i am planning on tinting my rear clusters on my mk2 and ideally i want them to be nice and dark, meaning ideally changing the bulbs for something brighter... does anyone know of any good bulb sets i can use, maybe led ones? i dont have a clue if they are all the same fitting size etc so any help and links would be great.

I've done my rear lenses, but in the end I had to settle for a tint a little lighter that I wanted. In any event, you can't do them too dark, as they will fail MOT. You will also need a separate set of red reflectors (unless you have them already fitted to the bumper).

I tried putting in bulbs of different wattage to those fitted, and whilst they worked, I immediately got the warning indicator on my instrument cluster (the orange 'lightbulb' warning led). Seeing that orange led really pi**ed me off (even though I knew what it was for). I suppose I could have covered it with black tape, but I preferred to go the 'normal bulb' and lighter tint rule.

i will be leaving the reflector un-tinted so that wont be an issue. so will the led lights still cause issues then? are they a different wattage too? anyone else had experiences with this?

I seem to recall a thread here that says led lamps won't work.

The onboard computer (OBC) will pick up both defective bulbs as well as those that are of different wattage.
Depending on how the OBC detects the wattage, it might well give you an error.
For example - if the OBC determines that a fault condition exists based on the difference in filament resistance of a normal lamp vs a different wattage or a lack of resistance (broken filament), then I imagine you would be in difficulty.
LED lamps (eg like CREE) will be much brighter than the normal bulbs, but will be a fraction of the wattage and have no filament.

If the led lamps have some sort of mechanism to counteract the OBC, then you might get away with it.

Most of what I'm saying is theoretical and plain common sense as I've not personally gone the LED route. Maybe someone with direct experience with LED lamps can help.

SamuraiDragon said:

i will be leaving the reflector un-tinted so that wont be an issue. so will the led lights still cause issues then? are they a different wattage too? anyone else had experiences with this?

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I don't have a bulb warning light

what bulbs did u use??

j44aym said:

what bulbs did u use??

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No I have the standard lights but my car doesn't have any warning light anyways

LEDs can be fitted with ballast resitors to keep the diagnostics happy. Ask the suppliers. Try www. phenoptics .co .uk

Dont go too bright. We've all been dazzled by to$$ers using their fog lamps when there's just a bit of rain spray.