Tinting reverse lights

[hillstones]

The OEM housing on the 2003-2005 coupe has a diffused reverse lamp lens. So it makes the light look dimmer than it actually is, and there is no reflective background, so the light goes nowhere. After I installed my Eagle Eye LEDs, the original stock reverse lamp is much brighter and the reflective backing now actually projects the reverse light. So it is like a couple of flashlights behind my car when I put it in reverse. It improves visibility behind me at night significantly.

Eagle Eye had a Red/Smoke version, but discontinued them due to poor sales. You might find some on eBay floating around. The smoked lens wasn't much darker than clear because they still must meet DOT standards.

Here are the Red/Smoke Eagle Eye LEDs
http://www.driveaccord.net/forums/sh...43&postcount=5

Here are the Red/Clear Eagle Eye LEDs
http://www.driveaccord.net/forums/sh...ad.php?t=38450

This link shows the difference side by side of the OEM coupe housing and the Eagle Eye housing. You can see how much the OEM reverse light is diffused to reduce the brightness compared to the clear Eagle Eye:
http://www.driveaccord.net/forums/sh...0&postcount=20

So tinting the OEM reverse housing wouldn't be a great idea. However, you can get the Eagle Eye Red/Clear and experiment with tinting those if you wanted to.

[Aceman196]

I love my 7.5gen reverse lights. They are bright as hell! They come in handy all the time. So I couldnt imagine wanting to tint them.

[xMrWangx]

Personally, I love the look of the tint. My tails & reverse lights aren't bright enough though, so I plan on throwing in an HID kit, and some custom LEDs to light everything up. Currently, with my window tint and tail light tint, my reverse lights are pointless. I have to roll down my windows, and let my eyes adjust to the dark if there is something behind me when backing up.



(Before my coils, but you can see the tails better in this pic)

[xMrWangx]

Originally Posted by Gen_7_coupe

Alright thanks for the input. If I were to use the tint film to test it would it be easy to remove?
btw crageyman your cars looks really nice

Depends on the film I think. Some use glue, and some stick with static. The static ones are easy to remove, but it can be tough to keep the corners from peeling.

[hillstones]

Originally Posted by xMrWangx

Personally, I love the look of the tint. My tails & reverse lights aren't bright enough though, so I plan on throwing in an HID kit, and some custom LEDs to light everything up. Currently, with my window tint and tail light tint, my reverse lights are pointless. I have to roll down my windows, and let my eyes adjust to the dark if there is something behind me when backing up.

If you like the black look, you should get the Eagle Eye LED black tail lights. At least with the Eagle Eye 'black' LEDs, you will be safe knowing that someone will see your tail lights and not rear-end you. With your current blacked out tail lights, you increase the chance of getting rear-ended because your tail lights are not bright enough to alert anyone behind you that you are stopping. Installing HIDs in your tail lights won't solve the problem because HIDs do not reach full brightness when they initially illuminate. I have seen some people drive around with tinted tail lights and during a bright sunny day, you can't even see the brake lights because the tint was too dark.

[xMrWangx]

Originally Posted by hillstones

With your current blacked out tail lights, you increase the chance of getting rear-ended because your tail lights are not bright enough to alert anyone behind you that you are stopping.... I have seen some people drive around with tinted tail lights and during a bright sunny day, you can't even see the brake lights because the tint was too dark.

I agree to an extent. "not bright enough to alert anyone", might be a stretch. I feel they aren't bright enough to alert a careless driver. Plus, there is a 3rd brake light, which is left completely untinted and exposed. Regarding Eagle Eye tail lights, I don't like the placement of the LEDs in the Eagle Eye tail lights. This is why I'm going to make my own LED tails in a design I will like.

Originally Posted by hillstones

Installing HIDs in your tail lights won't solve the problem because HIDs do not reach full brightness when they initially illuminate.

I can take 3 seconds out of my night to let the HIDs warm up. But if for some reason I am too impatient not too, as previously stated, an HID during the warm up phase will still be brighter than stock reverse bulbs.

[the grey quincy]

I think he is saying that it will take longer for the brake light to warm up if they are HIDs, not the tail light. So if you brake suddenly and someone is following closely behind you, the brake lights won't be at full brightness for a couple seconds and you would run a greater risk of someone hitting you

[xMrWangx]

Originally Posted by the grey quincy

I think he is saying that it will take longer for the brake light to warm up if they are HIDs, not the tail light. So if you brake suddenly and someone is following closely behind you, the brake lights won't be at full brightness for a couple seconds and you would run a greater risk of someone hitting you

Possibly. My comments weren't very clear before. But if doing LEDs and HIDs in a tail light housing, I would think HID (reverse) and LEDs (brake lights).

I would assume, HIDs as brake lights would be an extremely bad idea too. With the continuous on and off draw they would put on electrical components like the alternator, battery, and maybe even the ballasts? Not to mention the danger of blinding the drivers behind you once they do warm up. This would be a hazard just waiting to happen.

[the grey quincy]

I agree. I may have read it wrong, too, but that's how I interpreted it

[random_accord]

Originally Posted by xMrWangx

Personally, I love the look of the tint. My tails & reverse lights aren't bright enough though, so I plan on throwing in an HID kit, and some custom LEDs to light everything up. Currently, with my window tint and tail light tint, my reverse lights are pointless. I have to roll down my windows, and let my eyes adjust to the dark if there is something behind me when backing up.



(Before my coils, but you can see the tails better in this pic)

so im wondering how dark are your taillights? and what percentages do they offer for taillights??

[xMrWangx]

Originally Posted by random_accord

so im wondering how dark are your taillights? and what percentages do they offer for taillights??

Not sure. There wasn't a percentage on the tint I bought. I got one of the cheap static pre cut tint kits off ebay. It's decent. Some sellers sell ok stuff, others can be really crappy. To buy some nice tint made for taillights, it's about $60. Ebay kit was $20.

[paperboy42190]

Originally Posted by Crageyman

this is what i did....like it?

are you the guy who went to the v6p bbq last weekend? i think i remember seeing that kind of tail lights on a 7.5gen coupe there