so i was in a VW Phaeton (that big ol $70,000 vee dub lux car) last week and i noticed that the inside door handles had this really cool red backlighting...well i had the brilliant idea of doing that to my own car lol...

went on autolumination.com and picked up a couple of single LED's that had small plastic pieces that would let me drill a hole and pop them in behind the door handle...they also came with 18" wire leads to wire up to power...for power i tapped into the door lock switch b/c it only lights up when the headlights are on...(fyi - thin grey wire is light power and thicker black is ground) heres pics of the (almost) finished result



pass side with flash


drivers side with flash


pass side no flash


drivers side no flash


pass side with LED map lights, under dash LED's and door handles


drivers side same thing


overall view of all the various lighting including 6000k HID's
(my yard is a mess from the construction going on @ my house)


after testing it out tonight i noticed that there was a little glare spilling out from the door handle recess both from under the actual handle it self and up on the roof...plus the light is a little too focused for my taste...im going to take a little bit of black paint and just block out the front part of the LED housing which will eliminate the glare and help disperse the light output a little more so its not so focused...

comments??

 

thats honestly, pretty cool, i would have never thought of something like that

 

nice... i didnt know the VW had that little light accent... cool though

 

Looks good i think the new Malibu's have this.

 

Not Bad

 

thanks guys!! glad "rice" wasnt the first thing everyone thought

 

you can also try sanding the top of the led. it also helps disperse the light a bit. just not too much though.

 

good call!

 

If the LED has too much glare, just put some white electrical tape over the top

 

another good call...hot damn, i like ur guys's creativity

 

i think just a dab of black paint on the outer side is gonna do the trick cuz when i block it out with my finger it seems to look pretty good...we'll see...led's are cheap to replace if i **** up lol

i forgot to post a pic of the switch panel on the door...i sanded the silver off and filled in the groove around the pocket with bondo to smooth the whole thing out and then im painting it white....its looking good so far

 

bump

 

Looks real good!

Those are on a switched power source?

 

yeah basically...theyre spliced in to the wires that power the light on the door lock switch

 

I like it, I want to do this with a white LED

 

its very simple...i ddint have a clue what i was doing and i figured it out and had it done in less than an hour

 

you should just do a how to

 

I like details like these

 

Looks nice man.

 

why not put it on the top insted of the bottom... that gets rid of your glare and doesnt project it on the celing lol.. i was thinking about hacking into my door panels for some lighting accents.. i did this with my sentra i had b4 the redline

 

the way the panel curves...putting it in the top wouldve been worse and wouldnt have given the effect i wanted....the handle blocks out most of the glare im just talking a bout a little tiny bit under the handle which wreaks havoc with my ADD when im driving lol

 

ahh i see lol.. idonno what the doorhandles look like cuz i dont inspect my freinds cobalt lolol and the light looks good almost better imo uptop.. but thats me i dont like beingable to see the lights lol

 

soon as i put a dab of black paint on it you wont even be able to tell..if it was up top the LED would be completely visible

 

Looks sweet. Probly doing something like this soon.

 

just saw this thread. but your pics dont wanna work for me.