LED signal/tail light bulb discussion and help

[andybob]

Hello all. New member, just picked up a 21 Telluride S in Glacial White Pearl yesterday. Really wanted an EX with bucket seats (and better lighting)but couldn’t justify the almost 5 grand more to do so. (Let’s be clear, I was fine with it, but my wife about had a heart attack when I ran all the numbers for her, thats women for ya). That’s besides the point.

I’m surprised Kia doesn’t spec these vehicles with LED bulbs/housings from that factory, but I know the bean counters have it all figured out so to have the premium lights you gotta pay the premium bucks.

Anywho, I’ve been trying to figure out what bulbs I need to replace all the factory halogen stuff. I already have the Lasfit kit on the way for the headlights/reverse lights/plate lights. I am now working on LED side markers, turn signals, and tail/stop lamps which brings me to these products:

Tail/stop lamps:

1157 CAN Bus LED Bulb - Dual Function 30 SMD LED Tower - BAY15D Bulb | Super Bright LEDs

Those 1157’s come in clear, amber, and red. I was planning to run the amber for the front turn signal and red for the rear/tail lamps. With that said, I know 1157 halogen bulbs are a different wattage than the P21 bulbs that come standard in the rear. I didn’t know if anyone has run 1157’s for the tail lamp assembly’s and if so, did you have any errors?

For the side markers, I am planning to run these:

194 CAN Bus LED Bulb - 5 SMD LED Tower - Miniature Wedge Base | Super Bright LEDs

Again, I will run amber up front, and red in the back. From what I have gathered, those bulbs should work fine in both locations without any errors.

I am still trying to figure out the rear turn signal bulb that is mounted in the bumper. I am thinking a red 1157 should do the trick, but I am looking for input or what others have run with success. I was just out tinkering, and it appears I have to drop the rear bumper to access these bulbs which is a great design (sarcasm).

Thanks in advance for any suggestions and or help. And I’m sorry, I know this topic has been discussed before, but I couldn’t seem to find what bulbs people have successfully run. Depending on what suggestions I receive, I’ll probably order what I think will work and post pictures/reviews with my results.

I saw on the Lasfit sight they gave 1157 bulbs, but they state in the site it will cause errors and hyper flash issue which is what led me to the above links. I’m not sure, but I’m gathering just because an LED bulb is CANBUS it doesn’t mean the light won’t hyperflash.

I’m also contemplating making (if I can find the right connectors that work with the OEM stuff) a “T” harness that allows me to tap into the rear turn signal circuit and would allow me to make the top tail light housing bulb also blink. Need to do some more research on that.

 

[qwikhit]

agree with standard LED headlights on the lower trim levels. I put LED’s in my S; see pics below. They work flawlessly; no hyperlfash or can bus errors

 

[andybob]

Installed the Lasfit LED headlights, plate lights, and reverse lights today. Kit is well worth it. Side note, once the headlights are in, head out to a dark road and adjust the headlight inside of the housing to get the beam to scatter correctly. Makes a huge difference and after a minute or two it’s a vast improvement over stock halogens.

Still looking for any suggestions on LED turn signal bulbs. From what I have gathered, resisters can still be required to combat hyperflash even with CANBUS bulbs.

The only other workaround I can think of would be to replace the flasher relay itself with an LED relay. I’ve looked through the manual and don’t see a flasher relay anywhere and I’m thinking it’s contained in the body control module or another integrated module.

 

[qwikhit]

So you adjusted the headlights down

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[andybob]

So you adjusted the headlights down

Negative. Once the headlights are in the housing, you can actually spin them (while they’re still captured by the retainer) and adjust how the beam scatters. I did not touch the actual adjustment screws for elevation and side to side.

 

[qwikhit]

Gotcha; as the directions note to install them at the 9 and 3 o’clock position

 

[andybob]

Gotcha; as the directions note to install them at the 9 and 3 o’clock position

Hmm, I didn’t see that in the directions. Well, I didn’t read the directions, lol.

I marked the garage doors with tape where the stock halogens were patterned and then matched that with the new LED’s. Once it got dark, I took a drive and I adjusted further as I had a small dark spot on the passengers side. After that, I drove several miles and made sure there was a difference between low/hi beam (which there is). During the approx half hour of driving around, I wasn’t “flashed” at all and visibility is greatly improved.

My previous vehicle was a Focus ST with adaptive xenon lights and the Telluride isn’t too far off from that now.

 

[qwikhit]

The Lasfit bulbs have LED’s in those “positions”. You mentioned dead spots and that’s probably all it was; just had to tweak the bulb in the correct position. I don’t even use high beams with these bulbs.

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