Corvette
owners are afflicted with a a very unique ailment, it is called the
"Mod Bug". In the never ending quest to satisfy the need to
improve upon what GM gave us we seek out and exploit every modification
opportunity that presents itself. Corvette owners are especially fond
of mods that are both cost effective and easy to install.
The
Corvette rear end is often forgotten or relegated to the last part of
the car that is modified. The iconic port hole taillights on the C6
Corvette are a prime target for an easy and effective modification. The
dull factory red lenses and associated incandescent OEM lights can
easily be updated with modern led technology.
Replacing
factory rear lighting with LED's requires using specific in line
resistors or the result will be hyper flashing of the turn signals and
dash lighting. Splicing resistors into the rear wiring harness is not
that difficult but wouldn't be nice if a true plug and play unit were
offered that incorporated resistors in the lens assembly. Well look no
further because this system exists.
The lenses are manufactured by IPCW and ADJURE INC. They
are available through most of the major Corvette vendors. While at a
car show a while back we saw a C6 Corvette that was adorned with a set
of Midnight Onyx rear tail lights. They were to put it mildly a
spectacular refinement of the C6's rear. We contacted the manufacturer
and they supplied us with a set of these beauties to test out.
As
mentioned these units are true plug and play. On an installation
difficulty scale of 1 to 5 where 1 is easy and 5 is impossible, we rate
this as a definite 1. It took one of our "all thumbed" shop guys less
than ten minutes to swap out the stock lights and install the LED's.
The
packaging of the units was top notch. They come encased in various
layers of cardboard and styrofoam. The major part of the install time
was spent on freeing these gems from the factory packaging.
The
first part of the install requires the removal of the stock rear
lenses. This is easily accomplished by removing the screw located on
the top of each lens. You will need a no. 15 torx bit to do this.
Unplug the lenses from the factory harness
Twist off the bulb retainer on the back of the stock lens's and remove the stock bulbs
Plug
the new led harness located on each of the replacement lenses into the
stock retainers and insert it into the new lens with a twisting motion.
Plug
each factory harness on the rear of the car into the retainer of each
taillight lens. The only tricky part of the installation is ensuring
that the black wire on the new led lens is aligned with the black wire
on the factory harness. LED's must have the proper polarity to operate.
Replace each new lens into the rear housing and replace the top screws
Test out your new lights and go win some trophies.
