Damn that looks good! That puts out a crazy amount of light. If I hadn't already bought everything for an RE-A swap I'd probably do this.

looks good.

If you want to see dim headlights, try the first gen. They use a standard 7" round sealed beam.

Compared to the HID headlights, the remainder of the lighting on my car looks dull and yellowish. So I went ahead and swapped out all the bulbs (except fog lights & rear license plate lights) with LEDs. I wasn't too impressed with the LED bulbs I used in the past, so I decided to spend a little on quality this go around.

Here's a summary of the bulbs I used:
(4) 1157 Red Sylvania ZEVO: brake lights
(4) 1156 Amber Sylvania ZEVO: front/rear turn signals
(2) 1156 White Sylvania ZEVO: reverse lights
(3) 168/194 Red Sylvania ZEVO: top brake lights
(2) 168/194 White Sylvania ZEVO: running lights
(2) 168/194 Amber Sylvania: front marker lights
(2) 168/194 Red Sylvania: rear marker lights
(2) 168/194 White Sylvania ZEVO: Map lights
(2) 168/194 Soft White Sylvania: glove & hatch lights
(4) Load resistors (1 per turn signal)

Few notes:
1. LED lights for the license plate ended up being too bright. I just replaced the incandescent lights with new ones.
2. LEDs gave me hyperflash. So I hooked up a few load resistors:
Here's one tucked behind a brake light:


Here's one taped/zip-tied to my turn signal assembly. Since the turn signals aren't on for extended amounts of time, I'm not too concerned about heat from the load resistors.


3. I couldn't figure out why some bulbs weren't working. What I found out is that some of the wiring on the original Mazda harness didn't match up to reality. In other words, some green power (+) wires were connected to black ground (-) wires on the end device(s).
- As you can see here, the green power wire coming from the car....


....actually connected to the black wire (not green one) on the top tail light assembly. Since the bulbs have a (+) and (-), swapping the orientation of the bulb(s) turned the light(s) on. I found this to be true on a few other areas on the car...which I thought was funny.


4. If the color of the assembly you're putting LEDs into are white, amber, or red, use a white, amber or red LED bulb. Even though the bulb you're replacing is clear, you will not enjoy the result of a white LED in a red/amber housing. It is not natural looking. I went through quite a few LEDs over the weekend, and when I put white LEDs in my brake light housing...they looked like absolute crap.

Overall, I'm satisfied with the quality, light output, & responsiveness of the Sylvania LED lights. The new diffusion of amber & red lighting seems much more rich and vibrant to me, especially the reds. The only issue I'm concerned about is the brightness of the ZEVO lights. They are BRIGHT and I mean BRIGHT!!!......Like let me step on my brakes so a ship stuck in thick fog can find land-type of bright. Hopefully I don't get pulled over for a fix-a-ticket when I hit my brakes or have my turn signals on.

Where did you get those bulbs? Was it somewhere local?

I had replaced my license plate lights with LEDs before and went back to incandescent too haha. They're just too bright, it looks funny. I swapped my hatch bulb to LED but it wasn't a 168/194, it was the one with metal on both ends. Which one did you swap? I swapped the map lights too and they're awesome. I want to check out all yours though, I might need to switch. I've always bought them from SuperBrightLEDs.com.

And what is hyperflash? Like blinking really fast? Mine don't do that.

Between AutoZone and O'Reillys, you can source them all locally. I found that the O'Reillys on Powers and Omaha Blvd has the largest selection in stock. But like you said, it's better if you saw the results in person before purchasing them. You may not like the light output over the aftermarket ones you have. They are definitely better than stock though, imo.

You're right about the hatch light. I'll have to check when I get home what type it is. Since the majority of lights are the 168/194 model, I mistakenly typed that one in for the hatch too.

Yup, the hyperflash is when LEDs cause the car to think a bulb is out, thus warning the driver with rapid flashing of the blinkers. I'm not sure why yours doesn't do it. It's possible your relay is compatible with LEDs or your LEDs have a resister built into them.

FDEEZ wrote:Between AutoZone and O'Reillys, you can source them all locally. I found that the O'Reillys on Powers and Omaha Blvd has the largest selection in stock. But like you said, it's better if you saw the results in person before purchasing them. You may not like the light output over the aftermarket ones you have. They are definitely better than stock though, imo.

You're right about the hatch light. I'll have to check when I get home what type it is. Since the majority of lights are the 168/194 model, I mistakenly typed that one in for the hatch too.

Yup, the hyperflash is when LEDs cause the car to think a bulb is out, thus warning the driver with rapid flashing of the blinkers. I'm not sure why yours doesn't do it. It's possible your relay is compatible with LEDs or your LEDs have a resister built into them.

I'm really surprised you were able to source those locally. I guess auto parts stores are stepping up their game.

Oh I've had that happen before but what I meant was even faster flashing of the lights. I know what you're talking about though. Yeah I'm not sure why mine don't do it either. Weird.