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LED Halo lights

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halo led lights
59K views 57 replies 25 participants last post by  jt2414 
#1 ·
Has anyone installed LED halo lights on their 2010 mazda3 yet?

I was thinking... since the Mazda3 doesnt have day time running lights, a set of LED halo lights running full time would be cool.

I've been to germany 3 times on deployments... driven a bmw 325, golf and a SEAT and all of them had what the euro's call "city lights". new VW's in the states have them too. I like that look....
 
#2 ·
The halo lights would look good around the projector housing. An idea I had the other day as an alternative would be a line of white LED's along the base of the headlamp housing similar to what Audi and Porsche are now using.
 
#3 ·
I'm definitely interested, but thus far I have not been able to find a halo kit for our gen 2s
 
#5 ·
#6 ·
#7 · (Edited)
got a call from a guy today.... I had emailed them a while back asking if they had a kit in the works for the gen 2 MZ3. He finally got back to me.

For the life of me I cannot remember what company he is with, but I got his name and phone. EDIT: company is Advanced Automotive Concepts

He said he could do a custom kit for me for $225 (not installed) or $445 (installed). Downside is, either way I'd have to send in my headlights rendering my everyday driver useless... I'm currently putting my funds towards my Mac Mini Install Project, but I told him I am still very interested and would call him sometime later this summer.

Guy's name is Andy. 800-407-5776.
 
#8 ·
225-425 seems a bit steep based on what I have found for the gen 1
 
#11 ·
I agree... but when you consider it's a custom job done by a guy with lots of experience, I certainly understand where the numbers come from.

I am almost tempted to do up all the wiring and the angel eyes from that DIY mod,it's only about $20-$30 USD for all the supplies, plus it would help me learn about soldering and resistors... and then once I get a little more comfortable about taking about my headlights, it would be a pretty cheap, sweet mod!
Yes, I agree. The DIY idea is definitely what I'll start with.
 
#9 · (Edited)
I am almost tempted to do up all the wiring and the angel eyes from that DIY mod,it's only about $20-$30 USD for all the supplies, plus it would help me learn about soldering and resistors... and then once I get a little more comfortable taking apart my headlights, it would be a pretty cheap, sweet mod!
 
#10 ·
O
I am almost tempted to do up all the wiring and the angel eyes from that DIY mod,it's only about $20-$30 USD for all the supplies, plus it would help me learn about soldering and resistors... and then once I get a little more comfortable about taking about my headlights, it would be a pretty cheap, sweet mod!
do you have pics of your lights
 
#13 ·
#17 ·
#18 · (Edited)
There's a lot of those things here in Europe. But honestly, it looks so cheap or :rice 1: compare to OEM. Those provides much more brightness, have a longer lasting life, build with better chips and are nicely integrated. Those on the pic are well placed, but if they were in the headlight with better ships, it could be nice.
 
#19 ·
yes they can be imho
but the one element that sets this idea apart from other
is I wouldnt just put them on the outside of my headlight unit or on my bumper and call it good... NOR would i slap these on my lights and mirrors and bumper and doors and rear side... like most
boys do.... and yes even up here in lil ol Oak harbor Washington... i've seen one similar to the one above.

also i'd stick with white... not a color. I think instead of placing on the bottom, outlining the top half where the head light appears to be frowning at someone. I dont know it's just an idea.

I'd much rather have halo lights :)
 
#20 ·
I definitely like the frowning idea. I also think that those side-emitting LED strippers just wouldn't be bright enough for me... If I did it, I'd want it to be uber bright like the Audi ones so it would be visible during the day...

The other problem would be making it look nice and clean inside the headlight...
 
#21 ·
bright like the audi's and looking nice in the headlight unit.... all A++! it's a must if your going to do this at all. btw my friend rented an audi in germany with the led parking lights.... at night they lit up well enough to see stuff in front of the car. this was back in 2008/09 when they came out in germany.
 
#24 · (Edited)
I'm going to be looking around for a kit for the lit up eye brows... I'd like to do a custom paint job, angel eye rings, and the eye brows all in one day so that I'm only popping open the precious, expensive headlights once.

let me know if you run across anything

EDIT: also noticed in your signature that you wanna do smoked tails. I was thinking about that too. I called around a couple tint shops here and no one will do it... they all say they've tried in the past and the film just doesn't adhere... I guess the tint specialists here in MN don't compare to those in the east and west coast states where more people like to mod their cars.

at any rate, I'm thinking about doing a custom paint job on my tails as well... possibly doing those before the headlights... that way I have some practice using a heat gun to crack open the light fixture before I try to do it on the headlights.
 
#22 ·
#23 ·
im diggin the halo lights!
 
#26 ·
I knew it was possible to make your own LED halo rings out of mini blind rods, but didn't realize how good the end result could look. This video is old, but the technique looks great.

I'm thinking i'll make my own custom rings and eye brows using this method...



anyone know of any better methods to do this?
 
#27 · (Edited)
Home made angel eyes, take 1

So, I went to home depot and picked up some supplies to try making my own halo rings... I won't be doing the real ones for my car until this weekend, but I wanted to do a one or two practice runs to see what the deal is. I'm glad I did this practice run.

Figured out the rings need to be about 4" in diameter. 4" x 3.14 = 12.56" circumference.

So, I went ahead and cut my first length of mini blind rod to 12.56". Put it in the oven at 350 deg for ~5 minutes. Pulled it out, wrapped it around the rim of the 4" diameter cup I happened to have in my cupboard.

Somehow, it didn't make it all the way around! What gives?!



So, I figured out that the plastic must shrink in the oven. So the next one I measured out to 16". Sure enough, it shrunk down to about 12". So I wrapped it around the cup, trying to keep it nice and tight against the table and the cup. I then proceeded to make the small cuts every 1.5mm or so.


I also added the reflective tape on the backside


Unfortunately I didn't have any LEDs laying around to try out in it, but I was able to find an LED flashlight that my roommate had laying around... So here is a pic with the flashlight's LED shoved into the hole I drilled in the end of the ring. Keep in mind, the real one would have an LED on both sides. Also, I think the small cuts I made on the backside should have been more shallow than I made them... a shallower cut will reflect less light and thus allow the light to continue further down the plastic rod.





Lessons learned:
-cheap a$$ plastic mini blind rods (bought at Home Depot) shrink to about 75% the original size you cut it to
-make shallow cuts on the backside
-make sure to be very patient when drilling the holes in the end for the LEDs to go. Want to try very hard not to melt the plastic. This will ensure that it is clear and the most possible light gets through.
-Dremel cutting discs are very very fragile (this is my first Dremel experience)

Hope y'all find this helpful. Cheers.
 
#29 ·
take your trash out mate :p

no really... good job i learned something new.
 
#30 ·
gonna try to make the real ones that I'll use in my car tomorrow... my super flux LEDs should be here then and I'll be able to see how bright the home made rings will be.

I'll have pics.
 
#31 ·
For those that want to just do CCFL rings, I figured out that you just need a set of 100mm rings. You can find these here on eBay for just $29

I've already bought everything I need to make my homemade rings, but if they don't turn out well, I will be ordering the CCFL rings from that eBay seller.

Pics of my homemade rings still to come. Hopefully sometime tomorrow night. The amazing weather we're having right now in MN has kept me busy out on motorcycle rides so I haven't yet made my rings, but I plan to spend all day Friday installing them and painting my headlights if the rings turn out well, so I will have pics of the final home made attempt by then at the very latest.
 
#33 ·
Not thrilled with the results of my home made LED halo rings. Ordered CCFL ones off ebay.

Don't let the picture fool you. It's not nearly this bright IRL

 
#34 ·
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