I'm waiting for it to warm up a bit before trying this. Winter keeps hanging on around here.

 

done this mod today cost $15 bucks for the leds from wallmart and 2 hrs of my time looks great thanks for the pics and the great write up
scotty

 

Good write up!

 

Did mine ... hardest part was trimming the lens to fit the LED stip.

 

My local Walmart doesn't carry the 18" lights to cut in half but they do carry a 24" set of LED's. When I cut the required 9"s can the other half still be used or are they garbage

 

Yes, you can solder a piece of wire and re-use the other portion of the light if you want. It will work fine.

 

Wish I had put silicone around the LED strip when I did this mod over a year ago. Just finished washing my truck and noticed sone water and grime between the white backing and the reflector. Went over a year without this happening so not sure how the grime is getting back there now. Looks like I'll have to buy some new reflectors because I already popped out the reflectors and tried to clean them out but didn't have any luck.

 

I used white silicon to match the reflector backing.

 

Oh there are plenty of GOOD lawyers, the problem is finding one that's HONEST.

 

I'm ready to do but have a couple of silly q's.

1. Does the black mirror housing need to be cut for the LED strip to fit into it or do I just peel and stick the LED directly on the housing behind the reflector?
2. How do I transfer the location of the white plastic cut on the reflector to the mirror housing where the LED is located (so it lines up properly with the rear of the reflector cut out)?

thx

 

When I did mine on my 10, I just laid the led on the back of the reflector and traced the out line on the white part then cut that part out. once I stuck the led strip in the hole I filled the area around it with come clear silicone and smoothed it off. I didn't use the tape because the led strip is held in by pressure..

Good luck!

 

Thanks Kelly, that makes sense.

 

It pretty bad when you can hear the darn turn signal flasher that loud from the outside. I wish I could find a flasher that was a little quieter. God forbid Ford thinks you're not going to hear it blinking and forget to turn the signal off.

 

I finally got around to this mod. Did the "smoked" version. Roughly a day to include disassembly, measuring, marking and cutting, two coats of both Nite-Shades and Clear, and several hours of drying time before reassembly.



I ending up doing the utility knife method of cutting out the reflector back. Tried a rotary cutoff wheel, but it was a bit messy and actually more difficult to control where to cut. The utility knife did require more "elbow grease" and I switched out blades frequently.



I used 9 LED's per side, which fit the entire length of the reflector perfectly. Since the connector end of the LED strip actually extends beyond the length of the reflector, I simply drilled out the end tab opening to allow room for it.

Auto Zone only had the "24" ones (these are misnomers as it's really a pair of 12" LEDs strips), but as short as "12" would probably work. FYI for those unfamiliar with this product, they have adhesive backs to allow them to be affixed almost anywhere.



I installed Weather Pack connectors to allow ease of replacement and removing the mirror shell cover entirely if necessary, versus a "permanent" wire connection. I also disassembled the stock LED turn signal connector to crimp the leads of the new LED strip directly with the OEM wire ends, for a cleaner, "factory" installation (the paper clip seen in the tools used was for getting the wire connectors out of the plastic plug). I could have easily used inline splice connectors as well, however; definitely would have been quicker.



The Nite-Shades have definitely made the LEDs difficult to see during the day. Even at night they are still subdued. White LED's may light through the Nite-Shades better (I used the amber ones).

Regarding Nite-Shades, this is my first time using this product but I'm rather disappointed with the finish. It seems others are not satisfied as well. Even with a clear coat, the uneven, rough Nite-Shade finish couldn't be over come entirely. I may eventually go back and wet sand and clear coat it repeatedly until I achieve a satisfactory smooth surface finish.

On a side note, notice the non-English label on underside of the chromed "skull cap." Yep, not exactly "Made in America..."

 

Done!
Last night, no real surpises. Through the puddle hole upgrade, 9 LED strips, taped to the rear of the mirror housing and silicone around the reflector cut out.

Here are a couple things I came across:

1. Driver side had barely enough excess wire to reach the bottom of the puddle hole.
2. Driver reflector white plastic backing had a 2 prong tab on the inboard side closest to the door (pass side only had 1 prong). Don't know if this is common just didn't read anything here that mentioned that.

I can now understand the addiction to LED's.