Mazda 3 sport 2016, benefits of led upgrade (non -headlamp)?

Hey all.

I've been perusing these threads a bit. It's a good thing too, saved me the $100+ I was thinking of spending on led headlamp "upgrades". I'll stick with the stock halogens.

But what about other lights?

I changed my license plate t10 bulbs to the equivalent philips vision.

I swapped my interior bulbs to led festoon with "cree" and "Samsung" leds from a local supplier. Bright but cool white. Ugh. The philips extreme vision would have cost $30 each bulb! The local Philips vision were rather dim and cool white. Too bad I couldn't find a decent neutral. Modding these festoons doesn't seem practical.

Now I looked up the philips chart, I can get led replacements for stop lights, reverse lights, side markers. These are all philips vision.

Is it worth it? Is there any real benefit?

I'm considering stop lights and reverse, but does it actually help?

gunga said:

I'm considering stop lights and reverse, but does it actually help?

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How do you think it'll help? What do you think is lacking with the stock setup?

I'm not against using LEDs or other upgrades. But it's also about weighing up if it's worth it. Do your brake lights currently allow people to see when you are braking?

If yes. Then were do you think the benefit will be in changing them?

Lower energy usage. It's "cooler" because I like LEDS. May be brighter. Faster response for brake lights. Bulb longevity and more consistent performance.

Are the philips vision viable? A worthy upgrade?

gunga said:

I've been perusing these threads a bit. It's a good thing too, saved me the $100+ I was thinking of spending on led headlamp "upgrades". I'll stick with the stock halogens.

Click to expand...

Why, you should donate some of that $100+ to the forums!

No telling how many dollars have been saved by our members and even just visitors to the automotive subforum, by them realizing that a lot of what promises to be upgrades are typically expensive downgrades.

Too bad I couldn't find a decent neutral. Modding these festoons doesn't seem practical.

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Maybe these would be what you're looking for.

Available in cool or warm white.

Now I looked up the philips chart, I can get led replacements for stop lights, reverse lights, side markers. These are all philips vision.

Click to expand...

Philips has done only very limited testing, and it's possible their product won't work (photometrically) correctly in your vehicle. Some Mazda vehicles have been tested, but not yours. They say their 921 will work in the '14 CX-3, but your 3 Sport uses the 7440.

I've got their LEDs in the reversing lamps of my '01 Corolla and my LS430, and in a left/right comparison on each car, they are subjectively better. I haven't done any photometric testing. It's possible that both are more glaring for other drivers, but it seems like I see better with them. The LS430 has LEDs for the stop and tail lamps already, and I haven't tried the Philips lamps for the stop and tail lamps in the Corolla.

For some cars, the electrical demands might not change much if you need load resistors for the turn signals to flash correctly, or to satisfy the supervisor circuit so you don't get erroneous "bulb out" warnings. You'll still get the near-instantaneous "on" though.

For your high beams, you can do an upgrade in the form of the 9011/HIR1, since they use the 9005 currently, and for the low beams the H9 could be a good upgrade (make sure your lamps are aimed properly!) assuming the wiring and the lamp assemblies themselves can tolerate the extra heat (it's only about a 30BTU/hr difference between the two bulbs).

Thanks. Your link is broken but I assume it's the festoon from UK?

gunga said:

Thanks. Your link is broken but I assume it's the festoon from UK?

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Strange, link is (still) working for me. Top-level site is http://www.jmgoods.co.uk, maybe the link broke due to scripting in it (or it could be an Internet issue of some kind). My link went to a 42mm festoon, 15W "equivalent" (at 2W) for £5.99, but they have 31mm and 37mm also, and in 5, 10, or 15W "equivalents" as well.

It's from the UK and at least some time ago it had the -Virgil- Seal of Approval. I still haven't ordered any yet myself.

Unfortunately the 31mm (I need) is only 4 Watt equivalent.

Thanks though. I am a subscriber so do donate!



Hmmm. I guess I'll stick with stock for now and perhaps investigate some more...

I found a great sale price on the 4000K philips 30mm festoon bulbs. Hopefully they will be bright enough.


Update 28SEP2016 2132hrs

Looks like they are bright enough. Hooray!

Nice! Glad you found a deal good enough to convince you to buy them and that they're working well for you.

Yep. The no name 6000K ones were much brighter but I'm not a fan of "xenon" white cool white. The philips festoon price tripled after I bought the last 3.