want LED left/right brake lights, but don't like Hybrid tail lamps, how to convert? - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

bluemoose · 07-10-2007, 01:06 AM

I would like to get LED left/right brake lights. The quickest route is to order the Hybrid's tail lamps and swap them out. Probably have to rewire a few things, but no biggie. That's what I had planned.

However, I cannot stand those two big reverse lights on the Hybrid. It just doesn't look right on my Camry. I think they only look nice on white and silver Camrys. The red part on the Hybrid's lamps is different than the red part on regular Camries, so that rules out replacing just the two outermost parts...

Is there a way that I can convert my existing left/right brake light to LED? It has to be just as bright as the Hybrid's LED lights, if not more. No "LED bulbs" because I haven't seen any that's remotely bright enough.(speaking from experience after trying nearly every LED bulb on the market today)

What's my option here? Take apart the rear tail lamp housing and add LED panels one by one?

Any advice? Thanks in advance!

white3ch0c0late · 07-10-2007, 01:13 AM

^What you're talking about is retrofitting. It would have to be a completely custom job. You'd have to buy hybrid tail lamps, remove the LED light optics from the tails, and somehow find a way to frankenstein them into yours. This can be timely, costly, and difficult, and even for someone like me who's done several retrofits with projectors, I wouldn't want to try and tackle the job... then again, now that I think about it...

I'd say the best solution is to get the hybrid tails, and then just have a paint shop cover the white part of the reverse lamp with a "tint" paint that is color-matched to the rest of the tail lamp.

TitaniumSE · 07-10-2007, 01:23 AM

^ That's a good idea. Never thought of that.

bluemoose · 07-10-2007, 01:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by white3ch0c0late

^What you're talking about is retrofitting. It would have to be a completely custom job. You'd have to buy hybrid tail lamps, remove the LED light optics from the tails, and somehow find a way to frankenstein them into yours. This can be timely, costly, and difficult, and even for someone like me who's done several retrofits with projectors, I wouldn't want to try and tackle the job... then again, now that I think about it...

On the second thought, I may just get the Hybrid LED tail light just to see how I like it...

I did a little search on autopartpeople.com and came up with $119.15 for the right outer lamp. (same price for the left) It's listed as:

Rear lamps , Combination lamps ,Lens and housing Year List Your PriceLens and housing Right 2007 $172.34 $119.15

Can this be right? The price seems awfully low kinid of low for Toyota parts. Perhaps that's just the price for the housing without the LED circuitry? However, I don't see the LED circuit listed anywhere.....

Thanks in advance for any help,....

TitaniumSE · 07-10-2007, 02:10 AM

If you do tint half of the white portion, won't the tinted part still light up since the reverse bulb is located in the middle?

white3ch0c0late · 07-10-2007, 03:26 AM

^I was actually suggesting more along the lines of what lammydi did with his tails. I think he's got the absolute best looking Gen 6 tails around.

***lammydi*** · 07-10-2007, 08:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by white3ch0c0late

^I was actually suggesting more along the lines of what lammydi did with his tails. I think he's got the absolute best looking Gen 6 tails around.

Thanks man...yeah this is something BlueBatmobile can easily mod.

Avalonman · 07-10-2007, 08:40 AM

Ok, whats the point of getting the trunk mounted ones? Why not keep those, and just put the hybrids lamps on the outside?

white3ch0c0late · 07-10-2007, 08:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Avalonman

Ok, whats the point of getting the trunk mounted ones? Why not keep those, and just put the hybrids lamps on the outside?

Because they are a different shade of red.

bluemoose · 07-10-2007, 08:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lammydi

Thanks man...yeah this is something BlueBatmobile can easily mod.

lammydi,

you got one real sharp-looking car there....

I'm particularly impressed by those awesome wheels!!!

If the roads in my area weren't littered with potholes, I'd get them in an instant..

Anyway, I wanted to ask you about the front foglights on your car.

(A) Where did you get them? And price?
(B) Did you have them painted silver to match the bumper?
(C) What kind of rewiring did you need to do?(and where's the switch?)

THANKS in advance!

***lammydi*** · 07-10-2007, 09:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bluemoose

lammydi,

you got one real sharp-looking car there....

I'm particularly impressed by those awesome wheels!!!

If the roads in my area weren't littered with potholes, I'd get them in an instant..

Anyway, I wanted to ask you about the front foglights on your car.

(A) Where did you get them? And price?
(B) Did you have them painted silver to match the bumper?
(C) What kind of rewiring did you need to do?(and where's the switch?)

THANKS in advance!

Thanks for the nice comments. Let me try to answer you in the order you asked.
A) I got them from Ebay so long ago I forgot the exact price. I think it was around either $80+shipping= $110
B) I didn't paint the fog light at all.
C) I had the local stereo shop installed just how it came. This is where a long story came in.
I used to have the Fog Light switch integrated into the signal stalk. I bought the old signal stalk from local junkyard. A few weeks ago, my car had problem with the lock/unlock door because the fuse keep blowing off. I brought it to my dealer, they troubleshoot it and found out it was my foglight wire that tapped into the signal stalk. This is normally would void the warranty but I have a very good relationship with the service manager. He suggested for him to honor the warranty I had to install the Fog Light switch seperately so I had them install the on/off switch right below the coins tray.
Sorry for the long answer.

bluemoose · 07-10-2007, 09:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lammydi

Thanks for the nice comments. Let me try to answer you in the order you asked.
A) I got them from Ebay so long ago I forgot the exact price. I think it was around either $80+shipping= $110

Thanks!

I've been searching Ebay for a while... found quite a few, but they were all unpainted
plastic foglights for the '07 Camry.... guess I'll just have to keep searching.

cdtran · 07-10-2007, 10:08 AM

What I'm planning on doing is getting the hybrid outer lights, and then either keeping the current deck lid lights, or getting the hybrid decklid lights and retroing some more led running lights in. The hybrids don't have the running lights on the trunk lid, so I think I'd get a bulb out message if I didn't have some kind of "bulb" on the deck lid.

***lammydi*** · 07-10-2007, 11:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bluemoose

Thanks!

I've been searching Ebay for a while... found quite a few, but they were all unpainted
plastic foglights for the '07 Camry.... guess I'll just have to keep searching.

Let me go back to my old email, I might have saved it. It would have the seller name and price. I'll let you know.

white3ch0c0late · 07-10-2007, 11:09 AM

Gen 6 fog lights are all unpainted. Its just the round lamp surrounded by a black bezel.