front LED lights installed - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

embryoguy@mac.com · 10-04-2009, 01:28 PM

has anyone installed the large leds on the front bumper? you see this in the new audis.

rick3000 · 10-04-2009, 02:06 PM

I did something similar to my 986. I have 24 LEDs on each side to act as daytime running lights. They look great at night, and okay during the day. And as far as I am aware LEDs come in one size.

This isn't the greatest picture, but you get the idea.

embryoguy@mac.com · 10-04-2009, 02:16 PM

sorry for the confusion but i was interested to see who has installed them on their cars. can you pass along info of where you got it etc. was it difficult to put on? thanks in advance. thanks for sharing your pic. it looks great on your car.

Lobo1186 · 10-04-2009, 02:25 PM

LEDs come in many sizes and varieties of shapes.

rick3000 · 10-04-2009, 02:35 PM

I installed this while I had my bumper off, which is necessary to get them on and takes a good couple of hours. I spread the whole project out over a weekend.

Overall, it took a lot of time, but only cost me around $12 for the lights. I paid $8 for two LED strips from eBay, $2 for some 18 gauge wire, and $2 for a plug/socket so I can unplug them when I pull my bumper off. I used outdoor adhesive to attack the LED's and they have been on for 2-3 months now and about 3k miles. Once they where attached I ran the wire through a rubber plug in the trunk, routed the wire around the trunk under the trim, and then through another plug into the battery area, then through the firewall into the cabin. I then wired them into the switched power on the phone connector under the center console, so they switch on/off with the ignition.

It wasn't very hard once I had the bumper and trunk apart, but I also installed a 140db air horn and cleaned my radiators at the same time, so I didn't do all this just for the DRL's. The hardest part was getting the bumper off, besides that anyone who isn't afraid of taking their Porsche apart could do this.

embryoguy@mac.com · 10-05-2009, 04:32 AM

thanks rick for the thorough explanation/instructions.

im looking at this led set below on ebay. what do you think of it? im not sure if im confident to do what you did. my mechanic will prob. do this for me.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Audi-A5-Style-LED-Daytime-Running-Lights-Porsche-VW-77_W0QQitemZ290351080922QQcmdZViewItemQQptZMotors_ Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories?hash=item439a45e5da&_trksid=p4506.c0.m245#ht_7346wt_947

rick3000 · 10-05-2009, 07:32 AM

That kit looks nice, but I am not sure how it mounts. I wanted something light so I wouldn't have to drill any holes in the bumper, so you might consider

this which is what I used. But I am sure if your going to have a mechanic do it, they can figure out a way to mount the lights.

blueillusion97 · 10-05-2009, 09:02 PM

Yep i have done same thing to my car but less than 5 minutes later i took it off as i couldn't stand how it didn't fit in with the car.

aparmex · 10-17-2009, 09:04 PM

Hey Rick 3000, do you have any closer pictures of how you installed the front leds, I also want to do something to that, I like very much the way it looks on the Artech front bumper for the 987, unfortunately they do not make it for the 986

!!

rick3000 · 10-17-2009, 09:18 PM

Those are the best pictures I have right now. I will take some more tomorrow and post them.

aparmex · 10-20-2009, 07:36 PM

I will be waiting for your pics, I want to do something similar to my car !

rick3000 · 10-20-2009, 08:48 PM

You mentioned you are interested in how they are mounted, and I can give you some insight because a picture won't show exactly what I did. I actually drilled a tiny hole into the upper part of the plastic radiator grill (it nearly killed me to do it), and I ran the power wire through the hole. If you look closely (it helps to flip the bumper over) you will see that the plastic radiator grills are inserts in the bumper, I drilled into the upper lip after marking where I wanted the LED's. Then I just used outdoor foam adhesive to mount the LED's to the same plastic trim after cleaning it off with paint thinner. The tape has held up surprising well, I thought I might need to replace it but so far there has been no need. I also used 2-3 zip ties to secure the LED strips to the bumper through existing holes in the bumper. There are half circle cut outs on each side above the radiator grills that I used for this.
Once you get the bumper off it is fairly easy to figure out. Give me a few more days for pictures, I have been swamped with work.

rick3000 · 10-22-2009, 04:16 PM

So here are the pictures.
The first two are the same view but one is with the camera flash and the other without. The flash caused a reflection, that is why it appears that there are two LED strips in the one picture. As you can see I drilled a small hole for the wire, and there is a single zip tie (I was mistaken before) that runs through a preexisting half circle cutout in the bumper, and the rest of the LED is help on with adhesive.
The third picture is just a closeup with the light on.

I am not taking the bumper or trunk apart anytime soon so I don't have any pictures of the wiring, but it is fairly straight forward. Once you get it apart you will figure out how to wire the lights. Best of luck with your LED install.

aparmex · 10-23-2009, 07:40 PM

thanks Rick for all your explanation on how to instal the leds, I will try to do something alike your leds look nice !!! I will post my pictures when I have everything done !!!

Boxtaboy · 10-24-2009, 04:02 AM

It would be pretty neat if you could arrange them in a way like the Audis where they curve upwards on one end to make it look like a smile. Lol

Also, not sure why this is the case, but I've seen several cars that come with these LED running lights and one side is burned out, making it look ridiculous on a new car. Aren't those lights supposed to last a while?

aparmex · 10-24-2009, 06:11 AM

Well I have never seen leds inside headlight of a porsche, actually I was looking at the headlight but found almost impossible to disassemble it to put the leds, so I looked at the Techart facia for the cayman and it looks awesome and it does not look like a christmas tree at all !!!, so that is inspiring me to do the mod in my boxster, I am attaching a pic of the techart leds, unfortunately techart makes this leds only for the bumper that is shown and they are pretty expensive, so I am trying to do this under a budget of $150 let´s see what I can do !!!

Boxtaboy · 10-24-2009, 11:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aparmex

Well I have never seen leds inside headlight of a porsche, actually I was looking at the headlight but found almost impossible to disassemble it to put the leds, so I looked at the Techart facia for the cayman and it looks awesome and it does not look like a christmas tree at all !!!, so that is inspiring me to do the mod in my boxster, I am attaching a pic of the techart leds, unfortunately techart makes this leds only for the bumper that is shown and they are pretty expensive, so I am trying to do this under a budget of $150 let´s see what I can do !!!

For some reason, to me, that simple curviture to the light trail makes it look like an OEM application. It looks nice.

Stroked & Blown · 10-24-2009, 12:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Boxtaboy

Also, not sure why this is the case, but I've seen several cars that come with these LED running lights and one side is burned out, making it look ridiculous on a new car. Aren't those lights supposed to last a while?

I've noticed this, too. went to see an S5 at a dealer a while back & asked them about it.
The LEDs turn off when the blinker is on, otherwise you can't actually see the amber blinker over the LEDs.

Not a big fan of the solution.