This seems like a dumb question to me, but I figure what the hell! It's worth a try...
I have changed out all the lighting on my '09 Vibe GT for a cleaner look. I have Silver Star bulbs in the fog lights, low and high beams and reverse lights. I have Stealth Auto chrome amber bulbs in the front and rear turn signals. I ordered a white LED bulb from Oznium.com for the license marker, but unfortunately due to the angle of the license marker housing, the LED bulb only lit up half of the license plate which obviously looked totally ridiculous. I tried a cheapy Xenon bulb from Auto Zone which actually looked decent, but wasn't nearly as bright as I would like (don't want to get pulled over).
I have come up with an idea, but I am wondering if it will have any negative effects on the wiring and such. I put one of the Silver Star 921 bulbs that I have in the reverse lights in the license marker. It provides the nice, bright, clean white light I am looking for and it fits in the housing, the only problem is that the license marker bulb is a 194. I put 921 bulbs in the license markers on my '02 Sunfire GT and it never effected the wiring, but I am wondering if after a while it would hurt anything.
Here are the specifications for the two bulbs:
Sylvania Silver Star 921 bulb:
- 12.8 volts / 17.9 watts
Sylvania halogen 194 bulb:
- 14 volts / 3 watts
Obviously there's a big difference in the wattage, but as I said above, I did this in my Sunfire and never had any problems.
The only problem I could really forsee is the housing melting with the bulb being bigger and closer to the lens. Obviously replacing the housing wouldn't be a big deal, I am more worried about damaging the wiring.
Opinions? Thanks in advance.
i think you should be alright.... my front marker lights on my sunfire are 921 and should be 194... as is my license plate... ive had it like this for over a year now with no problems... i dont see why youd have any problems...
Yeah. I had 921s in my Sunfire GT's license markers and never had an issue. I might just try it and see how it goes. Just keep an eye on it for any issues.
I put the Silver Star 921 in there and left the lights on for a few minutes. It got WAY too hot, so I ended up putting the cheapy Xenon bulb back in. It's not quite as bright as I would like, but it does give off a whiter light than the factory bulb.
Factory bulb:
Xenon bulb:
I have superbrightleds.com wled-x5 led in mine
i have some cheap 194 leds in mine
It would definitely melt the lens and can cause damage to the socket as well.
Stephen (manta z) wrote:I have superbrightleds.com wled-x5 led in mine
That's exactly the look I'm going for! Does the bulb in your Cav point straight down or is it angled at all? The problem I have with the Vibe is that the bulb is angled to one side a bit.
So... this is the one you have? I'm assuming you got the natural white?
the bulb points straight back.. the housing is angled down tho so it reflects it all downward.. plus the leds are crazy bright and I have cool white.. I love em, i have em in my maplights and used them in my cluster/maplight/ license plate light, turnsignals/headlight leds in my old car
Thanks Manta! Seeing as they are so cheap, I am going to go ahead and order them within the next couple days. Thanks again for the picture and information!
I finally achieved the look I wanted! I ended up getting the WLED-x5 bulb in natural white (the cool white had too much of a blue tint to it) from Super Bright LEDs.
J TO ENVY wrote:I finally achieved the look I wanted! I ended up getting the WLED-x5 bulb in natural white (the cool white had too much of a blue tint to it) from Super Bright LEDs.
Have the same one on my Cobalt to compliment my HID's, assuming that's the 4500-5k color.
Love it,
Stephen (manta z) wrote:good to hear.
Yep! Thanks again for the information and picture!
Joe Schulte wrote:Have the same one on my Cobalt to compliment my HID's, assuming that's the 4500-5k color.
Love it,
Yep, the natural white is the 4500k one. I originally ordered the cool white but it had too much of that cheesy blue tint to it, so I sent it back in exchange for the natural white which looks much better.
