don't know where you're getting that they don't. They function the same as incandescent, except they have no warm up time, take less power, and can be brighter.

The aforementioned cheap, cheesy, ricey eBay lights might have this problem, but yes any respectable LED unit has to work right to be legal. I didn't see particularly what model/trim your ride is, but I'm a fan of OEM lights. Now granted, I have an EP3 and non-ricey aftermarket tail-light assemblies are harder to come by, but so far I've simply replaced the originals (both head and taillights) with OEM units; now the stock lights off the EP3 are pretty damn shiny and nice and I know older (and even newer) generations can be lacking sexiness in the lighting dept.

It has been my experience working in the industry that incandescent lights work just fine even when tinted/smoked, as long as the outer lens is either new or cleaned to like-new condition. I imagine that smoked LEDs would look hot, as long as the taillight assembly itself is hot in the first place.

 

[whoopnip]

I'm speaking of LED bulbs, not LED tail light assemblies.

Example:

http://store.sixity.com/Items/008000148?&caSKU=008000148&caTitle=2 Red 27 SMD LED Brake/Turn/Tail Light Bulbs 3156 P27W

 

[CamelNo.9]

I'm speaking of LED bulbs, not LED tail light assemblies.

Example:

http://store.sixity.com/Items/008000148?&caSKU=008000148&caTitle=2 Red 27 SMD LED Brake/Turn/Tail Light Bulbs 3156 P27W

hotdamn I missed that one. Okay yeah that type of LED bulb is particularly bright already, and because they diffuse light in all directions and would be in the original assembly, you can certainly create enough light to penetrate any darkening short of covering it up with electrical tape.

 

[whoopnip]

hotdamn I missed that one. Okay yeah that type of LED bulb is particularly bright already, and because they diffuse light in all directions and would be in the original assembly, you can certainly create enough light to penetrate any darkening short of covering it up with electrical tape.

Yup. I'm in the process of doing so, and I'll let you guys know how it goes once everything is done.

Which will probably be a while, because it's not very high on my to-do list.

 

[HondaVtec00]

yea just smoke out the bottom white part and it will look sick!! thats what i plan on doing with mine.