Finally started to get around to making my own LED tail lights..I really liked the way the bmws had those lighted rods,I wasn't about to pay $100+ for a set just to hack up,so looked for some alternatives..Here is the inspiration


So instead of the factory bmw rods i'm going to use a mini blind clear rod i got at home depot for $3



The piece that goes on the reverse light was perfect jig to bend the rod after i heated it with a heat gun..The bmw rods have cuts on the back so just used my dremel to put some cuts in it to grab the light







This is just a rough in so far and just a little bit of experimenting. I will be using brighter Superflux LEDs, one at each end of the rod and i'm going to try and frost the rod instead of making cuts to see how it looks..and i'm thinking of using two or three rods for my running lights and i'll fill up below the rods with maybe 3 rows of 4 LEDs..I'm gonna need some clear lenses as well,the diffused factory lenses just dont look good IMO..let me know what you guys think, sorry about the pics i'm using a crappy camera

 

Sweet bud, looks good.

 

verry nice were are u getting ur leds from?

 

stealing my ideas one by one......

dude, good luck on it! GAWH!

Can't wait to see your end product.

I think i can get about 5 bars out of it!

 

I'm getting them from a guy locally that I bought from before to do my turn signals..a tube of 60 for $15

 

haha, yeah but i wont have any room for the brake light leds..im not going to put the brake lights on the tubes they will not be bright enough..BMW doesnt even use the tubes as brake lights...im thinkin of fitting some in the corner lights with white LEDs

 

BMW uses LED strips? I know following a BMW 5 series makes me jealous, esp at night.... haha

 

hey bro i like your idea hell if you get quick and ready to start making some money ill pay 50 for both my tail lights done that should get ayou a couple tubes++

 

no just the tubes with one led at each end of the tube like the first pic

 

lol..lets see how much of a PITA these are too make first

 

lookin sweet!

 

instead of frosting or cuts, try drilling a small hole in either end then inserting the led there.




very nifty idea.



on related note:

this is how the ebay "halo" lights are made.

 

thats exactly what i did and where the leds are

 

Any updates on this?

 

the ebay halos are done that way. i got send a halo 5-3/4 H4 when one was "damaged in shipping" aka...box fell apart as i unpacked everything and i dropped it on its face. they sent me a non halo after that. id actually like to get another halo if taking them apart to put orange LEDs in place of the blue works out well. if not, tube goes away and ill have a spare housing.

anyways, i like the concept quite a bit actually. almost makes me wanna give it a shot on mine. i wouldnt even have to bend them. its that or flat panels with leds facing rear. and a diffuser panel inside.

 

yours would just be rectangles

 

yes but the look might still be cool. i dunno. depends what my front lighting ends up as.

 

Im still tryin to get my idea locked down on this too. Ima get LED boards made But i still dnt know what design i wana go with

 

use the tiny circuit board style leds, and make it into the old toyota logo. thatd be hecka cool. lol. run resisters for all of them, but bypass the resistors on the logo for a brighter brake light. so its normall a square that changes when you step on the brakes. but i dunno if it would be visable through a stock lens. i also thought about putting a vinyl sticker inside the lens of a shape. probably on the blinker portion.

 

not yet, been working on my SR5 gauge cluster...I was wanting to use the stock style tail light but with a clear lens, but its going to take a lot of work to get it the way i want it, i'm thinking of buying these and making them into LEDs with the illuminated rod