What did you do to your Kia Stinger today?

[jdmvette]

Most of you all probably already knew this but I never realized that the OEM reverse lights were a standard piss-jar colored incandescent bulb until I watched my wife leaving in it recently.

Fixed that issue this afternoon with some bulbs from Amazon

 

[D.J.]

Most of you all probably already knew this but I never realized that the OEM reverse lights were a standard piss-jar colored incandescent bulb until I watched my wife leaving in it recently.

Fixed that issue this afternoon with some bulbs from Amazon

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Awesome

Do they provide more light at night? or just look nicer being cooler white?

 

[jdmvette]

Awesome

Do they provide more light at night? or just look nicer being cooler white?

I can't really tell how much light they put out because this car, unlike the Chevy family I am used to, does not activate the reverse lights when you hit the unlock button. Next time I drive it I'll report back on how well they work

I mostly replaced them because I can't stand old school bulbs on any of my car's lights...I am weird that way

 

[BIG-D]

When I fitted mine they now light up the whole street when I reverse... and no canbus fault, which is awesome unlike my AMG .

 

[Snicklefritz]

Most of you all probably already knew this but I never realized that the OEM reverse lights were a standard piss-jar colored incandescent bulb until I watched my wife leaving in it recently.

Fixed that issue this afternoon with some bulbs from Amazon

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How did you know that those longer bulbs would even fit? What are those little side yellow patches for? Is this bulb an LED?

 

[jdmvette]

How did you know that those longer bulbs would even fit? What are those little side yellow patches for? Is this bulb an LED?

There's plenty of room in the reverse housing to fit the longer bulb. I didn't know this beforehand but it worked out fine. Yes the bulb is an LED and the little yellow dots are the LEDs themselves

 

[Snicklefritz]

There's plenty of room in the reverse housing to fit the longer bulb. I didn't know this beforehand but it worked out fine. Yes the bulb is an LED and the little yellow dots are the LEDs themselves

Thanks.
Is that the SEALIGHT? What made you pick this one?

 

[jdmvette]

Thanks.
Is that the SEALIGHT? What made you pick this one?

I bought these, mostly because I didn't feel like paying $100 for the diode dynamics ones

There are many choices for a 921 bulb though

 

[Snicklefritz]

I bought these, mostly because I didn't feel like paying $100 for the diode dynamics ones

There are many choices for a 921 bulb though

What is "diode dynamics"? $100? I don't see anywhere near that price on the Amazon search.

 

[jdmvette]

What is "diode dynamics"? $100? I don't see anywhere near that price on the Amazon search.

When I was looking up how to R&R these bulbs, I used this video:

They are probably superior to what I purchased but I didn't feel the cost was appropriate in this case

 

[Snicklefritz]

When I was looking up how to R&R these bulbs, I used this video:

They are probably superior to what I purchased but I didn't feel the cost was appropriate in this case

Thanks.
Ima still curious about your selection. The most sold items in the Amazon returned results have thousands of reviews, most good, as the over all ratings are well over 4 stars. But the one you went with doesn't have a single review. Why did you go with something that doesn't have any reviews?

That install video got me to the Diode Dynamics website. Three grades of LED reverse lights. Oddly, their two lowest offerings have less lumens than the Stinger OEM reverse bulbs. How is that a selling point, exactly?

The only review less than 5 stars is 4 stars, one review out of 34. Interesting read.

"Incredible brightness and true to Diode Dynamics high quality. Used them over a year in my Subaru WRX STi until road conditions/vibrations allowed for enough momentum to knock the bulbs loose from the connectors. It sounds strange but they are quite weighty afterall. I thought it might have been a fluke as it happened on one side but after driving home from a relatively short trip, the other side popped out as well. I had to fish both out of the taillight assemblies. Not really a fault of Diode Dynamics since these aren't really meant for dealing with pothole rally stage So since I couldn't get them more secure and hassle of dealing with them coming off again meant I put weak OEM bulbs back in for now."

LOL, a hundred bucks wasted? Sounds like.

And I have to wonder, now, if the other offerings, like the one you bought, are as "weighty" or even more weighty than the Diode Dynamics XPR. In other words, the "only a matter of time" thing factors into my decision to do this or not. I will take 260 lumens and never have a bulb shake loose, over 720 sustained lumens and sooner or later having to remove the backup light bar to put an aftermarket "weighty" reverse light or lights back in.

 

[jdmvette]

The ones I bought didn't seem "weighty". I just picked bulbs that weren't dirt cheap nor too expensive. I didn't even notice the lack of reviews.

I mostly got them for the LED aesthetics, and how they look while lit up in reverse but not so much for lighting up the area behind me while I am in reverse.

They seem bright enough at night and look nice and modern.

 

[Snicklefritz]

I mostly got them for the LED aesthetics, and how they look while lit up in reverse but not so much for lighting up the area behind me while I am in reverse.

Ah, we are interested in different priorities. I would get these to light up my rearview camera better in the dark, and to last longer than incandescent. I thought that LEDs were supposed to outlive incandescent by a bunch of years. Those reviews of the other offerings that had one or two stars said no, they die after a few months to a few years. So, if they are not going to last even as long as OEM bulbs, which can go well past ten years, even the life of the car isn't unheard of, there goes one of the two reasons why I would want to replace the incandescent bulbs.

Hopefully your selection is one of the better offerings and they don't vibrate loose, and don't die anytime soon. The pics you posted do look good. If I decide to get a set, I'll probably get what you did. I think the lights look cool all by themselves, sort of steam punk.

 

[Buzzman12]

I mostly got them for the LED aesthetics, and how they look while lit up in reverse but not so much for lighting up the area behind me while I am in reverse.

They seem bright enough at night and look nice and modern.

Just how often and how far do you drive in reverse, and who's watching?

I guess I'm being a stick in the mud here, but for the few seconds you're backing up in a parking lot, or your driveway, does it really matter?

 

[jdmvette]

^ see the end of post 14563

 

[Snowwhite]

I bought some on Amazon that were brighter than the incandescents. I’ve tried several others since, but none as bright as the ones I bought earlier. The ‘18-21s have smaller reverse light lenses than the ‘22+, so YMMV. None of the ones I’ve tried are heavy.

 

[BIG-D]

When I fitted mine they now light up the whole street when I reverse... and no canbus fault, which is awesome unlike my AMG .

These are the ones I fitted...

 

[jdmvette]

About 2 months ago, my car was rear-ended in a hit and run when my wife and son were driving. Long story short, tonight I put in a 4K rear dash cam. I already had an integrated front cam from FITCAMX but I didn't opt for the rear camera when I bought it

I made the best of it because the camera I bought is a Vantrue E1 Pro 4k which has great optics capable of generating superior images compared to the rear one the FITCAMX would have come with.

I forgot to take any installation pics but basically after positioning the camera, I stuck it to the inside of the rear hatch glass. I chose to mount it off to the side as high up as I could because I didn't want to stick it to the glass at the bottom of the 3rd brake light which would likely have been too distracting. The camera has a wide field of view so being off to one side shouldn't hurt things too much. The camera comes with an optional CPL filter which I did install.

I then routed the USBC wiring under the top hatch molding, through the left side rubber wiring accordion (after removing a couple hatch snap panels). I popped off the hoodliner plug to gain more room to work with and continued routing the wire around the roof molding, going down the rear driver side bodywork, after popping out the rubber door seal.

The wire then made its way from the seal where the seat bottom begins. Fortunately, you cannot see where the wire pops out because it's hidden by the seat cushion. Then I worked the wire towards the center (after tucking the excess wire under the seat), and finally plugged the cigarette adapter into the rear outlet.

I had bought a hardwire installation kit along with a USBC extender to bring power from the front fuse panel but I decided just to keep it simple and used the included cig adapter.

The E1 Pro supports up to 1TB but I went with a 512GB card which is plenty before overwriting happens. The E1 Pro has a very small screen on it which might be distracting in the rear view mirror, but there is a timer option which was set to have the screen go blank after 30 seconds. After the screen turns off, all you really notice is a blinking green light to let you know the system is on. You can then see your vids from the E1 Pro's tiny screen or in full glory via their app on your cell phone.

So far, pretty happy with it and the peace of mind knowing I have both a front and rear camera that can record any unforeseen incidents like what happened to us a couple months ago.

 

[socalvn]

Just incase your wondering it will fit 65" TV still in the box

 

[D.J.]

Just incase your wondering it will fit 65" TV still in the box View attachment 90247

Not surprising, but thanks for confirming with photographic evidence