LED or Stealth rear turn signals

[Devious21]

Got pulled over for having white rear turn signals. Apparently, I was blinding the motorcycle officer riding behind me. He mentioned that in Ca you can do white corners and sides but that rears are a safety issue and must be amber or red. He also saw my tint and let me go with a warning, so it was a positive experience.

When I got home, I took a look at the rear and they are pretty blinding. I don't want to egg yolk my tails, so I'm considering two options:

1) Getting Stealth or LED amber rear turn signals. Would rather do LED if there's a solid product for our cars that won't throw any errors.

2) Keep the whites and have the clear signal part of the tails wrapped red. Then I would have red turn signals in the rear as I'm pretty sure the newer 3 series have(?). I'm worried about the reds not matching up or the red film not illuminating well.

Reference pic:


Anyone have any ideas or suggestions? Any experience with any of the stealth bulbs. Any info would be great so I can make a decision.

[StickMon]

I just use the stock recommended "Silver Visions".
Kinda pricy, but they seems to last pretty long, and you have to look pretty hard to see the yolks.

Funny you should mention white lights are OK on the sides. Thanks for that!
Just yesterday I put white tower LEDs in my hamburgers.
Has an interesting side effect. When the lights are "off" there must be some residual voltage because the one LED on the top face of the tower stays lit, at about 1/2 brightness.
Gives the hamburgers a cool ethereal glow.

[Devious21]

Originally Posted by StickMon

I just use the stock recommended "Silver Visions".
Kinda pricy, but they seems to last pretty long, and you have to look pretty hard to see the yolks.

Funny you should mention white lights are OK on the sides. Thanks for that!
Just yesterday I put white tower LEDs in my hamburgers.
Has an interesting side effect. When the lights are "off" there must be some residual voltage because the one LED on the top face of the tower stays lit, at about 1/2 brightness.
Gives the hamburgers a cool ethereal glow.

Haha, that's pretty cool. You gotta post some night pictures of that. I might have to get a pair while I'm re-doing the lights.

The Visions sound good. I was looking at "Stealth Bulbs" and they are like $30. Quick search is showing the Philips bulbs coming up for around $20.

Do you (or anyone) happen to know what the bulb number for the rear turn signal is? If not, I'll take a look when I get home.

[i2ichal2dZ4M]

If you want a picture for reference. I had red vinyls on my turn signals. The red match the rest of lens almost perfectly Got bored of all read look few months back and took them off though, may re install again in future. LMK if you have questions.

[Devious21]

Originally Posted by i2ichal2dZ4M

If you want a picture for reference. I had red vinyls on my turn signals. The red match the rest of lens almost perfectly Got bored of all read look few months back and took them off though, may re install again in future. LMK if you have questions.

I think it looks great. Any more info would be amazing, including

• What red vinyl did you use?
• Did you use regular white bulbs or something else?
• You vinyl'd JUST the clear part of the lens, correct?
• Did you do it yourself or have someone do it?

[i2ichal2dZ4M]

Originally Posted by Devious21

I think it looks great. Any more info would be amazing, including

• What red vinyl did you use?
• Did you use regular white bulbs or something else?
• You vinyl'd JUST the clear part of the lens, correct?
• Did you do it yourself or have someone do it?

I bought the vinyl on Ebay and did them myself, it is fairly easy. First I traced the clear section onto white paper, cut it out and then traced it onto cardboard to make a template to trace/cut the vinyl. Afterwards its a simple wet install. If you can install a screen protector on your phone, this is way easier! LOL. All of this was above the OEM amber bulb. It was still bright too.

[StickMon]

I like that all red look, especially that shade of red.
Looks like cinnamon candy.

The rear turn signals are PY21W, but I think that's the general class, and won't necessarily be chromed.
The stock ones are Philips Silver Vision.

[Devious21]

Originally Posted by i2ichal2dZ4M

I bought the vinyl on Ebay and did them myself, it is fairly easy. First I traced the clear section onto white paper, cut it out and then traced it onto cardboard to make a template to trace/cut the vinyl. Afterwards its a simple wet install. If you can install a screen protector on your phone, this is way easier! LOL. All of this was above the OEM amber bulb. It was still bright too.

I don't suppose you grabbed any pics of what they look like with the light on?

[i2ichal2dZ4M]

Unfortunately not.

[Devious21]

Originally Posted by StickMon

I like that all red look, especially that shade of red.
Looks like cinnamon candy.

The rear turn signals are PY21W, but I think that's the general class, and won't necessarily be chromed.
The stock ones are Philips Silver Vision.

I really like the look of the red tails but for the sake of simplicity and time, I went with the Silver Visions. They look great and they are still PLENTY bright. I was slightly worried they might be too dim with the coating they had on.

I was originally looking at the Stealth Bulbs brand, which were ~$30. These were $17.10 shipped. Really glad I asked you guys before I pulled any triggers.


Stickmon:

What's up with that LED you did for your hamburgers?
Did you do white or amber and where did you get it?
You don't get any error lights because their LED, right?
Can you take any pictures?

[StickMon]

I can't for the life of me remember where I bought the bulbs.
Amazon or eBay probably. They're white, not amber.
I bought them based on a recommendation by another forumite, but I can't find the thread either.

Something like this.

The key thing that sets them apart from similar is the 5050 SMDs, which are very bright.

The hamburgers aren't monitored, so no error light.

If you're into lighting mods, have you done the
Simple LED Light Mod for Trunk
or
Full Time Panic Brake Lights (Tailgater Death Rays)

[Devious21]

Originally Posted by StickMon

I can't for the life of me remember where I bought the bulbs.
Amazon or eBay probably. They're white, not amber.
I bought them based on a recommendation by another forumite, but I can't find the thread either.

Something like this.

The key thing that sets them apart from similar is the 5050 SMDs, which are very bright.

The hamburgers aren't monitored, so no error light.

If you're into lighting mods, have you done the
Simple LED Light Mod for Trunk
or
Full Time Panic Brake Lights (Tailgater Death Rays)

Haven't done the panic lights but I have done the trunk mod (incredible improvement). My photos are in comment #48.

Do those ebay lights look similar to the ones you got? I'll just pick up two of those if they have your stamp of approval.

[StickMon]

Similar, but I can't remember if mine were 9 or 13 LED, just that they were 5050 type.
Build quality on those things is all over the place, so YMMV.

Also, the diameters tend to run just a smidge bigger than incandescents.
I had to turn mine just right and use the bayonet slots in the socket to clear the edges of the LEDs.
Make sure you don't get it in there and then have it come unplugged and end up rattling around loose inside.

[pungo]

FWIW: A SMD5630 LED is one and a half times brighter than a SMD5050 LED. So if you want brighter, get the SMD5630 LED.

[psygnosis]

I just went with the red film over the orange on my 2004. It shows up as red when illuminated.

[StickMon]

Originally Posted by pungo

FWIW: A SMD5630 LED is one and a half times brighter than a SMD5050 LED. So if you want brighter, get the SMD5630 LED.

^WHS

Originally Posted by Devious21

Can you take any pictures?

Not really. Maybe this is my hamburger at night. Maybe it's a flying saucer over Phoenix.

[XMetal]

Does it shut off eventually? A couple of the LED bulbs that I previously used in my license plate was also doing that (low glow) after shutting off the car, but after about 10 minutes or so when the car goes into sleep, that LED will shut completely off.

[Devious21]

Originally Posted by StickMon

^WHS

Not really. Maybe this is my hamburger at night. Maybe it's a flying saucer over Phoenix.

Attachment 968581

Looks like it's only glowing near the top. Is that just the photo? Or is that because only the top LEDs are on?

[StickMon]

Originally Posted by XMetal

Does it shut off eventually?

After about 60 seconds.

Originally Posted by Devious21

Looks like it's only glowing near the top. Is that just the photo? Or is that because only the top LEDs are on?

Just the angle I took the picture from. For whatever reason, the only LED that stays lit is the one on the end.
And it's being pulsed.

[Devious21]

Originally Posted by StickMon

After about 60 seconds.



Just the angle I took the picture from. For whatever reason, the only LED that stays lit is the one on the end.
And it's being pulsed.

Attachment 968752

Hmm the pulsing is interesting.

Found some on Amazon w/ Prime. These look good?
http://www.amazon.com/9-smd-Lights-I.../dp/B0081400EI

[StickMon]

Hard to say. The quality on them is hit-or-miss.
I would go for the 5630 over the 5050.
The 5050 are yesterday's brightest.

[Devious21]

Originally Posted by StickMon

Hard to say. The quality on them is hit-or-miss.
I would go for the 5630 over the 5050.
The 5050 are yesterday's brightest.

Oh, I just meant I was trying to confirm the ones I linked are the same (they look the same). I searched smd5050 and got a bunch of LED strips. 5050 t10 brought up those. I assume those are the same kind?