Tired of that faded tail light?

After you clean the lens, replace the bulbs with LED's. The first picture is with the brakes on, the second is only the running lights.
 

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SupraSabre said:
Does this kit contain a clear coating to help it stay clear?
Click to expand...
I imagine the clarity of tail/brake/turn signal lights is not quite as critical as headlights. I'll further opine that headlights get more occluded quicker because of oncoming debris that may be kicked up as well as UV damage. But it is good the kit includes a UV protectant. My concern would be a UV protectant be included to help keep the lenses shiny. :D
 
The headlight needs some more attention than the tail light. I cleaned it twice, maybe three would be better. Don't be in a hurry, and they recommend a wet coat first, I will try 3 dryer coats instead.
 
All of these restore kits come with terrible top coat, which is the most important part since it is supposed to prevent future oxidation. After all the prep, I spray with a commercial 2-part in-a-can. After nearly 3 years, lenses are still like "new", whereas all the kits fade out in less than a year.
www.spraymax.com

2K Clear Glamour - SprayMax

www.spraymax.com www.spraymax.com
I did our two cars as well as the ST at the same time since once mixed this stuff has a 2 day shelf life.
 
playfair said:
All of these restore kits come with terrible top coat, which is the most important part since it is supposed to prevent future oxidation. After all the prep, I spray with a commercial 2-part in-a-can. After nearly 3 years, lenses are still like "new", whereas all the kits fade out in less than a year.
www.spraymax.com

2K Clear Glamour - SprayMax

www.spraymax.com www.spraymax.com
I did our two cars as well as the ST at the same time since once mixed this stuff has a 2 day shelf life.
Click to expand...
Would you know if this stuff can be applied over lacquer paint? (Not automotive paint, but old time lacquer.)
 
st11ray said:
After you clean the lens, replace the bulbs with LED's. The first picture is with the brakes on, the second is only the running lights.
Click to expand...

I'm not convinced the LED brake & rear turn bulbs are better than incandescent bulbs.
I do have LED's in my brake/tail and rear turn signals so my comments are based on my observations on both. (Actually all my bulbs are LED on the ST1300)
Are they brighter, yes. However it's more of a hot spot vs the larger area the OEM bulbs cover. This is due to the LED design and how it works with the bike's reflectors. The reflectors were designed to use incandescent bulbs that throw light in a 360* pattern. LED's throw it in more in 1-2 directions and don't fully utilize the reflector. So brighter, yes, but as large a "footprint" using the full reflector evenly? No, no in my experience.

I'd certainly recommend upgrading the headlight bulbs to LED's (using the proper LED bulbs - there's a thread here about what to choose and what NOT to choose) but I'm not sold on replacing the rear bulbs with LED's and it being an improvement.

If you do the swap and arent happy you can always put the old bulbs back in. If you are happy with the results then that's great too!
 
Obo said:
I'm not convinced the LED brake & rear turn bulbs are better than incandescent bulbs.
I do have LED's in my brake/tail and rear turn signals so my comments are based on my observations on both. (Actually all my bulbs are LED on the ST1300)
Are they brighter, yes. However it's more of a hot spot vs the larger area the OEM bulbs cover. This is due to the LED design and how it works with the bike's reflectors. The reflectors were designed to use incandescent bulbs that throw light in a 360* pattern. LED's throw it in more in 1-2 directions and don't fully utilize the reflector. So brighter, yes, but as large a "footprint" using the full reflector evenly? No, no in my experience.

I'd certainly recommend upgrading the headlight bulbs to LED's (using the proper LED bulbs - there's a thread here about what to choose and what NOT to choose) but I'm not sold on replacing the rear bulbs with LED's and it being an improvement.

If you do the swap and arent happy you can always put the old bulbs back in. If you are happy with the results then that's great too!
Click to expand...

All of my bulbs are LED too. I put red LED's in the taillight and my wife says that it greatly increased my visibility from behind. However, in NC, you can't have red light illuminating your license tag. So, sometimes they catch it on inspection but most times they don't. When they do, I just go home and put in some clear standard bulbs and then change them back to the red LED's after they inspect it.
 
st11ray said:
All of my bulbs are LED too. I put red LED's in the taillight and my wife says that it greatly increased my visibility from behind. However, in NC, you can't have red light illuminating your license tag. So, sometimes they catch it on inspection but most times they don't. When they do, I just go home and put in some clear standard bulbs and then change them back to the red LED's after they inspect it.
Click to expand...

Possible $6 fix.



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I don't have an answer on the issue of restoring lenses but I did run across this YouTube video from Project Farm.

This chap is amazing - he does superb head-to-head comparison tests of all kinds of products and in this one, he compares....headlight lens restoring kits.

 
I used the 3M kit on my car with great results. I did buy some lens protectant stuff to put on them when finished.
 
There is no doubt in my mind that a good LED is superior in function to a good incan bulb even in a light fixture designed for incan bulbs. Early on a lot of LED bulbs were poorer performers than the incans they replaced.

But over the years there has been a lot of improvement though admittedly not across the board. Yes it's still possible to buy underperforming LEDs and LEDs for tail and brake lights still don't fully illuminate many if not all reflectors.

I like the way the ST1300's brake lights look with incans. No hot spot just bright even lighting across the entire lens. Looks nice. The tail light sucks compared to just about every other Honda I've owned.

+1 on LEDs not fully or evenly illuminating the lens but instead providing a hot spot with rapidly dropping spill. However I've finally seen LEDs that despited their typical light pattern are seen at significantly greater distances at night than incans. For my money, that's the most important metric and the reason I went to LEDs for all vehicle code compliant lighting. I like that more.

There's also no doubt in my mind that current LED tech could produce a tail light that places emitters in the same location as an incan filiment and give performance that rivals incans in all important metrics. Cost would not be one of those.

Somebody has to advocate and push development of a fit for purpose LED bulb much like the work spiderman302 did a committed manufacturer for headlights. If only we had a department within the govt with the purview and authority to push the advancement of safe effective lighting.
 
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I have LEDs all the way around on my girl as well. When I upgraded the tail lights I put Amber/Red switch backs into the turn signal positions. I then ran a wire from the Red side of the turn signal socket to the running light side of the running light/brake light socket. I now have a full tail of running lights to make me more visible and they change to amber when I signal a turn.
 
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