I've searched for hours but can't find any decent photos of clear or smoke LED tails on dark colored XBs. The only good pics I've found have been of black tails and while they look good, I'm not sure what would look best on my NBM XB. I think the contrast of clear might look good and would match the reverse light. OTOH, smoke or black might look even better.

I'm also curious about the resistance of LED tails. I have a 2 LED flasher unit, will I need a 4 LED flasher or resistors? Any advice on the quality of the various available tails out there? Opinions, pics or links appreciated.

 

I think the color tails you go with would completely depend on what look you want for the car. If you are going for a VIP look then chrome tails to match the headlights, chrome door handles, and chrome or polished rims. If you are doing a blacked out look then obviously black tails. Performance look then smoked or black,I would lean more toward smoked.

 

all red

 

how much chrome on the tails are we talkin about? on a dark colored car, i like to see something POP and i think chrome tails would give it that POP im talking about. thats just my opinion though.

 

Thanks guys. I am going for a performance look and not really a fan of VIP or chrome. Red is okay but I already have red. I like the smoke lenses but feel they would look even better with the reverse light and headlights smoked to match and have no plans to do either. The clear tails would match the headlights and reverse light but I'm afraid they might POP too much.

Here is what I'm working with:

 

I like that black housing led tail light...I'd probably do a really light tint on the tailight but thats just me

 

If you want, you can keep it OEM styled but with LEDs instead of bulbs.



I'm not a fan of chrome and read you don't like chrome as much so I'm skipping that. But my favorite are these black housing, clear lens, LED tails.



Just wanted to refer you to these Anzo tails because they look close to OEM and look very clean compared to most other tails.

 

red led^ exactly what i was thinking

 

If I'm going to stay with red I may as well save my money and keep the oem tails. Aftermarket LED tails are probably going to be dimmer and very likely to fail even sooner than the dirt cheap-to-replace oem bulbs.

I do kind of like the black Anzos. What about quality and longevity? Does anyone have any input on which tails last more than a year? I would have bought the TYC tails 2 years ago if not for all the failures.

 

For your car I like the smoked ones the best. You don't have any black else where on the car so the black would stand out too much, the clear is too bright, the smoked looks like the right balance. Never been a fan of th TYCs, just don't think the round lights go well.

 

I like the way you think. I leaning towards smoke too. Not that there is any right or wrong choice but for me personally, I'm liking the smoked lens tails best. I might even smoke my reverse lite very lightly.

Thanks to everyone for your help.

 

I've narrowed it down to these smoked LED tails. Which ones would you buy and why?




^^^Anzo, Eagle Eyes, whatever. ^^^






^^^No brand name.^^^




^^^These are being listed as "Altezza" but look exactly like Longo tails.^^^








...

 

So you're set on picking up a set of LED tails? You kinda shot the idea down when you pointed out that they may be dimmer and may fail sooner than OEM tails.

 

I was wrong to say they might be dimmer. Although LEDs generally lack luminosity they have great intensity when viewed head-on. Good for tail/brake/turn lights but not so good for head/fog/reverse lights, etc.

Basically I want to replace my red tail light lenses with smoke for appearance reasons. The choice of lens color is a personal preference thing.

 

First set looks the best. The reflectors on the other two sets have always turned me off, they just look like add-ons.

 

Ah, I see. I agree ^ get the first set. And hey, they're Anzos, they do look good.

 

ScionFred,

I responded to your PM.

Basically I'm rocking Black Longo Tails. Let me know if you want pics and I can post them here.

I love them. I basically bought this primarily for safety reasons. People used to ride up on my xB all the time slamming on their brakes because they couldn't see me during a rain storm. The LED's are super bright and make my car really easy to see from far away.

Buying Red LED tails is a waste of money because you're not getting anything better aesthetically speaking.

 

Thanks guys. I'd get the Anzos but I don't like the way only the small bottom section of LEDs serve as tails and brake lights while the larger top section is only for turn/hazard flashers. It matches the oem style but I think I prefer having all the LEDs light for tail and brakes. OTOH, you make a good point about the ugly reflectors in the others. Then there are questions about quality differences between visually identical tails. I can get tails that look exactly like Longos from ebay for $100 less but do they use the same LEDs and circuit boards? I have no idea. Is Longo still offering a 3 year warranty even though they don't mention it anywhere?

The lack of good on-car photos, video and accurate info on all of these LED tails is frustrating. Longo has the only videos and they look pink in those. Anzo has more total LEDs but only uses half of them and are they as bright? It sucks that you really have to buy these parts before you can tell if you like them and then hope that they last longer than their typical 30-90 day warranties. <sigh>

 

I do like the first one the best too! And if you smoke your BU light, change the BU bulb out to a brighter one.

 

This link might help for a visual of OEM tails redone!! Not sure though... I like but not at that price for covers though!!

http://www.forjworks.com/Scion-xB-Ge...-Lens-P70.aspx