The Lotus Grand Tourers

sketch wrote:Hello,

went out and got me some of these LED's for my rear lights

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01 ... UTF8&psc=1

but the break lights are always on, faulty bulbs or am I missing something??
I put the old bulbs back in and all works fine

any ideas?

On the bulbs I bought the connections were the other way around, i.e. when I first connected them the brake lights came on when I turned the lights on, and vice versa. Simple switch round of the connections on the back of the bulb holder fixed that.

Faulty earth it is, but all working now

thanks for the help guys !

I decided to tackle the silvering in my rear lamp units, also the bulb holders were corroded and loose causing intermittemt fauklts. Getting the lamp units apart is hard work, I used a rotary cutter in a flexi drive hooked up to a pillar drill, a Dremel or similar would probably do a better job and remove less material.

The original silvering was nearly all gone;



I thought about using tinfoil but the curvature is too great and I couldn't be sure it would stay stuck in place, so I decided to use Humbrol 27002 MetalCote. It's supposed to be airbrushed but goes on OK with a brush, several coats are best;





I decided to use a 100W soldering iron to re-attach the lenses to the housings, and I'm going to run a bead of Sabatack 750 XL boat sealant over the joint as well. I'll post another photo once I'm done.

Tinfoil is not a good solution.
Tried this years ago no another car, looks good for a while then just oxidises and falls apart.
I would also expect metallic paints to oxidise or go dull, unless they are laquered.
I tried a very 'chrome' paint on the silvering of my Merc C220 headlights and it didn't go well, ended up buying good 2nd hand headlights!
Probably good enough to go behind red lenses though.
I changed all of my Excel rear bulbs to LED's last year, and also fitted a relay to light up the rear fog lights along with the brake lights.
Got pics here: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/tdaeu9ahn38z ... XjTla?dl=0
Watching with interest . . . .

I did question my sanity what with the hassle of getting these apart and re-attaching them just to stick with old style lamps! The LED lamps look good, I guess I'll go that route if the MetalCote fades.

A pair of new lamp units is now £300 plus carriage so it's good to have some options.

8 years after initiating this topic, I finally got round to doing something about it! Well, one side, anyway. It all started when I managed to nerf a bollard while parking in the Brixworth Co-op:



First the rear bumper came off - surprisingly easy, just a bolt behind each lamp cluster, a pair behind the number plate, and a screw at the bottom near each exhaust.



Getting the coloured lens off the backing was not easy - Rover did a good job gluing those together! I used a fake Lidl dremel, and got through a lot of cutting discs (they kept shattering at high speed, dunno if genuine ones are any better?), made a slight mess of it but none of it will be visible. The filth inside the lens was pretty horrible!



As well as the total lack of silvering, as you can clearly see.

I masked off the reflector, then sprayed the rest with "Chrome" PlastiKote fast dry project enamel (from Hobbycraft):



It's not a mirror finish, but it's certainly a massive improvement.

Then just stick it back together with JB Weld, held together with rubber bands:



Since I've replaced all the bulbs with LEDs anyway, I can't be certain how much of an improvement it is. Given how hard it was to get apart, I'm not motivated to do the other side, at least not until I nerf that into a bollard as well

I think there will be a significant different in brightness between your two light clusters with one done and the other left alone. I did this to my lights a very long time ago and seem to recall there was a noticeable improvement in light output by re-painting the reflectors and cleaning the insides of the lenses.

Neil.

My car failed its MOT this year because there was a significant difference in brightness between the two sides. Evidently that leads to confusion on whether you are braking or not - hence the test.

While the bumper is off I'd suggest doing both sides rather than just the one.