Neon Placement

[mako462]

Now that i've installed some better speakers, I have a bunch of space between the speaker grill and the door panel grill.

I was thinking of maybe installing some mini neons to light up the speakers and accent the white speaker cones on my Pioneers, hopefully without making the interior looking like a gaudy neon mess.

Also, i'm kinda wondering if it would be worthwhile to accent other parts of the interior with neon/led lighting without going overboard. Again, I dont want to turn the inside of my VUE into a circus sideshow, just trying to make it look better.

I'm competent when it comes to electrical wiring/stereo install kind of stuff, but any suggestions or ideas on products or mounting would be appretiated!

[mellissam]

Originally Posted by mako462

Now that i've installed some better speakers, I have a bunch of space between the speaker grill and the door panel grill.

I was thinking of maybe installing some mini neons to light up the speakers and accent the white speaker cones on my Pioneers, hopefully without making the interior looking like a gaudy neon mess.

Also, i'm kinda wondering if it would be worthwhile to accent other parts of the interior with neon/led lighting without going overboard. Again, I dont want to turn the inside of my VUE into a circus sideshow, just trying to make it look better.

I'm competent when it comes to electrical wiring/stereo install kind of stuff, but any suggestions or ideas on products or mounting would be appretiated!

I'm an LED fan, being they consume miniscule amounts of electricity compared to well, anything.....even neons.....
There ae many sites out there, Ebay being one of them...I got LEDs from autolumination.com, and they delivered exactly as ordered...not sure if that is a ringing endorsement, but one good delivery means little to me....LOL
At least, you can get some good ideas from thier poorly setup site....

[VuedIt]

i agree with mellissa, LED's offer more in mounting location and hidden, plus there is wide variety of LED's out there from spots to floods, i like varads LED's very high quality and very powerful but draw limited amounts of amps, plus there very simple to hook up, the down side of neon tubes is there bulky and harder to find places to mount them where there hidden so u get the glow affect and not the tube effect, id go with LED's. heres the site for varad.

www.varad.com

this link is direct to there online store
http://mivasecure.abac.com/varad2/me...T&Store_Code=V

[mako462]

Checked out the Varad website and all I have to say is holy crap! My mind is boggling at the endless possibilities!! And then I think about the cost of a nice LED setup....

....ahh all in good time.

[mellissam]

I think I used these DISC. HL6WH - White
Note: they are discontinuing them...good price..I used them in the footwells of the passenger and driver area.
I may have the 12" ones...but you'll get pretty much the same effect....

[VuedIt]

yeah some of them r a lil pricey, but there products r awsome and will last even through abuse, plus with alot of there products they come with controlers so u can change what and how they function which is a cool option. but if ur looking to get some LED's that will work just as good, if u have a meijiers or pep boys near u check those places they have single LED's that come in 4 packs and Two Pack Spots, and i think they run about $10 and there not bad LED's by any means i just dont think they will last u as long.

[mako462]

Thanks everyone for their ideas. I think i'm gonna go with some kind of single LED spotlight for the speaker wells and possibly an LED lightbar for the footwells, idk yet.

Anyone tried Varad's Super White Xenon Headlights?

I'm looking to replace my high beams b/c i've already got streetglow low beams. The streetglow high beams were TOO blue and that made them a little darker.

I know Silverstars work great b/c I had them in my Jeep before I got my saturn, however, if I can save $10 and get the same result or an even better result with the varad super whites, i figure it's worth a shot.

[mellissam]

My Sylvannia's Cool Blues work great for me, and you save a few of bucks over Silverstars...You should check out the post a few weeks ago by ????. Have to search the threads, but he showed how to make a 9005 bulb fit a 9006 slot (low beams), and it makes a big difference!!
The way to go...IMHO.

[VuedIt]

theres a few posts about the different aftermarket bulbs out there, the ones that normally say offroad use only rnt very bright or are for looks only and i think the ones varad is selling r for looks only.

[mako462]

Originally Posted by VuedIt

theres a few posts about the different aftermarket bulbs out there, the ones that normally say offroad use only rnt very bright or are for looks only and i think the ones varad is selling r for looks only.

Yea thats what i figured. I think i'll go with the Silverstars. They were amazing in my jeep.

The StreetGlow low beams are fine for looks and bright enough in good weather conditions; but as soon as it rains or gets foggy out, they lack the brightness and "yellowish" color that helps with foul-weather driving.

I'm thinking of installing two sets of mini fog lamps in the lower air dam on my VUE. I think two sets of mini lights would give me a better range of light (more light forward and to the sides) rather than one regular set.

I dont really want to invest my hard earned $ into something from walmart for $20 (they only sell those wierd multi-colored aux. lamps anyway) but I also dont want to fork out $100's of dollars for a set of lamps that i'm only going to use probably 30% of the time i'm driving at night.

Does anyone know of any quality light sets out there?

[mako462]

Finally ordered some Varad single LED's. 4 of them to be exact, in "aqua".
Paid about $20 shipped on eBay.

Also got my foglamps off eBay. Not a bad set, they're adequate. I might upgrade to some Hellas later on, or maybe some projector fog lamps.

Finally got them wired up with a 12v/30amp relay after two blown fuses and plenty of frustraiting routing of wires.

I mounted the a/m switch in that little tiny compartment on the lower dash panel on the left side of the steering column. Does anyone know what that little space is really for?? Kinda wierd to put it there of all places.

Now just waiting for my LED's to come in. I figure i'll wire them to the remote wire for my head unit, since they'll be mounted in the speakerwells to accent the door speakers. That way they'll come on when the stereo is on, and i'll probably wire a second switch so I can control them when the stereo is on, just in case I dont want them on all the time.

Also waiting on a 5 speed chrome shift knob. I'm thinking i'm going to cut the shifter down about an inch or so while in the process of installing the new shift knob. I dont forsee any major problems in doing that, just shorter quick shifts. Anyone see anything wrong with that idea??

I should have some pics up when i'm done w/ everything.

Thanks for everyone's input!

[mako462]

Now that i've got my LED's and tested them to see how bright they are, i'm not sure where I want them!

They're actually a lot brighter than I thought they would be, so now i'm trying to think of different places I could mount them to get that 'glow effect' and not just direct light.

Any ideas anyone??

[VuedIt]

the best locations for accent lighting is under the dash, under seats, or spots not easily noticed, try to hide the LED as much as possible, the hardest part is when u begin adding to much accent lighting cause then u run out of spots, another tip is, if u have a spare battery just temp connect the leds to it and place the LEDs in spots u think would work and see if it is the look ur after, when i had my custom chevy s-10 i had over 25 tubes of neon and over 50 LEDs strictly show and this was how i placed all my accent lighting and it helped out alot. all my tubes were hidden and all the LEDs were hidden but i got killer accent glow affects.

[VuedIt]

also other great places for LEDs door handle areas door pockets cup holders, heater/ac vents, speaker grills and pretty much anywhere u wanna accent something with light.