So I got the modding bug after I bought my C350 and I was looking to wet my appetite with something easy. I decided to go for LED's in the rear. I've seen the LED housings posted on ebay but I was worried about quality and I really want my car to look stock. Add to that I have a 2006 with the 7pin connector and I decided against it. My only alternative was to replace the existing bulbs with LED bulbs.

Against my better judgement I decided to go ahead and order some bulbs to test, and try them without the load resistors. The first set of bulbs were these from www.ledtronics.com



I plugged them in and sure enough, I recieved the bulb out error. So I ordered a set of load resistors. Hooked everything up and didn't feel like they were bright enough. I then read this review and agreed.

Now I was a bit bummed. Kept searching and I came across THIS THREAD! If you watch the video you can tell the LED's are just as bright as the normal bulbs. Perfect!!! I ordered 2 Amber and 2 Red from autolumination.com


I can tell you right now both the amber blinker and red brake lights are a perfect replacement. The brake lights match perfectly with the trunk LED's. The bulbs are a direct replacement (part numbers at the bottom) and easy to install. You'll still need the load resistors.

So now I wanted to find a good way to install the load resistors without any splicing or changing of wiring harnesses. I noticed the light housing is a plastic piece that holds a metallic cutout that carries the current to each bulb.


I then noticed there were little notches below each bulb with a little space between the plastic. Following the shape of the metallic piece I could tell that the notches were positive and the outside larger metal area was ground. I then hooked up my load resistors by wrapping the wire around the notch on one side


For ground, there was a triangle shaped hole that had a slender piece of the ground metal running along side it. I gently pried it up with a knife and wrapped the other end of the load resistor to it. I repeated this with both the brake and blinker.


Here are the parts you'll need to do the Brake and Blinkers, I bought everything from Autolumination:

Brakes: RED 1156 (x2)
Blinker: AMBER 7507 (x2)
Load resistors: 6 Ohm (x4)

PS - they also have some "Xenon Super White" festoon bulbs for your license plate - they look awsome too. If it dosen't blink, why go to LED? I am not affiliated with Autolumination in any way other than being a happy customer.

Mod away folks!!

 

Wow! Very intriguing mod! Any pics with it on the car?

 

i want to see pics too to see the difference

 

Where did u put the load resistor??

 

I'll try to take a video of the lights tomorrow compared to the stock bulbs. If you follow the links to the review, they did the exact same thing!

I used double sided tape to attach the load resistor to the backside of the access panel to the housing.

 

The videos that are posted are just the blinking. I'm more curious about the brake lights.

 

wow, that's pretty cool, I can't wait to see pics!

 

Here you go!!!

The first pic is in a garage, the second pic is outside at night. Both were taken without flash.

 

wow, nice!

btw, which festoon did you buy? 39mm or 44mm? thanks!

 

I bought the 36 but I think the 39's are the right size. They look fine with good color, not annoyingly blue. I don't know where I got 36mm from...

 

thanks! I just ordered a pair!

 

Brake lights look really good. I might do this when I order the non-LED S Class lights. Low priority right now, but really appreciate the 411, e1000. Looks tight!

 

Whoa...those look awesome, bro! Excellent 'how-to' instructions as well!

 

Damn that's bright, i might consider this, since my 3rd brake light lit up whenever it wants to .
can u take a photo of the load resistor placement ?? I'm still picturing the idea on my head.

 

I'll try to take some daytime shots today.

 

awesome, thanks man! btw, could you please take pics of the blinkers too?

 

Yo, Phil. The videos are really clear on this site: LINK: VIDEO OF BLINKERS

There are 4 videos at the bottom of the webpage.

 

thanks man! I was looking at em and kinda wanted to see how the amber would look on the clear portion of our blinkers...

wanna help me wire this sucker? haha

 

the Amber looks great. Fills the whole reflector and the light is very even. I swear the wiring takes 5 mins once you figure it out. Plus there's no soldering or cutting so it's always reversible

 

haha, thanks man! damn, I think I'm gonna order that stuff soon now too! what I'm worried about is how to take the internals out like you did, I didn't know that they just came right off of the housing...

 

I just realized that this would be an amazing mod for people with smoked tails... this way their visibility wouldn't be so much compromised.

thanks again e1000!

 

the plastic/metal plate the bulbs fit into is designed to come off. In the middle, there's a plastic piece that turns to keep the whole thing in. Just go through the trunk, pull back the panel and you'll see what I mean. It's in the manual too

BTW - you don't take the whole tail light housing off, nor do you take it apart

 

awesome, thanks!

 

No problem, man. It'd have to be on the weekend sometime, but yeah, we can definitely help you out with that. Shouldn't take long at all.

 

very kool!! thx for the HOW TO