Switt23

Just wanted to give a heads up to anyone who wants to upgrade the light on the license plate. I upgraded mine today to a 168 LED bulb in white.

Make sure you access the bulb from the inside of the trunk by removing the cover on the trunk lid.

I popped the lens off from the outside of the trunk and the retainer portion of the lens stretches out and then the lens doesn't fit snug again. The lens is only a $7 part, but I anted to share.

aaronnn

yeah i already did this as well.. I didn't have the fitment issue when putting the lens back on though. went back together nicely for me.

its a nice little upgrade, makes it a lot cleaner from the back

Trentimus

Thank you for sharing! If y'all do any other bulbs keep us posted

4cruizn

Thanks for the tips! Been wondering about doing something like this.

pdpgps

Has it improved night visibility for the backup camera? I think the camera at night is crap...My previous IS250 was pretty darn clear at night, maybe the OEM LED license plate bulbs on the IS helped.

Switt23

My wife drove the car last night and she said she noticed a difference. The ground lights up a little more than normal, but the distance you can see with the rear view camera really isn't impacted.

Up next for me are the reverse lights and installing my HID fogs. Just waiting for warmer weather.

Trentimus

Even on my TSX the camera was significantly better at night.

robtroxel

Anyone considered replacing the tail/brake lights with LEDs? Not looking to do a chop and replace. Wondering what will fit in the current sockets?

Trentimus

I have read that LEDs dont project the light correctly in the lamps meant for a halogen.. I would stick to your factory brake lights for safety.

pdpgps

Do a tutorial for the fogs I'm thinking of 3000k.

Did you need to add a resistor for the LED bulbs?

aaronnn

i replaced the reverse lights with LED's, those helped a lot more than the license plate lights. Still doesn't mean its better than most oem backup cameras.

and fogs are super easy, i just upgraded mine to H9 65 watt bulbs in ion yellow. No need for silly plug and play HID's with finicky ballast/bulb issues on on/offs. the stock h11 bulbs are utterly useless.

Trentimus

Elaborate, and yes I am lazy, which bulbs did you use for the reverses and did the H9 bulb require any work besides plug and play for the fogs?

tech2332

Did you remove the bumper for the fogs? I want to get some PIAA Yellow H11 fogs.

How difficult do you guys think it would be to change the D2S bulbs on the lows?

pdpgps

Low beam replacements are pretty easy. I don't have any plans to as the OEM HIDs are pretty good for me, but as long as you have room to slip your hand and twist the bulb out you'll be fine. Fogs you will have to take off the bumper to replace. For normal halogen fogs you may be able to get away with taking off some the bumper clips under the car and getting your hand in there but for HID fogs no way. HID fogs on my TSX and RDX took about 90 mins each. The clips break easily FYI!

I'm looking through azine and seeing alot of threads for reverse LED lights. Some people went with this CREE LED and others with V-LED. THose with backup cameras recommended the V-LED. Can anyone verify this as the better choice and the correct bulb size?

ijdmtoys has these for the license plate lights http://store.ijdmtoy.com/ProductDeta...D-S17&CartID=1

aaronnn

its a strange stock bulb, like a 162 or something? but I used an oversized 194 LED replacement. it works fine and still use less power than the stock orangey/yellow bulbs.

all you need in order to get H9's to fit is clipping the little tab inside the bulb connector of the bulb, not the actual stock harness.
http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/show....php?t=2083911

i don't know why the guy that did this DIY shaved it. I used my pocket knife and just kind of sawed it off. took 2 seconds, he took 10 minutes sanding it..

aaronnn

oh and you DO NOT need to remove the bumper to change out JUST the bulbs. If you do an HID conversion, prepare to remove everything.

If you guys look inside the owner's manual, there's a step by step instruction on removing the bulb. You do everything from the exterior of the car. There is however, no room to fit a ballast through your fog hole, so replacing just the bulb is probably way more efficient anyways.

aaronnn

not hard, just annoying. and depends on how small your hand is. I dont see the point in replacing the lows though.. any colors different from OEM will only diminish your light output. I don't know why anyone would downgrade an already strong stock headlight.

I replaced the fogs because it makes a big difference in projecting a strong spread beam across the road and to get rid of the ugly warm orange look and give a crisp solid yellow light.

tech2332

I know the output is less but honestly, i really like the look of 5000k or even 6000k but nothing higher. I'm getting fogs first and if I'm satisfied I'll keep the stock combo