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2005-2009 Saleen Mustang For all S281, S302, H281 and H302 models based on the Ford S-197 Mustang platform, with the exception of the S302 PJ (see below). Be sure to specify year, model and equipment if asking for help.

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  #1  
Old 07-13-2019
Tirefriar Tirefriar is offline
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Default Upgrading to LED lighting exterior/interior

I was bouncing the idea of upgrading to LED tail lamps since the day I got the Saleen as well as the tail lamp block out trim pieces. Very recently I took care of the latter courtesy of Fastandloud (thanks Scott). He sent me two tail lamp assemblies complete with the block outs in excellent condition. The lenses on these lamps are tinted which looks great on a silver car. With darker lenses I am now more on a mission of upgrading to LEDs for better visibility and keeping the LEOs at bay. Here are several options I have explored:

1) Sequential LED tail lamp harness from American Muscle: https://www.americanmuscle.com/led-c...ghts-0509.html
IMO, the effect of sequential lighting will be lost on having only 2 bulbs visible. At $240 for the harness, bulbs and relays this may appear to be pricey especially since the reverse LED bulbs are not included and will cost another $40 +/-. The value here will really depend on quality of the bulbs and rest of components used. Quality LED bulbs and resistors may cost more than the whole Sequential LED assembly. I don't know the quality of American Muscle but I wouldn't think its all that bad...

2) vLeds (vleds.com) - the best quality LED I have encountered and also very expensive. Upgrading s281 Saleen tail lamps will cost over $300 including turn signal resistors (they are very neat and super easy to integrate). With vLeds it looks like you get what you pay for.

3) Diode Dynamics - another high quality line of products, not as costly as vLeds but not as high quality, but still $$. I would probably go with their line if their turn signal bulbs had the built-in resistors, but they don't. At this price level I'd rather not deal with installing the resistors.

4) iBrightstar - Walmart level product from Amazon. $34 for 4 tail lamps, $14 for 2 reverse bulbs and $8 for 4 splice-in resistors for the turn signals. Under $60 and you get all the bulbs necessary to convert the tail lamps to LED. Remember that I said you get what you pay for and this could possibly apply here as well. However, there are a lot of positive reviews on Amazon and for fraction of the price of any of the products above I am willing to roll the dice.

Reverse lamps: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...4X0X6PMP&psc=1
Tail lamps: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...4X0X6PMP&psc=1


My reason for posting this information is to get feedback from those that have already experimented and can chime in with suggestions and recommendations on different products.
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Old 07-14-2019
Tirefriar Tirefriar is offline
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Location: Los Angeles, CA
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I am getting closer to completing the tail lamp bulb upgrade. These Sylvania bulbs replace incandescent signal/tail lamp bulbs in the 2005-09 models (maybe others?) as direct plug ins, i.e. without having to install resistors. No hyper flash: https://www.amazon.com/SYLVANIA-Brig...ct_top?ie=UTF8 As for reverse lamps

I will stick with my original choice of iBrightstar LED bulbs to replace reverse bulbs.

Last edited by Tirefriar; 07-14-2019 at 06:44 PM.
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Old 07-20-2019
Tirefriar Tirefriar is offline
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Location: Los Angeles, CA
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Done with tail lamps upgrade. Worked out great. Sylvania bulbs were plug and play, not super bright but a)did not cause low voltage errors, b) no hyper flashing and c) articulate very well between various bulb functions (turns, brakes, tail lamps). The best result was from reverse lamp upgrade, they are superbright. Attaching some pics.

Next upgrade will be trunk and interior lights.
Attached Thumbnails
IMG_4945.jpg  

IMG_4948.jpg  

IMG_4944.jpg  

IMG_4946.jpg  

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Old 07-21-2019
Tirefriar Tirefriar is offline
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Location: Los Angeles, CA
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So yesterday I may have jumped the gun when I posted that the sylvania led bulbs were plug and play. They functioned perfectly when tested before reinstalling the tail lamp housings. That evening I drove down to Glendale Car Show and noticed I was getting hyper flashing when using turn signals. However, when the hazard flasher was used the bulbs functioned properly. Furthermore, when I stopped to check out the functioning of the tail lamps I noticed that the brake and tail light functions were working but not the turn signals. I then turned off the engine and tried the turn signals - they worked properly. With a turn signal(s) engaged I started the engine and the signals started to hyper flash. Back to the drawing board...
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