LED sidelight bulbs

[Phutters]

This might help anyone with a C5 who wants to swap the orange glow-worm sidelights for something a bit less nineteenth-century.

They are these; Osram W5W warm whites. I didn't bother with the cool white alternatives. Those are too blue, and don't match the Nightbreakers in the dips. I could have taken a picture to demonstrate this, but for some reason didn't think to do so. Swapping them over was a doddle once I'd wrecked an extremely expensive manicure and several porn star nail extensions removing bulb holders which had never been out since they were put in some time in June 2004. A perfect fit, in fact.

As is the case with several things in life, once it's been in and out a couple of times it gets a lot easier to do.

And the little translucent diffuser cap on the new bulbs look better when they're off than an ugly lump of silver plastic with tiny little yellow squares stuck all over it poking into the reflector.

P1010205rz.jpg

Highly recommended, and together with a pair of Ebay LED festoons in the number plate lights make the old gal look quite nifty, and younger than her years.

Apropos of nothing much other than that I was just looking at the number plate thread, that plate is one Mrs Phutters asked me to get a couple of years ago.

Her dad - initials HGW - was a B17 pilot who flew out of Podington - now Santa Pod - in 1944. His last mission ended with his plane in a muddy field near the front line in Belgium on Christmas Eve; remarkably intact bearing in mind that it had completed most of its final earthbound journey with nobody in it having been rendered unflyable by the filthy Boche and their damnably accurate flak.

He and his crew all drifted safely to a wet and miserable terra firma beneath silk dandelion clocks, thankfully.

We wanted to get B17 PLT, which was the plate he had on his car in the States before he passed away, but as some other bugger had raided the DVLA first we had to make do with B17 HGW instead.

It's quite a good substitute, and a nice way of remembering a lovely feller.

A lovely feller who was the youngest B17 pilot of the war, as far as we are aware.

He signed for his first Fortress not long after his eighteenth birthday.

Kind of sobering, innit?

[gupsterg]

Swapping them over was a doddle once I'd wrecked an extremely expensive manicure and several porn star nail extensions removing bulb holders which had never been out since they were put in some time in June 2004.

ROLMFAO!

As is the case with several things in life, once it's been in and out a couple of times it gets a lot easier to do.

LOL!

... a nice way of remembering a lovely feller.

A lovely feller who was the youngest B17 pilot of the war, as far as we are aware.

He signed for his first Fortress not long after his eighteenth birthday.

I & mate to the bravery & patriotism of the good feller.

BTW the lights & A6 look great .

[pixel8]

great story - oh and the lights look good too - definitely considering these after a lens polish..

[MeDriving]

Thanks for posting this. What LED festoons did you use? The ones I've seen have a very white/blue strong light, too bright for my taste.

J

[Phutters]

Thanks for posting this. What LED festoons did you use? The ones I've seen have a very white/blue strong light, too bright for my taste.

J

I've spent all day trying to remember where I got them from, and I'm afraid I haven't succeeded.

All I can remember (I don't have the car any more either) is that they were white and not too bright, not those horrible electric blue fairground bulbs that make you look like a seventeen year-old who's determined to completely transform his Corsa and still have change from three quid.

The only other thing I recall is that they came from a place in Germany, although since I imagine there is more than one place in Germany that sells LED festoons that may not be too much help.

I even looked for the receipt.

Sorry...

.

[Phutters]

What I put above wasn't very helpful, so I've tried to redeem myself. It'd be easier if I still had the car, but anyway...

The OEM incandescent number plate festoons are 5w and 36mm long, I believe, so anything which is that length and which produces light on the warm side (say 4000K) should be fine.

Though these Osrams aren't what I used, I'd probably choose them if I was doing the job again. They aren't cheap. You can get LED festoons for peanuts on eBay, but I reckon it's worth paying that bit extra for some decent kit. I've used their Nightbreakers in various cars' headlights over the years, and they've always done what it says on the tin.

It's top stuff.

.

[Gazwould]

6000K which is the norm for festoon led number plates and led reversing bulbs isn't an issue , sure some could be on the blue side but it's about finding which one .

I put in some so called 6500K reversing bulbs and they were warm white , 5000K at best which I prefer .

Now the front is a different issue when trying to match LED sides with incandescent crap out of date legislation halogen dipped .

I was happy with 4000K led sides with probably 3600K Osram Night Breaker Plus , BUT these bulbs always yellow with age and looked crap after a few years .

All the true performance halogen bulbs are 3700K , so I went 5000K , probably not 5000K but 4300K as they are road legal
E13 ( Luxembourg ) a real factory Xenon look .

Slight difference with the whiter dipped , but they will only go one way whereas the led will remain consistent .

[MeDriving]

All I can remember (I don't have the car any more either) is that they were white and not too bright, not those horrible electric blue fairground bulbs that make you look like a seventeen year-old who's determined to completely transform his Corsa and still have change from three quid.

Hilarious. Spot on.

Thank you for the info guys. Appreciate the effort Phutters.

J