skokkosis

ok guys i'm in a huge dilemma, i got my taillights done this week with the spray application (vinyl wasn't cutting it for me) i was assured that the tails would not lose much light output (i love the fact they are black, they look gorgeous much better than the film imo) only thing i can honestly say my light output has drastically reduced, any options before i get them redone? it would involve not having a car for a coupe days again, and i really would like to avoid that since the first time around it was hard enough (yes safety first, but any options that may make the light output come through) i was debating some led's the new one's have become very bright (i know how to wire them up since i've also done my reverse with white led's, but i dont know if they will do the job to provide a brighter output)

these claim a 6:1 brighter ratio, if i get them i'm hoping they do the trick and atleast get these tails to the dimness i had with the vinyls on

http://www.v-leds.com/Exterior-LED/B...-p9448921.html

*was good enough, but now i can't deal with this, at night when people's lights shine on my back end they claim to me my lights are off b.c. they think their lights are shinning up my housing when it actually is the low light coming out, for the most part, braking is very visible and also with the help of the 3rd brake it's flawless, but when i'm not braking at night people think my lights are off, cops will definitely rape me, sigh*

in the day ironically they are brighter... don't know how to explain that, perhaps the sunlight shines into the housing causing the interior to be more visible

snarlingchicken

Michael (AZN_Optics) has his new batch of white LEDs for W204 tail lights. (meaning ALL of the light bulbs in the tail lights, from the brake lights, to the reverse lights, to the parking lights). I personally test fit my W204 C350 with LED tail lights and saw that the white LEDs were so bright that they actually washed out the red color of the tail lights and appeared pink. You might wanna give those a try. He has a P2 tail light LED package on his site too

skokkosis

thanks snarling i have been told that the best led to buy when you have a red lens on the housing is red because it does output pink with the combination of the white through the red housing, the amazing part of his products is that they are pre resisted, no need to sit and tamper with any wires to get the product to work flawlessly, but i really would like the brightest out in the market, even if it means resisting, i will contact him and see what he says, his products are great! i used his led's for my eyebrows and they work wonders! but for this specific issue i really need to get the brightest in the market just so that i atleast get somewhere with these darn things, shops these days just go mayhem with the product you give them to work with. these leds are 320 lumins! i need to see how many azn's are, perhaps i get form him, again not putting down azn, just stating i personally need the brightest because of the dilemma i'm in, thanks again snarling

snarlingchicken

Understood. Still, hope Jersey isn't like SoCal where you get pulled over instantly for having hazardous/blacked out tail lights. Even if you manage to fix the visibility problem, you still have to convince the police that it's sufficient. But maybe those LEDs will be bright enough for that. BUT AT $80 A PAIR! You might as well get your tail lights re-painted!

Or, you know you could always try and use a paint thinner and a high grit scuff pad to see if you can get some of the paint off. A nice cherry red is what I'm hoping to go for regarding my tail lights.

skokkosis

i had the vinyl which pretty much "barely" had tinted them down, not to jynx it but on my old car (tinted for 3 years) right before this and on this one since a few weeks after i bought it i've had tinted tails, with no issues out here in NJ, thing is.. we do get a LOT of attention though and get pulled over just to see who you are... where you headed and such, because i mean for the most part the car does stand out when it is worked on, other than that i haven't had major issues, but the reviews are mixed, i've had many people have lighter window tint and now tail tint and have had issues just for that, while i've had others rolling around with 5% (i have 20) and tinted tails and have not had more than just a hassle from the police by giving them a small lecture on why they are illegal and such.

depends. what can you do, i would scuff them down, but i didn't do them in the first place, i'd need the shop to do that, which i thought but i can not go without the car for that long once again, it was convenient when i did it because my mother was in greece and i was able to use hers while mine sat in the garage without the tails on it, now i don't have this option and need the car pretty much everyday, ugh... i have contacted azn, i will keep everyone posted on my final decision, hopefully a good option rises so that i may get a decent light output from the way they are now.