Compared to the HID headlights, the remainder of the lighting on my car looks dull and yellowish. So I went ahead and swapped out all the bulbs (except fog lights & rear license plate lights) with LEDs. I wasn't too impressed with the LED bulbs I used in the past, so I decided to spend a little on quality this go around.
Here's a summary of the bulbs I used:
(4) 1157 Red Sylvania ZEVO: brake lights
(4) 1156 Amber Sylvania ZEVO: front/rear turn signals
(2) 1156 White Sylvania ZEVO: reverse lights
(3) 168/194 Red Sylvania ZEVO: top brake lights
(2) 168/194 White Sylvania ZEVO: running lights
(2) 168/194 Amber Sylvania: front marker lights
(2) 168/194 Red Sylvania: rear marker lights
(2) 168/194 White Sylvania ZEVO: Map lights
(2) 168/194 Soft White Sylvania: glove & hatch lights
(4) Load resistors (1 per turn signal)
Few notes:
1. LED lights for the license plate ended up being too bright. I just replaced the incandescent lights with new ones.
2. LEDs gave me hyperflash. So I hooked up a few load resistors:
Here's one tucked behind a brake light:
Here's one taped/zip-tied to my turn signal assembly. Since the turn signals aren't on for extended amounts of time, I'm not too concerned about heat from the load resistors.
3. I couldn't figure out why some bulbs weren't working. What I found out is that some of the wiring on the original Mazda harness didn't match up to reality. In other words, some green power (+) wires were connected to black ground (-) wires on the end device(s).
- As you can see here, the green power wire coming from the car....
....actually connected to the black wire (not green one) on the top tail light assembly. Since the bulbs have a (+) and (-), swapping the orientation of the bulb(s) turned the light(s) on. I found this to be true on a few other areas on the car...which I thought was funny.
4. If the color of the assembly you're putting LEDs into are white, amber, or red, use a white, amber or red LED bulb. Even though the bulb you're replacing is clear, you will not enjoy the result of a white LED in a red/amber housing. It is not natural looking. I went through quite a few LEDs over the weekend, and when I put white LEDs in my brake light housing...they looked like absolute crap.
Overall, I'm satisfied with the quality, light output, & responsiveness of the Sylvania LED lights. The new diffusion of amber & red lighting seems much more rich and vibrant to me, especially the reds. The only issue I'm concerned about is the brightness of the ZEVO lights. They are BRIGHT and I mean BRIGHT!!!......Like let me step on my brakes so a ship stuck in thick fog can find land-type of bright. Hopefully I don't get pulled over for a fix-a-ticket when I hit my brakes or have my turn signals on.