Miata LED Swap

"TysMagic" (twjeffery)
07/15/2019 at 09:30 • Filed to: miata, led, mx5, mazda, MX5RF, MIATALIFE, Miatafications

Fineeeeee, be technical, MX-5 LED Swap. I’ve been slowing changing bulbs out for LEDs in the RF and Friday my latest additions showed up in the mail and they turned out to be way easier to install than I thought - I think I picked up a better method to do it than is recommended, so I am hoping this is helpful for some other ND Miata drivers out there.

First off, I bought some sequential tail lights from iJDMToy a little bit ago because they had more LEDs and were cheaper than the more common ND option. That said, the guy that makes them has product s that are creative, impressively well made, and I have a few other bits from him on the car already.

I know, sequential light up sequence in a stitched together pic is super kewl

I really liked the sequentials and iJDMToy has quite a few other LED products for the MX-5 (and oddly even more for the Mrs’ CX-5). So as the Bore Master behind !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , I reached out to iJDMToy to ask about doing some sponsored work. They said yes and they sent me the next thing I wanted to pick up, !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! !

By side markers I am talking about the thing circled in this pic

Apparently people have been attacking the side marker removal with a trim removal tool or flat head screw driver and coming at it from the outside of the fender. The results , it seems pretty universal, are mega scratches around the lights.

Turns out it’s ridiculously easy to access the housing from the inner fender by turning the wheel to full lock and removing some little plastic holders on the fender liner. The center piece pulls out of the holder , then the rest of it will pull out.

Little arms, remove the two red circled holders. Need a little extra space, pull out that yellow circled on too

From there, pull the liner back and reach behind to feel for the marker housing. You can just about see it if you want to look for it, but it’s a pretty easy thing to find by feel.

To remove the marker, squeeze the side closest to the interior towards the front of the car (red arrow) and push it out (yellow arrow) . The other side of the marker will slide back a bit (blue circle) and the whole unit pops right out quite easily.

And because who doesn’t like a little action, here is the passenger side popping out .

So you’ve gotten this far, what am I actually swapping out? I am putting in a sealed unit LED housing. iJDMToy sent me the smoked version , which has really grown on me over the weekend. They also have a clear OEM looking housing. It’s plug and play and does not cause hyper flashing. They’re difficult to picture on (since they flash and all) , but it’s a super sleek line of 36 LEDs that light up versus a single bulb. They feel well made, actually they feel just like the OEM ones do (interesting side note, they’re the same markers from the RX-8).

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The whole unit disconnects pretty easily and to install the news ones it’s as simple as reversing the removal steps.

Installed in the parking garage, so the photos are a bit dark sadly

Scratch free and installed in a few minutes. I’ve been on a roll recently with my projects actually staying at their expected install times. It’s kind of nice.

Here is a side by side of the markers. I didn’t notice any massive light output differences. It seems to have a bit more throw to it and I would imagine the LED has a more noticeable light when you’re on the road

I mentioned it was a sleek line, it took a bit to get the right shot of that...BUT HERE IT IS

Excuse the dirty car

I am super happy with the results! I was hoping to grab a full scale picture this morning, but it turned out to be a very rainy morning. I am proud to work with iJDMToy and again, they sent me these as part of a sponsorship . That said, I would have bought these and done the exact same write up regardless. Their products are great and I love what they’ve got for the Miata. I mentioned they have stuff for the CX-5 already, but truly they have the full gamut of cars covered if you want to look in to some really clean LED swaps.

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DISCUSSION (18)

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > TysMagic
07/15/2019 at 09:37

Nice! I’ll never swap LED headlights into my car as they are halogen reflectors and that opens up all sorts of problems. Wouldn’t mind finding some LED turn signals at some point, but I have Philips LED bulbs in the rear brake lights on my Accent as well as Philips LED license plate lights and sidemarkers:

Kinja'd!!!

Nibby > TysMagic
07/15/2019 at 09:43

how much HP do these LEDs add

Arrivederci > TysMagic
07/15/2019 at 10:03

Those sidemarkers look great! I had lousy luck with my last iJDMtoy purchase - the LED turn indicators I bought for my S3, one went bad about a week after I got it on the car. T heir warranty was only for 30 days and I waited a couple weeks before install, so even after messaging them I was out of luck.

BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast. > TysMagic
07/15/2019 at 10:38

It kind of amazes me that the automotive industry still uses incandescent bulbs at all. Solid state has become so universal, so relatively inexpensive, lifetime use, (and still as easily replaceable as shown in this post, pop it out, un-plug, swap it out, pop it back in place.)

Low energy draw, vibration resistant, brighter, faster activation, can be designed in unique stylish ways with optics and sequencing, and all sorts of things...

Why even bother with short-life incandescents anymore, from a manufacturing standpoint?

TysMagic > RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars
07/15/2019 at 10:44

not sure I would ever go LED in the headlights, but I also haven’t had a car I could try that on in a long time - just about every other bulb I will swap though! Always amazes me how much change an LED interior bulb will have on like a mid 2000s car. Swapping from that yellowish glow to a more pure white makes it feel quite a bit newer than it really is.

TysMagic > BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast.
07/15/2019 at 10:46

I was thinking the same thing. These are aftermarket at $40 and I’m sure the mark up is hefty so OEM quantity should be pretty doable for a reasonable price - at least it seems

TysMagic > Nibby
07/15/2019 at 10:47

about 87 I think

TysMagic > Arrivederci
07/15/2019 at 10:49

That sucks! When I was researching the sequentials I found some mixed reviews, but figured I’d take the risk on it at about half the price of the community dude that makes them. They feel well made (as compared to a lot of the ebay from china trash I buy too) and have held up well so far - which has been a couple months now. The build on the side markers seems to be pretty close to OEM. Fit was spot on, no extra play.

Arrivederci > TysMagic
07/15/2019 at 11:34

Quality felt great and they worked great until they didn’t :). Just a bummer that they didn’t have any flexibility in their warranty policy or a long one like Diode Dynamics.

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > TysMagic
07/15/2019 at 15:00

Yup, I did an interior bulb swap on my Accent as well!

BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast. > TysMagic
07/15/2019 at 15:10

Indeed. It amazes me how many cars on the road have LEDs for tail, and maybe even brake lights, and DRLs, and all this...

but many cars still have signals are still incandescent, and blink slowly. A solid state 555 blinker module, and full LEDs with a sharp square-wave binary on-and-off, or even a more sophisticated sequential pattern (new Audis, and probably some others, have sweeping sequential turn signals, which is cool...)

Don’t even get me started on shared signal/brake lights, or the ridiculously small single-LED tail light emitters on the new RAV4, or how many cars have red and clear tail lights, where the CLEAR parts light up red, and the red parts don’t light at all... or the clear parts aren’t effectively used when they could have white and amber switch-backs that could serve as signals AND reverse lights...

LED ALL THE THINGS!!! ;-)

TysMagic > BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast.
07/15/2019 at 15:27

The sequential were my first purchase from iJDM and I love the look. So snazzy - not ignoring the rest of the comment, just that these are my favorite. I’ve current got the LED front turn signals, just waiting on the resistors to arrive so I don’t have hyper flashing going on. Perhaps counter to what you’re saying, but I look forward to clearing the headlight housing of any orangeness. Bulb will flash amber, but has a white appearance when off. I also didn’t quite realize how big the t20 connector was until I held one of the t20 LED bulbs

https://store.ijdmtoy.com/products/led-turn-signal-lights-31-001-amber?_pos=3&_sid=6fd9012bd&_ss=r

wafflesnfalafel > TysMagic
07/15/2019 at 18:28

those side signal lights look awesome

BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast. > TysMagic
07/15/2019 at 19:15

I don’t mind clear lights that light amber or white based on function, that is fine. Sequential can be fun, too.

Mostly what I was commenting on, is other cars like Ford Fusion, some S ubarus, and others, where the clear parts of the tail lights don’t light up amber or white... they light up RED for shared turn signal, tail lights, and brake lights , despite being right next to the red plastic elements in the lens.

Why not have the red parts light red, and the clear parts actually be separate amber turn signals, and white reverse lights, that are clearer, independent signals....

Miata is actually one that does lighting pretty well, and always has.

TysMagic > BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast.
07/15/2019 at 22:25

Totally get you there! It’s illogical sometimes. I know it’s for legal reasons, but I have a slightly different complaint around big boy SUVs (q80 comes to mind and some land rovers) with tons of taillight yet the blinker is the lowest portion way down on the bumper.

TysMagic > wafflesnfalafel
07/15/2019 at 22:25

Thanks!!! I’m pretty pumped about the end result. They look great

BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast. > TysMagic
07/15/2019 at 22:29

Some of that is an old methodology, from when you might carry long cargo with the rear gate open. a supplemental light unit below the open gate would still show brakes and turn signals... but yes, it should be in line of sight for the vehicle behind it at a stop light.

TysMagic > BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast.
07/16/2019 at 01:10

Yes, definitely see the concept and the legality of it - it’s just amazing we don’t have other solutions yet.