Wanted to share some of my recent mods! Probably not breaking a lot of new ground with most of these but for those on the fence, hopefully this will help you decide....


For starters, went with 35W 5000K HIDs for the headlights (H7) and the foglights (9006)...

Ordered from here: www.theretrofitsource.com



Upper Parking Lights are from IJDMTOY 1W High Power LED Bulbs Click Here

I liked the fact these were direct, low viewing angle LEDs. Don't know why, just thought it would look cool, sort of like a tiny little headlight.....



Blinkers are from the same place.... No Resistor Required Error Free 1156 LED Turn Signal Light Bulbs



License Plate LEDs are also from there... 36mm Festoon LED Click Here

For the Tail Light Bulbs I went over to www.superbrightleds.com and went with the 45 High Power LED 1157 Tower Bulb



I couldn't get a good representation of the color, but it is VERY Red and a perfect match for the factory 3rd brake light.

Went back over to JDMTOY for the Reverse Lights... Extreme Bright High Power 1156 Click Here



And back to Super Bright LEDs for the sidemarkers (in Red & Amber) & the Interior Lights (White) High Power 194 type LED





I do not have a picture of it, but I went with the 3 LED Festoon bulbs for the Trunk and the Glove Box...

37mm for the Glove Box: 3710-xHPx High Power LED Festoon Bulbs

42mm for the Trunk: 4210-xHPx High Power LED Festoon Bulbs

 

Also got my Wind Restrictor Installed.... WindRestrictor® Custom Laser Etched Illuminated Windscreens








And last but not least, I was getting annoyed that the factory 12V plug (Cigarette lighter) would turn off when the car was turned off, plus I often find myself needing more than one anyway, so I added an additional plug, connected to a constant 12V source...





This one has a Green illuminated ring, which I modified to be able to use an LED and connected it to the factory dimmer. Makes it easy to see at night and a very good match to the rest of the Dash / lighting.

 

So a bit of additional commentary… I have used a few different brands / vendors for HIDs in the past and I will agree, these are by far the best I have used… It’s hard to describe really, I really didn’t see any issues with the previous ones, they all seemed to be built well and never had any trouble with them, but I also never cared much for the color temperature of those other companies so from recommendations on this forum I decided I would go for a bit higher cost product to see if the quality was improved.

YES IT WAS. I had went with 5000K on previous cars and had eventually decided I should go with 4300K to make me happy and to get the light output I wanted. But then, I found that MOST white LEDs were in the 5500 ~ 6000K range so I was afraid they wouldn’t match. Decided to try 5000K one more time, and have to say, these are far brighter and a lot less blue than the “5000K” models I had bought from other lower cost vendors.

Now, with that said, this is the only vendor I have used on the Crossfire, so I am comparing these to models installed on other vehicles over the past 6 or 8 years or so. This may not even be an apples to apples comparison, but I am much happier with these and will probably buy these for my other vehicles in the near future!

 

Also, on the front headlight Side Markers. They ARE STILL a bit bluer than my headlights. Not very noticeable to anyone not looking for the difference but they do annoy me enough ( I am a bit obsessive about colors matching perfectly!) so I have ordered another set, this time from Super Bright LEDs.

They have very similar, direct, low angle 1W LEDs but offer it in a NATURAL WHITE instead of the COOL WHITE of the ones I have in above pictures….

WLED-xLX Specifications

If any of you have the 6000K headlights, I think the ones from JDMTOY would be a perfect Match.

 

And for my last post (for now) I am also going to go with one step brighter (more LEDs) for the interior “Map” lights. While the ones I went with are bright, the camera made them look even brighter than they really are. They are about 90% of the factory bulb brightness but the fact the OEM reflectors in that housing do not do a good job of complementing the LED pattern, I am going to try the next step up and see if that gets me where I want to be…

High Power 194 Type LED) 360 degree 9 LED


Most people would be fine with the one I referenced in the first post, but wanted to mention if you want it to have MORE light than factory, you too may need to go one step above…

 

Great write up. Thanks for taking the time to share with the rest of us. By the way, the new lights look great.

 

How do the rear LED turn signals show up in the daytime? Had some in my other vehicle and they were almost impossible to see during the day, making them pretty useless.

 

It's the same model I used in the front turn signals, which are VERY bright. Expensive, but VERY bright. I installed just one to compare to the factory bulbs and these were actually a good bit BRIGHTER than the stock filament bulbs.

 

I was thinking about getting these LED bulbs since I saw your post. A few questions: For the 45 High Power LED 1157 Tower Bulbs for the brake lights. Do you have to use a load resistor for that? Also, could you use those same bulbs for the rear turn signals and reverse lights as well? How much heat do they produce? How bright are they? I don't want to do this if they are not as bright or don't evenly fill the reflective area. If they need resistors, how hard are they to install.

My only electrical expertise is taking an old bulb out and placing a new one in.

Thanks for you input

 

Just installing the "45 High Power LED 1157" WOULD result in your "bulb out" warning indicator to illuminate UNLESS you used a bulb with the load resistor built in, or installed your own additional Load Resistor OR you disable the Bulb Out system...

I chose to disable the bulb out system... https://www.crossfireforum.org/forum...indicator.html

Keep this in mind... If you replace a bulb with an LED and install the Load restsor for that bulb, the Bulb Out warning system will never tell you if that LED has blown anyway... So assuming you are going to replace all or most lights with LEDs, then you have effectively bypassed the entire system, you just did it by wiring in a LOT of extra load resistors as opposed to a simple disable of the system at the source....

Unfortunately disabling that system works for ALL lights EXCEPT the blinkers. For this reason, I used the blinker bulbs with the load resistor already built in. VERY pricey but kept me from having to worry about any load resistors myself.

I went with the more expensive ones for the back up bulbs, not because of the load resistor being built in to those, but simply because they were the brightest / highest wattage I could find. They do make the 1157 type bulbs that I used for the brake lights, in a white version that would probably work well for the tail lights. They would probably be brighter than the stock ones but I wasnt sure if they would give me the light WHERE I needed it. I wanted to make sure the light was a bit more focused than what normally comes from the LED tower bulbs, and besides, to me, you cant get TOO bright on back-up bulbs so I just went straight to the brightest I could find.

Super Bright LEDs actually have an option very similar than the one I got from JDM.... High Power 4Watt BA15 bulb Specifications

 

Ok. I promise this will be the last time I bug you. I got my LEDs. How do I access the rear tail lights to get the bulbs out? I was getting pretty frustrated trying to figure it out. I figured it would be a simple rear access panel. I see alot of flat circular plastic tabs across the back of the carpet and the hard plastic panel in the center. I tried pulling one out with a flathead screw driver and couldn't get it to come out. I didn't want to use too much force and didn't want to damage the carpet.

Also, since you have installed the LED's have you had any issues with excessive heat with the ones that have the built in resistors. They haven't caused any damage or caused any plastic to melt etc.? I thought I would ask before I put these in. You never know.

Thanks again

 

Excellent writeup, I will be consulting this in the future.

 

Happy to help!

I have the roadster, not sure if you have the same or the coupe but if you have the coupe take note it may not be the same. For me, i had one twist off tab near the top of the trunk opening, one on each side, and two locking (push pull) plastic buttons on each side. The two plastic buttons require you to pull out the center button, 4 total in the trunk area, 2 on either sider of the hard plastic center section.

Long ago I purchased a puller designed specifically for those type of plastic tabs. I have seen the pullers at various auto part and tool stores or you can get them online. Like I said, got mine long ago so I cant even remember the proper name to search for, SORRY. A set of needle nose pliers work well to pull the center button up as well thought its harder not to scratch them that way.

Once you get the three plastic buttons (one twist and two locking) out, just pull back the carpet. You can then either use a wrench on the three nuts and pull the entire taillight out or you can reach in and twist out the bulbs with it still installed.

I have not had any issue with the built in resistor units but I only installed those in the blinekrs which do not stay on for long at all. All of the ones that STAY lit are non resistor models since I disabled the light out indicator.

 

If, as you say, you have a roadster, then none of that is necessary.
All you need to do is cycle the top to where the tonneau cover is upright, top is up and rear window part is also in up position. You can then just reach in and access all the rear bulbs .......
( but be quick - the hydraulic pressure is released after 10 minutes, I think, and the tonneau cover will start to descend ..... )

 

Awesome info, thanks! I had read that somewhere but didn't want the worry of the time limit the first go around as I was trying a few different options until I got it all lit up to my satisfaction.

I do wish I had remembered / thought of that on the final light install though as it took 3 times longer to get to it than it did to install the actual lights. Thanks!!!!

 

Addendum : the time limit is of no consequence if you use a broom handle ( as I did ) to prop the cover up before the hydraulics release .....

 

I was installing the No Load Resistor Required 1157 LED for the turn signals, but I cannot get them to fit. If anyone has any suggestions let me know, or else I will be returning them.

By the way, on my roadster, I went ahead and took the side lining out of both sides of the trunk to access the taillights. About 16 or so plastic rivets to have to remove. Major pain in the butt and now I seem to have gotten the wrong turn signal bulbs. The back up LED's are going back also. I was very disappointed with how they looked.

The LED stop lights look great from superbright LEDS. I probably will get the ones they make for the back up lamps. I think it will look better.

 

Sorry you werent satisfied, i still love both the backup bulbs and the turns. The Turns were a tight fit but they did go in. Maybe try removing the nuts holding the tail light in and once you get the whole thing out it might be easier to see what you are doing.

 

It's the two raised round little side prongs on the metal part of the bulb that go into the socket that are giving me the problem. The prongs are straight across, but the factory bulbs are slightly angled. I can put the bulbs in, but because of the prongs I can't push and turn the bulb to latch it in.

For the front turn signal sockets, I can't even get them to go in the socket at all. Very strange.

 

Weird, I did just realize I had listed that you needed the 1157 for the turns, instead you need the 1156 so maybe this was mt fault? But whats weird is 1156 is what is needed for turns but 1156 have straight across pins, the 1157 (dual intensity) is what is used for the brake lights and those are the one that should have offset pins....