Custom Mirror Turn Signal LED How-To

[TheDrainnoodle]

Hey guys!
A few months ago I made custom mirror LED turn signals and took pictures of the process. Now I'm finally taking the time to post all of it haha.

I will continue this post in replies/comments due to the photo limit.

Here's how it's done!

Parts:
Waterproof connectors:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01A6LTK44/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Motorcycle Turn Signal LED Strips:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0179FOLOY/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Prepare the LED strip:
Wrap electrical tape around the base of the LED strip to help add some extra strength and water resistance. Cut the wires on the LED strip to the length you need, and then solder on one side of the waterproof connector.


Prepare the light housing:
Use a dremel to carefully cut the back part of the OEM light housing off. You want almost all of the black plastic to be gone. Not quite all of it, but most. See the pictures. Then sand the rough parts down to clean it all up.




Now, firmly hold the LED strip down along the center of the housing. Be absolutely sure that there is no room between the LED strip and the housing. It must be flush. Also be sure that the wire end of the LED strip is facing the curved side of the housing which at first may seem counter-intuitive. When you are happy with the placement, begin adding hot glue to the housing. Keep holding the LED strip down against the housing as the glue cools and hardens, moving back slowly until the entire strip is glued down. Then add extra glue for better water resistance and to hold it in better. I know it looks bad at this point. We'll change that soon.



I will continue this post in a reply/comment!

 

[TheDrainnoodle]

Okay here is part 2 of the post!

Now that the strip is glued in place, it's time to paint!
I used Duplicolor Color Match "Toyota Black" Automotive paint and Duplicolor Automotive Clearcoat.
Be sure to mask everything off EXTREMELY PRECISELY. Everything will show up in the final product.

After painting the black, I removed the tape and wet sanded with 2000 grit.
Then I clearcoated the entire thing.

Once the clearcoat has dried, I wet sanded it with 2000, 3000, 5000, and then polished with ultimate compound.



Prepare the mirror assembly:
Cut the wires inside the mirror housing and connect one end of the waterproof connector. I recommend soldering the wires and covering them in heat shrink and electrical tape.
Remember, this is technically outside of the car and can get wet. I also cut a bit of the plastic inside the mirror assembly away to make room for the connector.
Remove all old 3m tape and apply generous amounts of new 3m tape.
Connect everything together and put the mirror housing back on!
Ta Da!

 

[Chris Denton]

Nice job!
Great write up!
I want to add the lights, but I have an LE so the wiring is not there.

 

[TheDrainnoodle]

Nice job!
Great write up!
I want to add the lights, but I have an LE so the wiring is not there.

Yeah, It may seem like an odd solution but you could just tap into each front turn signal and just wire it back up into the mirror housing. LEDs take up so little power that it really wouldn't have an effect on the original turn signals. Especially if they're LED as well. idk just an idea ,

 

[Cheoo0]

I don’t wanna sound like a noob but uhm any way you could highlight where to use the dremel on the black part to separate the housing from the black part

 

[Chris Denton]

What did you do with the factory connectors?
Do you still have them?

 

[TheDrainnoodle]

I don’t wanna sound like a noob but uhm any way you could highlight where to use the dremel on the black part to separate the housing from the black part

Well you can't really separate it, you pretty much have to cut it off. Just start the cut small and get bigger and bigger as you can see I did in the pic, because of course you can always cut more but you can't cut less.

 

[OdellFunkclould]

Excellent info here ,I am currently doing some research and found exactly what I was looing for
https://waterprooflab.com/

 

[nikita12]

nice..!! i agreed with information.great job.
https://safetygearslab.co.uk/