RX8 LED Tail Lamps (pre 08)
 

Anyone tried these cool looking LED tail lamps for the pre 08

Spyder® ALT-ON-MRX804-LED-BK - Black/Red LED Tail Lights

They look pretty good. A friend of mine has these. Pretty satisfied.

Cool. Think about getting a set.

Seen several different vendirs in Amazon and e bay

Wondering how quality could vary amongst all these.

Thanks.

These are so ricey and cheap. NYCdriftking bought a set and they leaked almost immediately. They look okay in pics but really cheap in person, IMO.

That is my concern. Do not want to get the wrong ones.

Appearance wise, never liked the chromed ( non red) tail light lenses. Second gen RX8 took care of that, but I feel cheated, because Mazda did nothing for gen 1 RX8.

If made properly, those aftermarket would offer second gen RX8 lamps for 1st gen.

I think stock chromed tail lights do look cheap. Are there any options available like getting a red cover for the tail lamps ?

You can get nice ones from RE Amemiya, but you gotta pay to play. Ot install an S2 bumper and brackets and with a few other small modification you can run normal S2 tails or S2 Spirit R tails.

.

HI.


I asked before about gen 2 tail lights and I was told those do not fit.


Yes, just saw the AMEMIYA tail lights. 1200 bucks before shipping. That is so anti fan base. How could anyone develop a business for auto accessories by asking those prices. Had the lamps been priced at 400, they would had sold thousands. At 1200, I doubt they sell 50 in a year !



What about RED LAMINIX film, anyone used it ? The RX8 would look so much better with red tail lights as opposed to chromed clear lenses.

The problem is the stock S2 tail light insides are gloss black. On these they're dark matte ash. That's what gives it the cheap look. My buddy's pair is not leaking though. You can get them for way cheaper on eBay.

What would be the best place to get Spirit R tail lights 9k?

They fit with the S2 rear bumper and brackets and some slight trimming of the tail light holes on the S1 body. It's really no big deal, aside from the trimming it is a bolt on affair.

This is my buddies 2005 RX-8 with a full R3 body swap.


https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...1a47755664.jpg

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...6a9c624f12.jpg




Email paul@mazmart.com, my buddy got a set thru him I think. He got the head lights as well.

A little too late for me on the newer stock lamps. Already got the rear bumper and parts sorted out for my cars repair.

I am ok with stocj lamps except for the chrome. I despise chrome. Why would Mazda force all enthusiasts to this ugly chrome stuff ? Wonder.

If I could get the lenses red, that would be fine. Laminix anyone ?

The aftermarket lamps are tempting, just concerned with fitting, that is something I will probably try later on.

What do Spirit R tail laghts look like ?

Thanks bud. Just sent an email.

Hi.

What are the brackets you are refering to if I may ?

I need to visualize parts needed, so if I am still in time to get a rear gen 2 bumper and lights, I will go after those brackets and all.

Tail light housing wise, what is the difference / area that needs modification ?

Thanks.

He's referring to the brackets that hold the bumper. They're called bumper retainers.

Another Option are the LED tail lights from Kamikaze Racing ... they look like the RE-Amemiya ones and are even approved for the use in Germany .. and believe me we have Kind of strict regulations.


KAMIKAZE RX8 rear LED lights / LED taillights - pair (left + right)-NEW PRICE! | eBay


Greetings
Thomas

Looks great but so expensive :sad:

The white plastic brackets that hold the S2 bumper on are different than the S1 brackets. And the metal area behind the tails lights has to be trimmed. It's hard to explain but you will figure it out when you get to that point.


Oh and those Kamakazi lights are horrible.

Heheheh .. just posted them cause they werent posted yet here... i like the car as it is.


Greetings
Thomas

Those Kamikaze lights are interesting.

Can not discern how good or nad they could beeith only one shot.

Asked the seller to provide more photos. We will see. Look close to the amemiya but at half price. European spund better than China or Thailand

Does anyone know what plug that is in the bottom right pic? Bought these aftermarket R2 style lamps for the R1 and there is no such connection as far as I can see. https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...4e7df9980b.jpg

RX88, if you look at the bulbs out of your taillights, the bottom where they plug in looks just like that, so basically youd have to find bulbs with a female plug (never seen them before) or an adapter.


However, I haven't looked at mine much other than to replace the bulbs with LEDs, you might see if you can take the part your bulbs plug into off your old lights and plug it in there. Worst case, cut that plug off the end and wire the old ones off.


I Don't see them in your pics but they may be part of the kit. What im talking about are the little parts that twist into place once you have the bulb in

i have the same lights on my 8, as long as you re seal the foam between the body and lights,your good, mine isnt driven daily so as far as water i have none, thats from when i wash the car, they look very good. but theres a couple different people on ebay that sell these, mine were from malaysia i believe, the seller is well know for his products,

My buddy has them on his RX-8 and it doesn't leak or anything like that.

Yet.

mine got water in them the first time I washed the car.
Got tired of that and upgraded to RE Amemiya taillights. :cool:

I just got these tail lights. Couple of things to note.

1. These lights will fit rx8 without any mods (at least on my 2004).
2. The flat connectors you see fits into tail light socket for stoplight instead of a bulb.
3. Turn signal bulb goes in the middle hole.
4. Two small two pin connectors on the taillight assembly connect to each other (male to female) and not to connector on car.
5. If you remove the gasket (carefully), you can see what socket goes with what connectors.

Hope this helps.

^^^ good luck with water getting into them.
just about every set I've ever seen leaks.

A buddy of mine has been using them for over a year and it still looks brand new. No water leakage. Maybe they fixed it.

You could always reseal them yourself. I'd be curious to see what these look like installed.

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...4e19301f6f.jpg

Haven't had any problems with water getting in these.

Nick_83, are those the same as these Xtune's?:

xTune ALT-ON-MRX804-LED-BK LED Tail Lights-Black [9028410] fit Mazda RX-8 | eBay

in your opinion, how do they really look compared to the oem? does it look like a noticeably cheaper knock-off? really hesitant to buy a set, but I like the look.

If you install properly with silicone you shouldn't have any problems

i like the one round lamp per side as in 1st gen better The newer 2 lamp versions make a wide eyed rear versus tight eyed gen 1

What I would kike is a red out tail lamp set lime this photo

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...585bd3f1df.png

I decided to pull the trigger anyways, installed them the other week and think they look great, no regrets. Can't report back about any leaks yet as my car is waiting for her new engine and I haven't driven her. https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...394e5f7d33.jpg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...6e9b2537a0.jpg

Spyder LED Tailights
 

I purchased the Spyder Led Tailights for my 05 rx8 and the connectors for the lights did not match the oem connecters. I have looked everywhere for a kit but cant find one help please!

****Problem Solved******

This Helped Alot

I bought the Xtune tail lights; but the instructions were omitted, so I had to figure it out. It also looks like a resistor might have been omitted; because as soon as I took my foot off the brake after starting the engine after completing the installation, the ABS and traction control lights went on and stayed on. I didn't go anywhere near any of the calipers or ABS sensor wiring. Is it plausible that this could be due to an omitted resistor? If so, how can I best calculate the value of the needed resistor to address the issue?

Yes, a resistor should help with this. It certainly helped me when I installed all LED bulbs years ago, and had the same problem.
I used some wirewound resistor from Radio Shack, but don't remember exactly the size or wattage, and I'm not near my car so I could check... but Radio Shack is not around anyway :)

Hopefully someone else will chime in with the proper resistor data.

Yep, on an S1, LED brake light bulbs can trigger ABS malfunction.

Depending on how often you brake, a resistor could get hot. Think about how filament bulb works - they light up the filament by making it white hot.

I recommend these as I used them before for my old Accord and they work pretty well.

http://www.vleds.com/shop-products/v...-6-duotap.html

That VLEDS resistor is nice and one should be enough to avoid the problem.

I said one should be enough because I remember that when I had the same issue, just putting back the one filament bulb into the center brake light fixed the problem (for me). Then I added a single resistor behind the trunk lid liner before swapping to the LED bulb, and all is well.
Of course having two should not hurt... and they will certainly recommend getting not one but two :)

See previous posts in this thread for answers.

yo you think you can share you installed them? having the same problem with my 04

So if you need 4 is it for 2 for each blinker on each side then 2 for the brake lights on each side?

Not sure if any one would still see this but I was going to get LED brake lights and just wanted to know how many resistors to get and if I only need them for the blinkers or tail lights as well?

my experience with resistors & LED brake lights
 

If you have an LED 3rd brake light as I do, and get a 50 Ohm resistor, as I did, you will need one resistor. Two will be excessive and prevent the brake lights from working at all, assuming your car responds like my ‘04. I was surprised that I couldn’t use both (the resistor I bought cake as part of of a pair), so I had to change plans and kept the second one as a spare. Because of the heat it generates, I have it cyanoacrylate glued to a metal part of the trunk, facing away from plastic and carpeting. Because it was a chilly day when I did the installation, I used the heat of the resistor to help the cyanoacrylate glue bond (I had to rig something to hold the brake pedal down while I held the resistor in place with a shop rag to avoid burning my fingers).

The resistor I use is solely for the operation of the brake lights. I have conventional blinkers at this point.