Bruce In Philly

2009 C2S 169K miles

Well well, my car is starting to show its age. I bulb burnt out. Engine compartment. Cripes, 169K miles and a bulb goes!!! What crap! I wonder if Porsche has a service bulletin on this... class action suite anyone? Sheeeesh! I paid what? And got what?

Anyone use any of the LED substitutes out there? Comments, recommendations?

The original bulb is a 12V 10W 42mm festoon type (although it looks like a range of sizes 5mm either way will work).

On Amazon, it appears the cheapest LED I can get is a four pack for $6.. Cripes! Group buy anyone?

Seriously, there are so many....and are direct drop ins... no new mounting... really cool. Any recommendations or what to look out for? At that outrageous price, I don't mind spending a few cents more for a better/brighter bulb.

Peace
Bruce in Philly

Floyd540

I have posted this before. The LED bulb kit from UPSmotorsports is perfect or better. I have it and the 997 kit includes the engine room bulb. These guys have sorted through zillions of LED bulbs on the market and they have the best ones and the ones you want. Their website is a little wonky if you try to go to the 997.2 page. Go to the 997 page, the bulbs are the same for both .1 and .2 cars. Also their video on installing the kit is a nice touch although it takes the fun out of trying to figure out how to remove the bulb holders/fixtures while at the same time breaking them. Well done kit and video.

Bruce In Philly

Thanx Floyd, but I ordered from Amazon.... next day delivery.

I put these buggers in the rear and front trunks (same size).... wow!!!! WHITE LIGHT.


I pulled the old burnt light from the rear, measured it with a micrometer.. 42mm.. and searched Amazon for "42mm festoon led 12V". I chose this brand / type because these were the whitest light color at 6500K... higher number equals whiter and to my eye, brighter and denoted 400 Lumens. That's alodda light. Are these the best? Will they last? I dunno.

So for the rear trunk! YAY! easiest best $13 upgrade possible. This maybe the record holder for the highest value to lowest price of any car mod... except for maybe those little green pine tree air fresheners... BTW, I don't have one of those green trees hanging in my car because they are just too expensive!! These LEDs light up the night man.

For the front trunk... well the jury is still out. It may be too bright. Really? Yes because the light does not fire downward, the fixture is mounted so it blasts you in the face. It sure lights up the frunk and you will get nice tan.

The interior dome light supposedly can use one of these also... same size... may try adding that later.

While I was at it, I purchased a few for Her Lexus (different size)... She had an anemic little trunk light... now she get blasted.

Highly recommended.

Peace
Bruce in Philly

Ironman88

When you do the dome light (festoon lamp type), you can also do the two map lights at the same time. They are Canbus 194 units (2). That same type of element goes in each of the lights in the lower door units.

Bruce In Philly

Great! Ordering now..... when I am done, you can see my car from space!!!

I ordered a lesser bright bulb this time..... these really are bright and maybe don't need a fusion-powered sun in the cabin.

Bright: Brighter:
Peace
Bruce in Philly

Ironman88

May also want to do the footwell lights while you're at it. They use the same Canbus 194 units. Replacing those make a really nice difference. (One LED unit per side.)

...forgot - one also in the glovebox... (same type)

Floyd540

6,500 degrees Kelvin is heading off into the blue spectrum, but each to his own. Just get good quality when it comes to LED's. People hear that they have tens of thousands of hours of life. Kinda true (sorta) but that only applies to the diode, (the yellow square or circle) . The life is determined by the electronics included and the effectiveness of the heat sink.

Ironman88

Speaking of heat sinks - I was amazed at the size of them on the festoon units that I received from USP Motorsports (for the rear license plate lamps.) I hope they stand the test of time.



Holy Heatsink Batman - look at the size of those things!

Bruce In Philly

Cool! or umm... hot!

The 6500K look pure white to me so I am fine with it (so far).

Those are big sinks.... I hope mine won't melt the plastic... I will keep an eye out on them.

Those other light locations... great to know they are all the same size... I ordered a pack of 10... could not get a lesser pack but just $11 total.

Peace
Bruce in Philly

Floyd540

That is why I am a fan of USPmotorsports. In any event, for those that are reading this, (over 200 looks), LED interior lights makes the OEM halogen ones remind you of the dome light in a '53 Chevy. Such an easy "upgrade" an a huge difference. Also the amount of heat generated by the halogen bulbs in the overhead panel (Don't grab those bulbs with bare fingers if they are on)

Bruce In Philly

Agreed.... Do it!! I am into this now..... In my prior post, I pulled bulbs from Amazon only because I am impatient and they had next day delivery..... I have no idea if I made good decisions so at your own peril!!!! My criterion was the following:
1 - Whitest lights - they always appear brighter to me... these lights are only used temporarily so in my view, I want to see, not create a mood.
2 - Highest lumen - brightest... well I think this is great for the trunks... but they are so so bright, I chose a dimmer model for the interior... I will let you know what I think of my interior choice in a few days.
3 - Quality bulbs... um... I have no idea about this one... I just made sure that Amazon sold many and there were a good many positive reviews. There are many choices out there now... but heck, they are so darn cheap....

My worry? They run too hot ... but the standard incandescent / halogen bulbs run hot too so I am not too worried.. I will keep my eye on this. They are all sold as specific to interior auto applications so I haven't seen a review that the bulb burned up a car ..... yet.

Peace
Bruce in Philly

heavysixer22

Well this is the third thing I've ordered from a thread in the last week—thanks Floyd!

Hopefully they look "right" in the car. The car is basically stock, and I worry that modern touches like this will make everything else look old. Guess I'll find out soon!

Ironman88

I just replaced all of the interior incandescent bulbs with LED's. Also the light in the Frunk, the engine compartment, and the rear license plate lights.

Here's the list:

• Interior dome light (1)
• Dome map lights (2)
• Lower door courtesy / safety lights (2)
• Driver and Passenger footwell lights (2)
• Glove compartment light (1)
• Frunk compartment light (1)
• Engine compartment light (1)
• Rear license plate lights (2)

The old incandescents were dingy and yellow looking. Really dated the look of the car.

The resulting change is really significant - and rather than making the car appear to look older, it has had the opposite affect. It completely updates and modernizes the appearance.

Redrag

Currently have the ECS tuning kit. Happy with the results. https://www.ecstuning.com/b-ziza-par...t/001373ecs01/ .

Ironman88

In reviewing the ECS Tuning installation instructions PDF, I would caution anyone about following what they say concerning removal of the lens on the dome light. If you use a plastic pry tool like they've suggested, maybe you'll be lucky and not break off the plastic tabs (many accounts that I've read convey that they are really easily broken off.) Then you have to replace the dome light assembly which is fairly expensive.

I had success just using my hands to remove the lens - being very careful in the process. Same thing with removing the unit itself from the windshield header (just using my hands rather than the pry tool.)