Whats the deal with these 1157's PIAA
 

Hey guys, I just bought some 1157s thinking that maybe it will make my corners look sharper or whiter or bluer...but nope! nothing happened. All I see is a tint of blue when I look at the corner and when the lights are on....it looks like the stock bulbs. I heard that you have to cut off one of the "nipples" on the bulb and then switch it 180 degrees so you can use the more powerful filiment..but does that really change the color? or does it just make the bulb a tad brighter? Whats the deal with this really?
-Scott

WTF someone respond, you killing me

hey man, you gotta leave more time for people to respond. The piaa's will look better if you rewire your corner bulb. Go to www.maximadriver.com for more info on how to do it.

I understand I just can't wait when I'm excited. But if I attemt to use the other filliment in the bulb and it doesn't end up working, then I'm down like 15$

i just cut the nipple off the 1157's that i use and it is a massive difference. you go from a 5w filament to a 27w. I don't know if it is 5x the light, but i can shine light onto the median on the interstate.

When you use the second filament in the 1157 it does look a lot better. I think the housing itself is kinda on the dull side. When I had mine (Polarg) on the low watt side of the filament, it looked like junk still. I did the rewire instead of cutting off the nub. It took a little longer, maybe 15 min, but now I know I didn't trash the bulb. It looks 100% better, trust me.

I heard about the cutting. I'm not sure if I said this but I tried this on the stock bulb and I cut the right one and then filed it down so it would slide in, but then when I put it on the higher filiment..it didn't work.. I didn't use the electrical tape but I don't know if it was a big deal. What happened?

The difference is pretty significant from reversing the bulb to use th brighter filament.

Before:
http://images.cardomain.com/member_i...78_26_full.jpg

After:
http://images.cardomain.com/member_i...78_28_full.jpg

The picture is so different because the brighter filament lights up the inside of my garage!

Is it hard to cut those nubs off? would just sticking a small piece of electrical tape over the low-watt filament work??

and how can you tell which nub has which wattage? :confused:

hmmm.... i'm going to go ahead and say READ THE F'ING FAQ'S... THAT'S WHAT THEY'RE THERE FOR... and if it's not in the faq, check the maximadriver.com how2 section.. this is a really simple mod that takes about 10 minutes, and nine of those are getting the damn light housings off the car.. :mad: :mad:

wJ

pardon my s***** *** mood.. but seriously if you would take 15 minutes and look through the faq's.. you would find this

How do I rewire my clearance lights so that they're brighter (95-96 and 97+)

This mod is very simple, but since theres tons of different writeups on it out there, and lots of rumors, it can be confusing. But this is a great way to help your Max look better. Here goes:

Stuff you need: Phillips head screwdriver, flathead screwdriver, nailclippers, electrical tape

1)Remove your clearance light housing. It's pretty simple, just pop the hood and remove the screw that holds it in. With a little bit of tugging, you can pull the side closest to the doors (not the front side) out (it goes behind a little plastic flap). look down into the hood and find the little ball joint socket that holds the clearance light in. take a screwdriver (flathead) and pop it out of that socket. there the light is out.

2)Remove the bulb from the light by twisting it and pulling it out. Place the clearance light housing onto the ground.

3)In your hand you should have the bulb in socket connected to the wires for it. The bulb can be removed from its socket by being twisted and then pulled out. do so now.

4)Look at the bulb closely. On the metal base (below the glass) you can see two metal "nubs." Take fingernail clippers and snip the one CLOSEST TO THE GLASS (the higher one).

5)Cut a strip of electrical tape about 2 inches long and 1/4 inch high. Wrap this tape around the spot where the nub was so that it covers the spot (but not the other nub). This is to ensure a secure connection in the socket.

6)Look down into the socket of the bulb. You can see two notches where the nubs were to be secured (one for the higher nub and one for the lower nub). The bulb, however, now has only one nub (the lower one). Heres the tricky part: you want to put the bulb in so that the lower nub (the remaining one) goes in the spot that the higher nub was supposed to (dont worry if the electrical tape gets pushed a bit).

7) Now that the bulb is back in socket, replace the socket in the housing but dont put the housing back on yet. Flip your lights on to make sure that the job worked (I haven't seen it fail when you use electrical tape). Once your confident that it worked replace the housing (make sure its in there!).

8)Repeat on other side.

Thats it! Took me less than 10 minutes to do!

i know how u feel.. but i don't really care yet... i haven't even rewired my 1157 lights yet... so all my lights are like a different shade of color.. but that will be fixed soon hopefully.. just go to the maximadriver page and it will help you out a lot!

:cool:

You know what. You get fu**ing ****ed off at me WHEN I DID LOOK AT THE WAY TO DO IT. I ASK IF YOU KNOW WHY IT DIDN"T WORK.
I did everything it said and when I put the bulb in the opposite way it didn't even turn on

1156 bulbs are easier to use the nubs are a little higher and u dont have to push as hard to get it in the socket, just clip one of the nubs off and there u go, install it and BOO YEAH brighta lights :goofy: :eek:

The nubs aren't conducting - they only guide the bulb into the "bayonet" fitting in the bulb housing.
The reason they are not at the same height is so the bulb is desined to fit in one way only - i.e. so the low wattage filament is the one the current passes through.

All that removing the nub does is allow you to turn the bulb around, so the electrical contacts pass the current through the bulb the other way, hence utilizing the high wattage filament.

The nubs come off real easy - I used a small pair of scissors on my penknife.

You have a 95 Max, right? I thought that on pre 97's the clearance lights went on bright when the turn signal is used. Does that mean that when the bulb is reversed, they'll be normally bright, but then dim when the turn signal is used?

I didn't use electrical tape and mine work fine - I have a 97, the clerance lights are on when you turn the light switch to the first position and don't brighten with the turn signal.

Inspect the bulbs to see if they are intact - you should see both filaments.

The only other thing I can suggest is that the bulb is not making contact.
Because you're removing the upper nub, the lower nub is now going in where the upper one was, which means the whole bulb is actually sitting higher in the housing (by about 1/8 inch)

Has anyone experienced shorter life span of running the higher wattage all the time. A lot of aftermarket bulbs have short lifespans anyways and running at 27w all the time might decrease the lifespan when it's usually only running 5w.

Orbit that makes sense that it isn't touching when I switched to the higher filliment. When I went to put it in the bulb didn't seem firm in the (harness??) not sure what htat word is but it wasn't firm as it would be if I put it in the other way with the lower filiment..What does this mean? how do I fix it?

That's why some people put tape on the bulb - to make it a better fit, otherwise, with only one nub, it will try and pivot out of the socket.

I think the FAQ says 2" - that seems a bit much, but shouldn't take long to figure out with trial and error.

Well its snowing out in chicago..in APRIL!
I can retry all this junk when it gets warmer