I want to change the bulbs in my gauge cluster, i need suggestions on what colors i should go with and the size of bulb needed
Unfortunately I don't have the answer for you but if you do figure it out please to tell cuz I have been trying to figure out the same thing
I did an LED conversion on my gauges and HVAC a few years back, got a whole kit from a company that I can neither remember the name of nor find online anymore (sorry). There is a pretty good write-up on the process here: http://www.wrxtuners.com/forums/f73...e-32575/#/forumsite/20892/topics/32575?page=1 As far as specific bulb types, you'd have to tell us year/make/model or it'd just be an educated guess. The color is really just up to your own personal taste, but keep in mind that the color you choose will illuminate everything. That means the gauge faces, numbering, needles, and redline indicator will all be that color (or tinted that color) unless you feel like doing a fair amount of fabrication and soldering. I used blue on mine and it looks decent but muted the colors so it's not as easy to just glance down and see where the needles and redline are. I'd think either red or white would be best for visibility.
I'll try to remember to take a pic of mine and post it for you Bryan. Mine are blue...obviously a little different because mine is a bugeye/GD than yours would probably be. It's a fair amount of work to do it "right".
No, that would be different too. Lol But i have the blue, that was done correctly, and it looks great. I have to keep it turned down as low as possible because the led's are so bright. Definitely have no issues seeing the cluster or gauges/needles. superbrightleds is where the bulbs were purchased for mine.
Ok. Yea sti cluster is a completely different animal. The sti cluster (at least 05) has the leds soldered right onto the board.
tangledupinblu I'm interested in seeing a photo of yours as well, to see if it turned out differently from mine. I'll try to get one posted of mine but it may be a little while.
Definitely different. I had the green WRX cluster and had a member here strip all of the green off with acetone and redo with blue replacement gel backing. Then the bulbs were added. He also did red gel replacement where the redline is so that it lights up bright red. And then i swapped the red needles in in place of the yellow ones. It's part of the reason that i took it with me and swapped it into the AWP WRX when i got rid of my WRB one. The white one only has about 160k on it. But the odometer says 265k...lol
Things may have come along in recent years regarding the LED situation, but in the past the best results came from removing the color filter from the backs of the gauges and replacing it with new filters of the color you want, with white LEDs behind them in the gauge cluster. OP, your cluster would be similar to the WRX gauge outlined above. For STI owners: good luck. All lighting is supplied by LEDs soldered to the main board. There are services you can pay for to replace them with differently colored LEDs, but it costs a bit.
Let's readdress this discussion. I don't necessarily need to change the color of the cluster/HVAC backing but would definitely like to freshen it up with some LEDs. The simplest way to do that would be to get white lights and throw them in, correct? That way the needle, redline and everything would still retain the color it is supposed to be but with just brighter/fresher lights.
