fongyz

just to chime in, I'm a TC1 owner. I prefer the in-headlight look, much more OEM and cleaner looking, not to mention more exposure to the SMD leds (Yeaaa I used egay $10 LED strips). And then...less exposure to elements (I live in Wisconsin, so go figure when winter comes! ) hehe

DtrTc2

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devanb3

iTrader: (1)

does anyone have up close pics of the lights on both top and bottom without the lights being on i would like to see just how noticeable they are

DtrTc2

Ill post some of mine tommorow, u cant even see em on mine

Druidiron

Same here, but you can see mine a little if you are looking for them. Too dark to take pics atm.

DtrTc2

Ya thats y I took em off from the bottom and put em on top cuz they look factory

Druidiron

Worked out great that half my car was being shaded by a tree and half wasent. So the first pic is the side that was in the sun. The strips are much more noticable with direct sunlight:


The strip is still visable on the shaded side, but pretty much only if you are looking for it. Before I knew what these LED strips looked like, I would have never noticed:

BeloZero

dont mean to sound like an A$$ but what factory car has LED's on top of the light?

DtrTc2

Lol none that I know of but they look like they were made in the housing, if I never saw a tc2 and one day I saw one with those light ide think theyre factory

Druidiron

What he ment is, you can't see the strip its self when it is off, placed at the top like you can when it is at the bottom. It looks more factory there because it is not obvious that it was added. Your right, no car has them at the top from the factory. However if you want one of these strips to look as factory as possible, you pretty much have to put it at the top.

Regardless, I can't read your post any which way, were it doesent sound like you were being an a$$.......lol

fongyz

No offense taken, just following Scion's original tagline "United by Individuality" . So you make the call. To be honest, I get mad compliments and looks my way with the strips mounted in-headlight in brow area vs my bro's Mazda3 mounted top like most others do who don't want to completely part out the headlight lenses.

BeloZero

mine is pretty well hidden but you can see it if you're looking for it. i would of loved to put mine inside the housing but ive seen to many horror stories on people messing that up so ill stick with this for now. i dont want to know how much a new headlight assembly is.

KidJustin

it might be hard...but maybe pre-wire the strip and fish it into the housing through the hole for the high beams?

u would need something (a robotic tweezer? haha) to be able to help guide it

that was my plan a long, long time ago...just never knew how to get it to work...

Druidiron

You could drill a hole on each side in the rear, and fish the strip through that way, then just seal the holes really well. Would be a pain, but it would take some of the risk out of baking the headlight housing.

fongyz

To be honest, for those who have never baked headlights, I've baked 05-07 halogen ones and 08-10 projector ones, the later years had better black (vs grey old school) sealant material, easier to work with and less amount. I'm sure this material carried over to TC2 headlights.

Baking is probably the easiest way to ensure you can pop the headlight all in one try (or two if you use lower heat cuz you want to be cautious). I wouldn't recommend cleaning them prior to baking, if you do, wait for a complete dry and remove all cleaning chemicals.

My experience, 250 degrees at 10-12 minute does it just fine. You want additional sealant? Go buy butyl-type material (ex: 3M Ribbon / Window seal). NO SILICONE.

Threading any LED strips into housing sounds really difficult if not impractical. You'd still need additional adhesive to hold the strips in place otherwise they could go start gettin loose in direct sunlight under operation ;) (cheap strips most likely don't have heatsinks to remove the heat generated by LEDs). Most will come with some double-sided adhesive but my experience tells me... that doesn't hold well on plastic material.

MightyP

iTrader: (1)

Here are pictures of my lights with them turned off. Having the lights under the headlamp doesn't look as stock as having them on top of the housing when they're off, but having done it both ways, I still prefer under the headlamp. Main reason is because when they're on, they look much better than on top of the housing. During the day, the headlamp shades the lights just enough that the lights are still bright, even when the car is in direct sunlight. Also, and this is a personal preference thing, my LED strips are 18" long rather than the 12" you can fit above the headlamp and I think it makes them look much cleaner.

Anyway, here are the pictures as requested. Notice these are more noticeable in the shade than in the sun and I will say, the pictures don't do them justice. They appear far more noticeable in the pictures than they really are. I've had a number of tC1 owners say how much they like that the tC2 comes with the LED DRLs (assuming it was factory) and more than 1 car aficionado compliment me on how clean the strips look.

Level shot about 2 ft away in direct sunlight


Level shot about 2 ft away in the shade


Eye-level about 3 ft away in the shade

KidJustin

also putting the strip below will allow you to still get some NIA eyelids without making it look weird

good job by the way! on of the best variations of the audi tC2 in my opinion

vaxc3

I currently have mine on top.. the only reason is... the strips I purchased was so low quality that every time I attempt to install it at the bottom, it ends up the strips not functioning properly with sections of LEDs not lighting up... whats left is just long enough to be placed at the top... (seriously, LED strip manufacturers need to work on this... 8 strips total, none worked properly... at least the place I got it from offer awesome warranty)

MightyP

iTrader: (1)

Glad they had a good warranty!

vaxc3

seriously... I'm sick of removing the bumper just to realize the LED strips r DOA (despite testing them upon arrival... somehow, the strips just don't function well after install)

anyone got some high quality strip recommendations? I'm particularly looking for the cool white color (white with a hint of blue)