I have an 06 NBP TL with base tail light reds. I would like to do this mod this week and was concerned regarding the circuit board being seen after diffuser gets removed. Anyone done this on base tail lights , mind sharing pics? Just concerned on circuit board showing during the day light.

 

^Your tail lights would be fine knowing that your tail lights are all red. I wanted to do this mod but I have the 07/08 base tail lights.

 

Thanks. I will review over taking bumper off and update this thread with my pics once done this week.

 

this looks awesome.

 

hey, james. the lights are pretty cool. appreciate what you did. my question though is where can i get that sox lic plate?! love it.

 

Finally finished taillights late last night, will take some pics today and share it with group.

 

Yeah you can order it through cyberdriveillinois website or through mail order. You can also get it personalized or just a random sequential number. I couldnt come up with something I wanted on my plate so I just got the number. Its also cheaper anyway. I thought an all black plate would look sweet on a black on black car :-)

http://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/de...ates/home.html



The brake lamp section should be the same between the 04-06 base and 07-08 TL-S since they are both just a red lens. If this mod is done to an 04-06 it should look identical to how it is in my pictures. You can somewhat see where the LED's are mounted, but barely. Even so it looks kind of cool and is a more shiny appearance which matches the outter turn signal portion of the tail lamp.


James

 

The red lens on my 06 are definitely looking nice at night now, once wife comes home will take pics during daylight and nighttime and share some other pics of diffuser for folks who had some questions on it.

 

Cant wait man! post em up asap!

 

I will definitely attempt this in the upcoming weekend.

JTS, when you say "melted through", what exactly are you melting to access the interior? The plastic housing? I'm not technical with a soldering iron (not since EE 102 at the Academy) so I'm concerned about lighting the entire case on fire!

 

This is an awesome looking mod.

 

Ok I will do my best to describe again what I did. You are NOT melting anything on your tail lamp assembly or jeopordizing anything on the housing itself. The ONLY piece you are melting is the diffuser lens which you are removing anyway. Once you remove your tail lights, un-screw the LED board and you will clearly see the diffuser lens. The reason you need to melt it and break it to get it out is because its too large to get through the opening of the LED board. The reason I did it this way is because I did not want to completely hack up and cut my tail light housing to get that piece out. Wasnt worth it to me. Not only that but this method is sooo much easier and quicker.
I used my pencil solder iron to melt parts of the diffuser and remove it in pieces. You can also use a needle nose pliers to break parts off as its pretty fragile to begin with so they snap right off.

Looks like someone else did the mod and will be posting pictures later so hopefully that will help you understand what I did.

James

 

Very very interesting... I would have to see it in person in order to decide if it looks good to my taste

 

I gotcha! I had to read your first post and then that one and it all clicked. Thank you!

 

I would love to see it in person too...or a video of it from multiple angles to decide whether or not to do it.

Thanks for sharing the idea though, THAT is appreciated.

 

^

 

I got two pics I took at night, going to attach them in the next 5 min. I am having an issue inserting image since it only mentions Http: link to provide and cant chose from my desktop. Maybe its a limitation i have since I have limited posts.

 

Pics as promised.

 

this looks great! anyone have any daytime pix to show the lights when OFF and if we can see the 'guts' of the LED circuit..preferably 07-08 base.

 

F it! I'm doing it.. LOL

 

Image here is of 06 TL Taillight before shot, guts, diffuser. Refer to previous post for image of modded tail light AFTER diffuser removed. Note the 6 stickers on the led board, I ended up removing mine so they don't show during the day.

 

I was sitting there contemplating after I took all the lights off at 11 pm at night where the diffuser was , only logical explanation as suggested by original poster was it is the white clear piece, so away I went with soldering iron and pliers. First , soldering iron melted certain mid points on diffuser to get my plier in there to start cutting. Once you do one light you know where to hit the soldering iron for second tail light. Overall very happy so far, thanks to the original post on this creative idea.

 

so is this the piece we have to remove?

 

yeah , that is the diffuser.

 

^^^ yes you need to remove that entire clear plastic piece. It takes some time to do but overall its not very hard. Also, once you start getting to the point where you use the needle nose to break parts off, when I did mine I held my tail light upside down so no pieces or fragments went into an area of the light I didnt want. Also, be careful not to push the pliers or solder iron too far, because if you go too far you can hit the outside lens and if you mark up that you might be able to see those marks from outside the tail light.

James

 

Alright for those that requested it here is a video I just made of the tail lights after the diffuser mod. I recorded first with the garage door open, then closed it to make it dark. Sorry for the door chime going the entire time lol. Be sure to watch in HD :-)

N/m about HD, for some reason you cant select HD even though I thought I submitted it at 1080. Oh well still looks decent.

 

Great video. Also note if you are going to use the soldering iron do not use it in the house. I sat down comfortably in my house to do this and had burning plastic smell for a whole day.

 

Done! The LEDs now actually look like LEDs, I think this takes the crown for best free mod

 

post up some pics!

 

Good job, but i like the diffuser

 

I tend to agree...I might like it too.
I appreciate you posting up the video though. It's hard to tell...I'd have to see a car without the diffuser and a car with it next to each other...in the daylight, and night and parking light and then brake.

I guess since it's not reversible I'd have to be a BILLION percent sure.

 

This looks amazing! Great job. So since I have an 07 Base will my tail lights look like this pic Ack posted? Since my taillights are not solid red?
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I think so...and obviously you have the red bezel.

 

IMO either stock or modded look good.

Stock, makes each individual LED appear larger, its very distinguished; I always know when I'm coming up behind another TL at night because of the light pattern.

Modded, makes the housing look awesome in the day since it doesn't look as 'cloudy' inside (as shown in first page). The LEDs are now brighter and actually visible in broad daylight. The taillights almost look custom made and set you apart from all your local TLs with stock lights. The non-diffused LEDs have more of an exotic appeal, in a way they remind me of the way Lambourghini's tails light up.

In conclusion either way looks good, but to have brighter lighting and to be different, plus the zero cost factor, just made it a no-brainer for me...

 

So will 04-06 Red tails stay red?

 

HQ, thank you sir.
The ONLY thing that DOESN'T make it a no brainer for me is the non reversibility.

I MAY end up giving this a go at some point, not having to open it up, definitely makes it tempting.

 

Well it should still be a no brainer, because think of it this way. In the very unlikely even you don't like it, worst case new tail lights are not that expensive :-)
Like mentioned above, it makes your car look like it actually has LED's!! Trust me it's like eye candy, and all those pictures and the video really don't do it justice.

 

I figured I'd throw this pic up for you guys. I did this mod while doing a few other things to my tails last year.
On the left you can see the stock taillight with the diffuser in place and on the right is the modded tail with the diffuser taken out.


Modded tails with diffuser in:


Both of the modded tails together ( no diffuser):

 

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This is my set on my car that AcK made for me. It consisted of the 04-05 base tails and a set of Type-S tails for this combo.

 

Thanks for the pictures nate I think those pics do a VERY good job of showing someone how it really shows off the individual LED's. Only thing is they look VERY dim in those pics, but to anyone concerned it really isnt that bad in person. I think maybe its just the camera since maybe its just focusing on each individual LED. Regardless I assure people that you are not losing any intensity by doing this mod.