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One of the first things I always do on our vehicles is change out all interior and license marker bulbs to LED, along with side marker, etc. Especially on the interior, I prefer the white 5-6k led lighting vs 3.5k halogen. My car is no exception, it's had all the interior bulbs replaced with LED's.
I've often wondered why MB installed those nice LED tail-lights and then sort of forgot to do anything with the miserable 921 halogen bulbs in the reverse lights. They don't do much to light up the area, I guess they are intended to just indicate the car is in reverse. I put off replacing the bulbs with LED's for a long time, today I decided to get this little project out of the way. Of course MB cleverly creates an hour job out of what could be a 10 minute job if some access plugs were just present in the trunk liner.
Anyway, here's what I got, about $7 on ebay. Note these are CANBUS error-free bulbs, and they are designated for reverse lights, probably due to their size and wattage.
This is where the reverse light lives. My tail lights have a Vivvid light tint applied, nothing crazy but even more reason to increase the reverse light output.
Trunk liner has to be dropped in the back. First step is to remove the 3 pushpins from the rear plastic trim.
Next, pull the trim straight back towards you. There are 4 metal clips that hold it in place. I always add a light grease to clips like these, makes it easier if there's a next time to remove trim.
Be sure you remove the bulb from the interior trunk lid light housing. Slight counterclockwise twist.
You'll find a couple of plastic retainers on the trunk lid itself, remove them. I keep spares of these clips so it they break it's no big deal.
Pull the liner down from the rear bumpstops.
At this point the lower plastic trim is removed and the trunk liner is loosened enough to drop enough to allow access to the lights.
You will now see the retaining clip for the lamp housing. I've seen a video where they got in using some pliers to replace the reverse bulb, but I thought it was pretty sketchy, so I took a few minutes extra to pull the housing out of the trunk lid. Once you do it, it's really pretty easy.
The pointer is showing the main connector for the lamp assembly, it just unplugs.
The WIS reads that you don't have to remove the white clip entirely, but I thought it was easier to do so. That's a captive nut, nothing falls out.
The housing can now be removed from the trunk lid, note the 2 end clips that grab the edge of the trunk lid.
If you lift the housing a bit you can see main connector on the left, reverse light on the right. The reverse light is very awkward to get to from underneath.
Once the housing free and clear, you can get to the reverse bulb easily.
Slight counterclockwise twist is all it takes, note the tab that lines up for removal/installation.
The new LED bulbs fit fine into the housing. Use a little dielectric grease on the bulb terminals and on the main connector. Be sure they are securely placed into the bulb holder. NOTE - before reinstalling everything, hook up the main connector to verify the reverse lights work properly. LED's are polarity sensitive - if they don't work, turn them around and recheck. Verify also that the regular tail-lights work ok as well. You don't want to put stuff together and then find out something's not working.
Installation is the reverse of the stuff above.
Huge difference in lighting, the pics don't really do it justice, as they were taken on a sunny day.
Well worth the small expense and slight amount of work. LED on the left, halogen on the right.
LED
Halogen
Too much outside glare but in real life, very noticeable improvement.
Another great write-up from the one and only Mud! Changing out the reverse light bulbs was one of the first things I did to my car when I bought it. I makes a hell of a difference, visual output and aesthetically. I was on a mission for the brightest 921 bulbs on the market. The brightest bulbs on the market were $34 at the time but didn't fit due to the massive heat sink on the rear. Luckily, I knew what kind of room I was working with prior to buying those bulbs. The second brightest 921 bulbs on the market were $21 and looks very similar to the one you just installed. Got them in and it still amazes me how bright everything behind me becomes at night. Also lets you see more things on the reverse camera too!
Thanks all, much appreciated. One factor that's sometimes overlooked is raw lumens vs net lumens. Most advertise raw lumens which can be deceiving as as its the net lumens you actually see. Mostly dependent on chip size and type.
Compared to the $30 "super led" reverse lights my son installed in his Cruze, these $7 lughts look identical in chip size and configuration. Side by side seat of the pants view, light output looks identical.
I like to remind him sometimes I'm older and wiser haha.
02-20-2019, 03:19 PM
