LED Side Lights Fitted

Toothy · May 20, 2017

Got fed up of the yellow, dull side lights so fitted a pair of Philips Xtreme Vision LEDs (W5W 501).

Got them here:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/111887498917?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

They match the headlights really well (6000K colour). Should make me a bit more visible with just side lights on, without the need for dipped beam.

Five minute job doing the passenger side. Driver's side was a bit more of a pain, had to un-bolt the airbox and shift it out the way to open the back of the headlamp up.

Stazza80 · May 20, 2017

They look great, a lot better. Do you get bulb error warnings on the dash with these?

Ben

emjay82 · May 20, 2017

Looks great @Toothy huge improvement on the stock! 👍

Ray-ISF · May 20, 2017

Looks great

TigerFish · May 20, 2017

They are great bulbs, by far the best ones I've found. Good reliability too, I've had a pair in my GS for a few years. Bit cheaper now than they used to be too, I think they were about £20 when I bought them originally.

Sent from my Iphone using Lexus OC

Toothy · May 20, 2017

6 hours ago, Stazza80 said:

They look great, a lot better. Do you get bulb error warnings on the dash with these?

Ben

No errors on dash when I backed out the garage. Will let you know if any come up tomorrow.

lockeyboy · May 21, 2017

David

it says these aren't road legal in the advert?

possibly just a cut and paste error in the listing?

Toothy · May 21, 2017

They have to list vast majority of bulbs for "off road use only" or not road legal. It's just because you're replacing incandescent with LED. It's not a like for like replacement. That's how I understand it anyway. Nothing to worry about. Not going to fail an MOT, or cause you to be stopped by the police!

Toothy · May 27, 2017

More updates!

I've now changed the reverse lights with a pair of LED Osrams (W16W). Should provide better light for reversing the the dark! Sorry, but couldn't get a photo of these, for obvious reasons.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/192182316591

I've changed front and rear indicator bulbs with amber LED Osrams (W21W).
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/352022351313
Because LED bulbs draw so little current, the car will think you have a blown bulb when these are fitted and "hyperflash". To fix this a lot of people fit big resistors in line to the bulb. Instead I got a proper LED compatible flasher relay. Best I found was from amazon (I even got a spare, just in case).
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01KLIYUPQ/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Rear bulbs took all of 5 minutes to fit. However, I didn't realise the fronts were a bumper off job! Took me around an hour to remove and refit with new bulbs.

VIDEO0034.mp4 <== VIDEO OF INDICATORS HERE

At the same time the bumper was off I took the chance to change my fog lights. Fitted a pair of Osram Fog Breakers, imported from Germany. I'm super pleased with the yellow JDM look, like the old IS300. Photo's dont really show how yellow they are. They look much better in person. For some reason the inside of my fog light housings were all grubby, so they got a clean before I reassembled everything too.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/302105403029

DAW · May 27, 2017

Impressive work must have been very satisfying - makes me wish I was more handy when it comes to my own cars. I'm reasonably practical person but do not when it comes to the nuts & bolts stuff on cars. Have upmost respect for all of u with the tools, expertise & confidence to do these jobs.

Toothy · May 27, 2017

Thanks David! It was very satisfying, you're right! Can't say it wasn't a little daunting though. However for jobs like this, they are designed so that any technician can perform them. Only removed a few pop clips up top, 3 or 4 clips at the front of the wheel arch and half a dozen or so on the under tray. It looks more invasive and serious than it actually is. Once you've done one job, it will give you great confidence to do more in the future.

Big Rat · May 27, 2017

@Toothy Nice work David a great post with helpful detail for those that want to replicate and all with an added safety aspect in my opion, with a more modern look as well when illuminated.

Perhaps we ought to start regional minor modifications workshop meets for this kind of thing !

With coffee and cake thrown in as well 😁

🐀

kieron1977 · July 16, 2017

Do you lose high beam fuction with the LED side lights?

sorcerer · July 16, 2017

40 minutes ago, kieron1977 said:

Do you lose high beam fuction with the led side lights?

Unless it's a very strange car I wouldn't think so, as high beam are (usually) on a separate circuit and fuse to the side lights - but I suppose there could be exceptions.

sorcerer · July 16, 2017

It's been too long since posting the above message so I can't edit it but just been checking and it's an MOT fail if main beams don't operate so if the function is lost it's no good.

kieron1977 · July 16, 2017

This is from the US forum

Yes, the DRLs are just the high beams run at low power... so putting an LED in there makes your high beams useless.

I solved the drls looking like crap problem by just having them turned off, which retains use of the high beams at least
The DRL is the same bulb for the High Beam running at about 30% of the power. This is why the look very yellow

J Henderson · July 16, 2017

8 hours ago, kieron1977 said:

This is from the US forum Yes, the DRLs are just the high beams run at low power... so putting an LED in there makes your high beams useless.

I solved the drls looking like crap problem by just having them turned off, which retains use of the high beams at least

The DRL is the same bulb for the High Beam running at about 30% of the power. This is why the look very yellow

Our headlights are different from US-spec cars. The inside lamp has 2 separate bulbs - a w5w for sidelights, plus a separate bulb (HB3) for the main beam. Both of them operate at full brightness at all times.

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

Toothy · July 17, 2017

Yep, to confirm, no loss of main beam when swapping the separate side lights out. And also no errors or warning lights.

kieron1977 · July 17, 2017

That is good to hear,

When i bought my car they were already turned off, guess the previous owner hated the yellow colour.

Is it only the dealer who can turn back on the daytime running lights?

Corrado · July 17, 2017

8 hours ago, kieron1977 said:

That is good to hear,

When i bought my car they were already turned off, guess the previous owner hated the yellow colour.

Is it only the dealer who can turn back on the daytime running lights?

UK spec is different to US spec. There's no DRL function on the pre-facelift UK spec cars. We only got the DRL function with the facelift (LED DRLs) around 2011.

kieron1977 · July 17, 2017

Wow had the car 3.5 years and just shows how little i know about the car..

This site is great source of info

Peter P18 · July 21, 2017

Hey Kieron,

I upgraded my sidelight bulbs a while back. Tiny things (W5W), but look a lot better with my uprated HB3 main beams.

We have dipped as well I believe? So three bulbs in total?

If your sidelights aren't on, I'd be surprised if that's been turned off by the dealership? More likely the bulbs were removed, or are faulty?

Happy to check them out for you at some point if you like? I'm in Kent, so not too far.

kieron1977 · July 21, 2017

Hi Peter

Thanks for the offer, bu the side lights are working, just for some silly reason i thought they we're meant to come on during the day time to and not Just when it gets dark.

Think before i got the car i was reading a lot of posts in the us forums and think they have daytime running lights aswell.

kieron1977 · August 7, 2017

Just fitted the LED side lights, think it looks a lot more up to date now.

J Henderson · August 8, 2017

Nice improvement. Usually one of the first mods I do to a car.

I was all set to order to order a couple of bulbs for my current steed until I noticed that the newer headlights don't have a traditional sidelight. Just the Nike swoosh DRLs.