2021 IS Rear Turn Signal Bulb Swap to LED
 

Anyone done this yet? Looking for a video, how- to, advice, anything....Recently bought LED bulbs for a swap. Made a run at taking out the taillight unit and didn't feel confident I wasn't going to break something. Bulb supplier has YT install video but for an older model year. That looked easy. 2021 units not so much. Looks like a completely new design how they are affixed to the rear quarter panels.

Per owner's manual, you have to take the tail light assembly out to replace the bulb. Also recommends that you tape the surround body panel so you don't damage the paint. Page 323-324 in the owners manual.

I recently did this and it was pretty nerve-racking trying to pry the tail light from the clips/fasteners. Did you have any luck?

I still haven't done it yet. Had the car for one week when I first tried to remove the assembly and just felt I was going to break something. Was hoping someone would throw up a video install sooner or later. But you saying its nerve-wracking doesn't give me any reassurance. Eventually will get around to it. What bulbs did you use and any issues? I went with LasFit.

I didn’t know whether to spell it “nerve-racking” or “nerve-wracking” <- had a feeling it was this way but 🤷🏽‍♂️

anyways, yeah, I pretty much didn’t do the what the manual suggested to do cause I felt I would have caused more damage to the edges so I just did some force and pulled away from the car in the direction that the manual suggested and it popped right out. I did break a sweat doing it though.

The bulbs I used were from VLEDs, V6 Extremes. I went ahead and purchased a resistor (VLR3s) and when I was doing a test to see if got the polarity right for the bulb sockets, turns out you don’t need a resistor for the hyper flash. I don’t have the Triple Beam unfortunately so I had to swap the incandescent bulb in the front to an LED. V6 Extreme’s for the front and rear. So far so good.

Thanks for that info. I haven't read the manual yet. I have enough trust in Lexus design and engineering that it should be easy enough with nothing breaking. Maybe I'll shoot and post the video. I'm really more concerned of going through all the effort and the bulbs crap out in a couple of months.

Anything to help. I’ll try and post a video if I can get to it this week after or before work. When I knew how to do one side, the other side was relatively “easy”. Initial removal is probably the most tedious part. 2nd removal if your bulbs do go out, should be a bit more loose.

Side note, do you happen to have the Triple Beam option?

I do. And the LasFit have a built in resistor in the bulb
fixture. Not sure how that's going to playout. Here is their install vid on a 2016 IS.

Oh I see. Well better to have it built in if it’s going to cause hyperflash which I don’t know if it will or not cause I don’t have that option. Reason I asked is if you experience headlight jitters when you’re on rough pavement (headlight cut off visibly vibrating or shaking when hitting bumps)?

I made an appointment with the dealership to get this checked out plus my passenger side mirror doesn’t dim with my rear view mirror and driver side mirror. I shined my iPhone flashlight into my rear view mirror to activate the dimming function and driver side mirror plus rear view activate, but passenger doesn’t dim. Does your dim or happen to notice this? Searching forums for an answer but have found nothing.

thanks.

Update:

Got the rear light housings off, was actually pretty simple. However, LasFit bulbs = total fail. One direction didnt illuminate at all and when flipped they hyperflashed, front and back. So despite them saying they will work on 2021, they don't.

Luckily I remembered I had a set of Diode Dynamics bulbs left overall from a prior car I figured would not work and those actually do. So :dunno:. So for now no hyperflashing and LED as they should have been from factory.

any pics of the difference?

Put together a quick video of lights post-swap.

Nice. This might be the only modification to my future IS 500. Can you post a link to the exact bulbs you installed?

So below is the link. Like I said earlier they were from a 2015 Mustang I used to own and I did not think they would work. As you can see from the vendor, they are white to amber for the front turn signals of a mustang. White with headlights on, turn amber when turn signal engaged. The white doesn't illuminate on the Lexus because the light board sends no voltage to the bulb when headlights are on. So it only operates as an amber turn signal. I'm sure there are better single color bulbs out there. Since the Lasfits I bought did not work, figured I would just give these a try and they did work.
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As a side note the smaller bulbs in the kit I popped into the door puddle lamps and that worked!! So cool white now instead of that pale stock bulb.

https://www.diodedynamics.com/switch...ang-gt350.html

just saw this identical spec in the Wellington, Florida area today. Would this happen to be you?