About a month ago I pulled the mirrors and did a complete 5mm LED swap to white. Also tapped into a constant power source in the door/window switches. Looked great. I have some pics i'll post up at some point. I can say the way the reflector is designed the light shining to the rear is bright. The front was noticeable but not bright at all but as you walk towards the rear of the vehicle they are bright. Blinding? Not hardly? But apparently enough to attract a cop.

This morning before the sun could rise a cop busted me for it. Citing that white light cannot be emitted to the sides or rear of the vehicle while traveling forward.

Just a word of warning that may save you a headache if you were thinking about doing it.

I just ordered another set of Amber LEDs from SuperBrightLEDs.com and will be swapping them back to the stock setup.

BTW, i'm in Oregon and laws may vary as well as officers opinions and attitudes from state to state and city to city.

 

That is EXACTLY what I wanted to do with my car! I just lack the confidence/know-how to do it. I'd love to see any pics you have of the setup.

 

Aw man really? Ive had mine for years now here in Cali and so far nothing from the law for it....but then again thats one of many other mods that are illegal and maybe thats what takes their eyes of it lol

 

I've done that on my car too. All my blinkers are white. I've only been pulled over twice for them but no ticket yet. So there staying on lol.

 

These are unwise mods. We need the signals we send to other drives to be clear, according to standard, and mundane. Unfortunately, it is necessary to design these rules to the lowest common denominator -- people who need lots of clues in order to discern what's going on. For some of them, a blinking white light will cause confusion, they'll make a wrong judgment, and somebody else will pay the price for it.

 

I have had my signals on my car white for over 3 years till i imported it to europe and no cop had anything to say and they were beside me and coming toward me with my signals on several times. I think it would be up tp the cop.

 

You had these set like running lights? That's why they got you for it. I just installed a set of white LEDs in the mirror signals the other day, so I'll find out whenever that time arises. I've been looking at my state's laws and it's kind of open to interpretation, but these aren't side markers, they're turn signals, but the mounting location at the mirror is what will be the debate with the law enforcement that pulls you over. I think it should be ok(well in TX where I stay). The direction they light is what would make a big difference. Like you mentioned they don't show much light at all when looking head on with the car, get to the side, it's noticeable, get to like a 45* angle from the car at a point rearward from the signal, and yes it's bright(I'm using the 5-chip superflux LEDs from Garage1217). I'm thinking of changing the LED placement so they point more forward than rearward as they're now for more effective brightness.

Daytime, well evening shot from front, I'll have to try to get another pic from the side during the day(or similar to the second pic), as I was walking away from the car and pressed the button to lock the car again I was surprised at the brightness, and this was in the evening. It's difficult to get picture of lighting, the first pic is the only one that looks close to how it actually did, the night shots just have too much glare, expected it from a phone cam.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/61201863@N07/6940529124/http://www.flickr.com/photos/61201863@N07/6940529124/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/61201863@N07/, on Flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/61201863@N07/7086634441/http://www.flickr.com/photos/61201863@N07/7086634441/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/61201863@N07/, on Flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/61201863@N07/7086611703/http://www.flickr.com/photos/61201863@N07/7086611703/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/61201863@N07/, on Flickr

 

The thing is...they Are side markers. Notice every car you see with mirror turn signals won't have separate side markers.

 

Agreed. But even as a sidemarker, WHITE is illegal. I'm going to see if i can get a cop to sign off on the fix it ticket with it converted back to Amber LED and leave them constant. Even this could be considered illegal because Oregon Law explicitly states that the only constant rear facing color allowed is Red. If i have to i could mask the rear facing segment of the reflector so it cannot be seen from the rear but id rather not. We'll see.

The biggest problem will be it's a small town and i probably see the same cop several times a week, so he knows every step i make. Some of you in the big cities may never see the same cop for months. Makes it a bit easier to fly under the radar and you have real world crime. I think the guys around here get bored.

 

So since you had them wired to a constant source, have you lost blinker functionality? My dream was to have them constant on and then switch to blinkers when activated.

 

Nope, I took the easy way out and just ran a jumper wire from the window switch to the LED power. But i agree that would be the ideal solution. I think that would require the use of a relay or something. I'll let some of the electrical engineers chime in on that one.

 

It's definitely possible. Just depends on the functionality you would want. Personally, I'd prefer that the LEDs only be lit when the running lights/headlights were on, not to constant 12v. Does anybody know if there's a switched 12v source in the mirror areas that turns on with the lights?

 

^Probably find the wire that lights the LEDs on the door panel switches.