+1
kev's instructions were great
follow them exactly as he says, and they'll turn out how you want.


And i wouldn't recommend "black[ing] (them) out." Smoke them. Don't make them too dark, you won't be able to see at night.


I did this. I used LED Luxeon bulbs from superbrightleds.com. The bulbs were $30 a piece, but they were totally worth it because of their brightness and quality... my taillights are blacked out and when they're on they're just as bright as stock with no tint.

 

which bulbs did you use from them?
im looking at this site for my trucks bulbs when i upgrade my taillights on it.
http://autolumination.com/1156_1157.htm

heres a few for the civic. im just not sure if id want to go with the white or stick with red ones. im not quite sure.... id still going to go with my custom led strips on the insides, but for the backup im just going to buy some of these bright leds drop in bulbs.
http://autolumination.com/7443_7440.htm

 

BA15 5-Watt LED bulb - RED
15th item down
http://superbrightleds.com/cgi-bin/s...gi?product=CAR


also, for the side bulbs in the tail lights i bought red LED 168 bulbs

 

any before after pics?
to me it doesnt look like they would space out the light output very good.

 

only have after pics
(the dots where the bulbs are only show up when you take a picture, weird)

lights on, dusk (no brakes)





brake pedal pressed





night time, lights on (no brakes)






and as you can see, they're plenty blacked out...

 

its all about the brightness =]

 

i used the led's from superbrightleds.com (the warehouse is right down the street from my parents) for brake lights in my truck and my civic. also side marker lights and led's to change my interior lights to red.. definitely a great investment.

 

speak'n of hid's.. i've read through the umpteen threads, and the more i read, the more i get confused...

I'm thinking about getting hid's for my 97 ex, but i'm gonna have to replace my housings, cause one of them is cracked(road gator jumped up in front of me)

I'd really like to keep a basically stock look, as i'm kinda going for a sleeper thing.. so.... where do i go, what do i get, and how much is it gonna cost me, cause the stockers just arent bright enough...

I've been all over mobile hid's site, but everything i've read sais that if i put hid's in the stock housings, they'll splatter the light.. and i really hate that...

links? things to avoid?

I'm a little shy of ebay, just cause of all the horror stories i've read about them.... I gotta do somethng pretty fast, so please, any input would be much appreceiated

Joe
Seguin TX

 

i would just go on ebay for the headlight housings. gotta suck up your fear of ebay and just go for it.

reason: the headlights sold on regular websites are the same as on ebay but cost twice as much. they're all the same quality.

I recommend and really like the black housing headlights that look like stock besides that they are black housings. Stay away from projectors. Some people like them and all, but I think they're ugly, and i've had bad experiences with 2 different sets of them.


You won't really have that much light scatter, a lot of people really exaggerate it.

I recommend 5000k HIDs for keeping a close to stock look.

 

Yea, the 5000k looks good, i really prefer the whiter light vs the blue and or yellow... I dont have anything against projectors, of course i've never had any, but it would really kill my stock look... i think i could probably get away with the black ones tho.. I'll go look around on ebay and see what i can find...

Whatever i get, i'll make sure to seal 'em, cause from what i've read, that can be a real issue.

I buy lots of things on ebay, but its stuff i know about, endmills, fly cutters, electronic components, stuff like that. This headlight thing is totally uncharted territory for me...

One other question... should i look into just getting the simpler single hid's, or should i really kill my budget and go with a set that will do hi/low?