jookybanana

I picked up some D-MAX LED taillights recently thanks to Mr Kunio, and since I have Origin crystal red/clear and my OEM tails still kicking around, I figure I'll do some comparing.
I know some people may be thinking OEM is the best, it is, and I am about to show you (light output wise),
but as for styling, I am a red/clear fan, and I wish there was a red/clear OEM style taillight out there for the s13, since there isn't (to my knowledge) I have gone the crystal red/clear

here is Origin red clear
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWxqt0t0Kow
here is a Origin vs OEM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGzBun0eSjE
So with the Origin's I had they were quite dim and it gives a pink-ish red light, at night its ok, and I'm sure people knew i was braking from the third brake light lighting up,
but during the daytime its not as bright as the OEM tails for some reason, and the OEM tails gave out a more consistent lighting
where as the Origin's were more like 2 bright dots
and keeping in mind the bulbs are the same, and its not just Origin, the D-max would be the same too, I think they are from the same manufacturer

here is Origin vs D-Max LED
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaUda1hv8VU
here is D-Max LED's
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9Y_1klXaZk
I wasn't straight on behind with the camera, which is why it looks like the right one is brighter than the left, and LED's don't have the best angles
Now with the D-Max LED's I have noticed they are as bright as OEM, maybe even brighter and evenly lit, so I'm quite happy to have it light up as bright as OEM

my only complaints, and I'm sure everyone else that has experienced these taillights are the thick ass seals that come with it, makes the install a pain,
they need to make the seals slimmer, or at least make the threads longer
and to my dissapointment these are made in Taiwan, I got a D-Max product expecting made in Japan, same as the Origin's, I guess same manufacturer

here is some pics:
but don't use the pics to judge the lighting, since the camera's exposure is different when the lights are on when braking, that's why i had videos too


origin and dmax, looks the same except the LED under the lens

the 1157 connectors


origin red/clears



origin red/clears vs OEM



origin red/clears vs D-Max LED's





D-Max LED's




Bonus!



I'm going to add it here since its a D-Max LED lighting, these are just kouki bumper lights but with LED's instead of the little peanut bulbs,
I'm actually having second thoughts about keeping these on my car because the lens is so transparent you can see the led panel inside, looks kinda wierd to me
but they are super bright

before:

OEM and D-Max LED kouki bumper lights

after:

here is a pic of them turned off

the LED panel can be seen behind the lens,
undecided if I will keep these on my car haha..
I think D-Max should make a version with amber color LED's, that would be cool

yomisiu

wow, dmax looks way better.

for the 180sx bumper lights, why not just swap the lenses?

KiDyNomiTe

DMAX ones look pretty cool, glad to see a quick and easy option for Coupe owners now. The OEM tails and aftermarket ones are so terrible and dim. But thats why I chose to get custom ones done.

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worangejuice

WOW!
Great Info/Write-up.
Youre life is so CLEAN (cars,garage,pics)

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FaLKoN240

WELP coolest thread in a while!

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Matej

Multi-LED lights look fancy until a single LED goes out and totally ruins the uniform look.

benarovi

the dmax tails look good but theres not enough led's in them. too much space inbetween/too big. and I don't like how they didn't do the entire lower part.
coolest tails right here

Dustxking

Ive always been in the same boat. I hate the way the OEM taillights look.
The red/clear look 100times better IMO, but at the same time i hate the pinkish color at night.
I might pick me up some of these.

On another note, i thoughy jooky was MIA :-D

silviaks2nr

While pictures of the lights lit up might be able to tell you a little bit about performance if you could get comparison pictures, all with the same exposures, of how the light is emitted and spread it would be very useful. You would need to set up a white wall/board a few feet behind the vehicle to do this.

jookybanana

yeah, I was thinking that too, but i think if they had more led's in there or used bigger led's it probably make the price too high for people to justify buying them

haha, I always been lurking, I don't really post much in general

yes I could have set the same exposure, but I was too lazy to haha, I just left the camera on auto night mode, and made videos of it instead


also not sure if anyone noticed, with the D-Max LED tails, they light up quicker than the third brake light, I will probably change the third brake light bulb to LED bulb to match

andisan

Thanks I've been wondering what's the best options for my taillights, Very useful

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240sxDavid

I wonder if anyone's done this for a hatch yet... Time to search and maybe make a thread like this. Great stuff btw:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::t humbup:

Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk 2

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YannG

nice write up dude...i personally like all of them hehe...though my favorites ones have to be the custom ones Benarovi sent a picture of!

tricky_ab

HAHA Cosigned!

And thanks for taking the time to post comparative pictures, for us to look at OP...

94_240sx

Good thread. Thanks.

This is why I didn't get D-Max tail lights.

Yeah, I like the look of Origin clear tail lights, but this was an issue for me. If you use regular bulbs, they look pinkish at night.
I solved the problem using these red LED bulbs. I used regular red bulbs before, but they weren't bright enough.
Red LED bulbs work the best with Origin tail lights.

2pcs 1157 13 High Power LED Red Stop Tail Bulbs | eBay

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GTR-Garage

When the first box of LED position lights came in from D-Max I wondered why they didn't use the "crystal" style lenses. It seems like they wouldn't reduce the LED output as they are so bright. We're talking with them right now about an LED version of their red/crystal 180SX tails.

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blueshark123

LOL- That is all I am going to say.

KiLLeR2001

Now you have to try the Circuit Sports LED tail lights...



Circuit Sports LED Tail Light Set for Nissan 240sx '89-'94 Coupe - Enjuku Racing Parts, LLC

IMO, OEM is king when it comes to the coupe tail lights. I can't stand the crystal look and individual spaced out LED look is gross too.

I did a little YouTube video comparing stock bulbs vs LED bulb replacements on my kouki 180sx tail lights...

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racepar1

I would actually agree, dude took the time to write a PROPER thread.

Matej

Still cannot get into any LED lighting on a pre-21st century car. It always looks cheesy and out of place to me. Actually, I am not a fan of it even on most new cars.

No matter how wild the rest of the car is, OEM taillights look the best. I suppose I see the taillights as somewhat of a signature of the car model.

InsTanCeZ

LEDs look super cool, who cares about safety?

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SaNTi

I was wondering how those new LED versions looked. Not bad. I wish the signals were also LED though.

I agree with most people in here too, the light output with the red/clear lenses is garbagio.

racepar1

IMO LED's look cheesy, even the OE ones for the most part.

Someone got all bitchy about Mike's post, deleted it, and edited mine anyways. I doubt there will be any further talk of "safety", "legality", or "quality" in this thread.

BossHogg

Props to thread maker.

God damn it I couldn't agree more. If this proved anything it's that OEM looks the best and performs the best lol. All this fake stuff looks ricey. The products themselves look cheap and fragile. If anything I would try to find brand new in box OEM tail lights. Super clean. Plus I like the Amber's.

Clean, Simple, Save's your cash.

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ixfxi

What the fuck is this north korean BULLSHIT?

Who's the "forum secretary," err moderator who thinks they have the right to censor facts about safety?

Last I checked, this forum is about learning about our cars - not hyping bullshit non-compliant parts that jeopardize our safety and the safety of others on the road.

If a moderator has a beef with anything I said, then speak up. Its very petty to just subjectively edit posts for unknown reasons.

racepar1

No, that's OTHER car forums. Zilvia is about cool shiny shit made in china, taiwan, pakistan, etc... Preferrably said shiny shit should be a lower cost knockoff of an actual quality part as well.

I'm with you Mike, the WHOLE post, NOT just what I quoted...

akaioni

Maybe if the deleted post only contained safety information and didn't refer to as an OP as an idiot and fucking moron maybe it would still be around to educate us lowly purchasers of non-oem China parts. I did find it funny that you criticized his grammar when you seem to have such a volatile relationship with the comma.

Thanks for the post jooky. I have avoided picking up a set because I couldn't find a good picture of them installed and lit up. I would assume that all these Japanese companies get their stuff in China unless they manufacture it in-house or have the name to put big price tags on their shit like HKS does with Garett.

And why the hell would anyone buy LED 180 tails? Just get kouki.

Matej

Perhaps a forum advertiser who distributes the product in question did not enjoy your slander of said product, and thus big business got big government to take care of the nuisance for the mutual benefit of both parties, which in fact is North American politicking at its finest.

jookybanana

hahaha, i knew i would get some people angry for posting
but yea, sorry forgot to mention these are not DOT approved, off road use only
so those that daily their cars, might want to stick with OEM
and as for safety and illegal, the D-Max taillights are the least of my worries, my whole car is illegal (too low, stretched tires, rhd mirrors, HID's, loud exhuast, etc.), and i don't daily my coupe, if I did i'm sure i would get VI's
which is why I got a another 240 to daily (although its pretty illegal too LOL)
and I agree with everyone for the hatch, kouki tails would be the best for the hatch!

ixfxi

You know, it would be really smart if car enthusiasts would actually take the time to do something called research before creating a new thread.

If you're going to review something, review it and review it right. This is not a picture-sharing thread. This thread was created for discussion. I was not aware that me pointing out the products numerous flaws goes against any guidelines.


Thats the problem that I was pointing out. This is not an exhaust, it does not fall into the same category of non-compliance. You see, vendors cannot hide behind "for offroad use only" clause when it comes to lighting. Either it is compliant, or it is not compliant. If its not compliant, then vendors open themselves up to a can of liability PER instance of sale.

It is your duty as car enthusiasts to ask if the product is DOT compliant. And with a missing rear reflectors and sub-par LED components, my guess is that its not compliant.


In case you guys would like to see a link to how smart people actually attempt to research and review things, here is a link to the RX7 forum where a FD RX7 owner shows the lack of performance in a set of tail lights another vendor was selling:
Theorie First Production Run LED Taillight Conversion Review: IMPORTANT INFORMATION - RX7Club.com

Maybe if folks on Zilvia actually attempted to show some intellect, we'd be moving forward as a community instead of digressing into stanced body kit lovers of cars that hella suck.

Your father