I got a little bored with the look of the front end on my Aurora and decided to do a little experimentation for the sake of science and see what my car would look like with LED'* for the turn signals. I've secretely been admiring the new vehicles on the road that do use LED'* for the turn signals because of how crisp the on/off of the bulb is. LED'* are instant on/off, with no dim period when the bulb flashes. I thought that was really neat looking, especially at night. So I found myself browsing on Ebay and other sites in a search for decent looking LED bulbs. From my experience, LED'* are often dimmer than a comparable halogen bulb. This is why I chose the bulb I did ultimately. It has 39 LED'* built into the single bulb, and they're all firing in different directions to give the housing a fuller look. I installed the LED'* and decided, ' why not clear the corners since I don't have amber bulbs in there anymore anyways?' I did end up clearing the corners but ran into some aggravating problems. It was quite difficult to get the lens off of the headlamp assembly. When the lens finally broke free, the horrible 'goop' that seals the headlamp strung, and finally, snapped back and planted itself on the chrome bezel of my headlight. >:( By this point I was getting pretty aggervated because the lens was so hard to get off, AND the nasty goop that GM used is now on the chrome part of the headlight with absolutely no hope of ever coming off (I tried using goo gone, bug/tar remover, and even WD-40, and nothing touched the stuff.) I'm neutral about the end results. I like some things about it, and there'* other things I DON'T like about it. (the nastiness on my chrome for example.) I also noticed while the headlamps were apart that I'm starting to get discoloration/fading of the chrome on one headlamp. I'm tempted to just paint the chrome black now because the goop on the chrome is driving me nuts.













The next picture is of the fading effect of the chrome. I'm not sure how bad it'* going to get?



And now the mess I made of the driver'* side headlamp. :-[ :-[



When it gets darker out tonight, I'm going to upload a video of what the turn signals look like when they're flashing. I'll get some night pictures as well.


The only problem I have right now is that when the headlamps are on, the turn signal speed is WAY too fast. The flash speed is double what it should be, like if a turn signal is burned out. that can be expected however because of the low draw an LED bulb produces in comparison to a halogen one. I'm just now sure why they only flash fast when the vehicle voltage is lower. Hopefully GM has an electronic flasher for the Aurora VS the original thermal flasher.

EDIT: here'* a video of the lights flashing during the day

I like the look a lot. The led look is very nice and so is the cleared corners. Hopefully somebody here will be able to tell you how to get the black goop off.

I think it looks awesome, just clean them up a bit...

Looks sharp man, 110% better. as far as your leds flashing too fast, there is some sort of device they sell at autozone in the LED section. it is about 2 inches long and 1/4 inch in diameter,its white and I think made of ceramic. the function of this device I am told is a voltage regulator for LEDS. hope that helps you out.

The LEDs are a big improvement. Nice job!

Here'* the night pictures

In the video at around 8 seconds, you can REALLY tell the difference between the halogen side marker, and the LED'* flash. The side marker slowly lights up, whereas the LED is instant on/off. It'* not noticeable to a lot of people, until you can see them side by side like that.

Couldnt you just add an LED light to the turn signals-corner indicator lamps to even things out?

Good little project though, despite the aggravation with the headlamp.

I know what I"m going to do now. I'm going to do an LED strip in the side markers instead of a 194 LED. a 6 or 8 LED strip would look really sharp in there. I'll make a new thread once I get this done later in the week. I've also ordered LED'* for the rear turn signals, along with the load resistors for all the turn signal bulbs. I'm also going to clear the rear turn signals. I'm thinking of picking up some VHT nightshades so that the amber of the side markers isn't distracting. It sticks out with the clear corners, but with it painted 'black' it shouldn't be a problem. Thanks for the tips everyone. Somebody suggested using rubbing alcohol on the chrome bezel to remove the nasty goo that I got on it. I'll try doing that once I'm feeling ambitious enough to take apart the headlight again.

Looks nice Dan! You can always pick up a replacement headlamp on EBay or somewhere else, so don't sweat the black gunk.

How is the brightness of the LEDs compared to the halogen bulbs? I too like how quick the LEDs turn on and off, but if they are not as bright that is not good.

I am surprised these LED bulb manufacturers haven't become smart enough yet to incorporate a circuit that would draw the same voltage as a normal bulb....either as a plug-in harness or build the circuit right into the bulb. Strange.

Chris

Dan...if you open the light..give the Goo Gone another try. Pete and I got some of that black stuff inside on his and it was able to take it off.