Color LED Grill Mod

Hey guys,

I'm looking into the possibility of doing a future mod to the grill of my 2011. What I'm wanting to do is something like this:


And basically I was just wondering if anyone has done anything like this? If so, what mounting points did you use to mount you leds and what kits if any did you use?

Currently, I have the stock honeycomb style grill that I painted white. I'm thinking about using Ledglow's marine lighting kit (marine because it will come waterproof). I have Ledglow interior lights installed now and I love them, and you can buy replacement parts from them, so I would just buy the control box and a 20" led tube rather than the whole 180$ kit. This would run me around 80-100$ plus shipping, which really isn't too bad.

Furthermore, if anyone else is interested, I'd be happy to do a build write-up to show how I do mine.

 

There are a few people on here that have done something similar.
@Oregon TRD Has done this in Green

I have several 12" LED strips attached to the grille so they face the radiator. These are made by Alpena and I bought them at AutoZone. I also painted the AC condenser, transmission oil cooler, etc. with high temp silver paint for more reflectivity.

I would be very interested to see how you end up doing yours. Keep us posted.

Here are a couple pics of mine.

 

Dude, that looks awesome, so does Oregon's. How did you get your air scoop lit like that?

 

Thanks!

The hood scoop is a whole different story. In fact, that's what started all of what you see now. But to make a long story short, I put an LED on the plastic insert just to see how it would look. I liked it so I pieced some stuff together to make a one of a kind light bar that I have mounted behind the scoop. This involved taking out the plastic insert and cutting out the back of the scoop and then later putting on a T-Rex hood scoop grille to match the inserts I have in the front grille.

Here is a really old video of some of the things I can do with the scoop. You will notice that the lights in the grille aren't nearly as bright as they are now.

 

Man that looks awesome! What did you change that made the grill leds so much brighter?
Good choice on amber led's BTW, Red or Blue may of gotten you in a heap of trouble, at least they would of for me

 

Hey I just noticed that you have a 2011 which means you have a larger scoop and can do more with it. There is a guy on here that sells a whole kit to mount a 10" light bar in a 2011 scoop.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/hood-scoop-led-lightbar-bracket-by-c4fab.353700/

 

Also, how did you mount the led strip to the grill?

 

I added more LED strips that were brighter than the original ones. I also painted the AC condenser with high temp silver paint for more reflectivity.

 

The LED strips I am using are flexible and have 3M adhesive tape on the back. I just applied them to the grille after I wiped it down with alcohol to get the dirt off.

 

Killer look @o0oSHADOWo0o i need to get skills like you in this 12v world !!

 

Dude, believe me, if I wasn't a broke ass college student living off hot-pockets and cheap beer, I would throw something like that on in a second! Maybe this summer when I can work full time, but as of now, no way can I drop 300+ on lights

 

Cool, here's hoping the tape on the back of my kit is worth a damn. I've used led strips before and usually that crap is useless

 

That's funny, I figure I have around $200 in LED strips behind the grille.

$25 for a pair of 12" strips and if I remember correctly, I have 7 or 8 pairs. Yes I'm obsessed!

I have seen, and unfortunately bought cheaper LED strips from Oznium, VLEDs as well as eBay and Amazon, but I have always been disappointed with the quality and the brightness. The Alpena "MAX" LED strips I bought at AutoZone are by far the best and brightest I have seen.

 

Blue lights anywhere will get you tickets around here. Red lights forward will do the same.

 

Really? I've seen a lot of both around here. I've been told that the law in Texas doesn't specify which colors, it just "can't imitate police lights while being driving in traffic". So I'm guessing that means no animated blues or reds? I guess that would be up to the cop's discretion?
I've also heard that as a good rule of thumb you should never mount the bulbs where the bulbs themselves are visible, and that you should never illuminate any part of your car above the midline of the vehicle, but I'm not sure how often that is enforced. I guess that probably would also depend on the cop.

 

Good Lord dude, I'll bet there's a no-fly-zone over your house at Christmas time. Lighting up your house like you do your car and you'll blind airline pilots flying by!
Yea that's a ton of lights. No wonder your's lights up so well. I was originally thinking of doing ledglow's marina lights, but now I'm thinking this:

It comes with 4 12" RGB strips, a control box, a fuse tap, a remote, a mini remote, extension cables, 3M tape and mounts, and the strips are waterproof. And the kit is only 45$ on Amazon!

 

Different states, the Police use different colors, so I wont make any comment on that. But I would make sure, to not give any cop, any opportunity to hassle me about the colors, or design.

 

Yep, local state statute. Only emergency vehicles are allowed to have blue lights, and red lights can only show to the rear (brakes, turn signals). Flashing lights of any kind are no-no's while you're on the road, except turn signals.

Light, is what you see. It doesnt matter where you mount the device that produces the light. The device is a 'lamp' (or diode depending). So if you can see it outside the vehicle it needs to be within your local law.

What you do is up to you, but if you get a knowledgeable le (or you irritated him) "everyone else is doing it" is a pretty poor defense in court

I never wrote that ticket personally but did stop a few vehicles and told them to turn it off. I also ignored a few. But the fewer reasons you give le to talk to you, the better off you usually are.

 

So basically don't be a dumb ass and if you do get pulled over don't be a dick?

 

Well the good news about these lights is that they're RGB, so if I like a color and I get pulled over because of it, I then know not to use that color and switch it to something else, at least while I'm in that state/city/area.