Team-BHP - DIY: How I improved my car's footwell lights with LED Strips

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Originally Posted by GTO (Post 5085185)

I respect your meticulous nature

Thank You GTO.

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Originally Posted by shifu (Post 5085246)

Very detailed DIY. And the end result looks neat and clean.

Thank You for the kind words.

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Originally Posted by viXit (Post 5085282)

BHPians,
You will not find a cleaner car interior anywhere else in the world. But pls remove or tint the 3 strips in the front

Thanks Prithvi ! You have exaggerated quite a bit there, haha. Like wr10forever mentioned, because the mats are dark and kind of shiny, the light in pics is looking like a hotspot. But when seen in person, it is much pleasing. You will surely say 3 strips are good, when you see it in person. ;)

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Originally Posted by TrackDay (Post 5085294)

Nice job :thumbs up White lights are any day better than warm colored lights for smaller spaces such as car cabins.

Had to believe that is a 2017 Vento. Although the pandemic must have reduced driving significantly, that car is still way too clean for a four year old car. Even the portion below the seat, floor carpets, mats, the seat track rail are all looking like the car was delivered today morning. Better hope my car doesn't see those pictures :uncontrol. Congrats on maintaining your ride so well.

Thank You for the compliment TrackDay. It is indeed a 2017 manufactured Vento, however, we bought it later in 2018. It is actually 3 years 1 month old now. I try my best to keep my car clean. Takes reasonable time and bashings from family, weird looks from friends, lol. But, in the end, I like it that way, and it surely is worth it.

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Originally Posted by VKumar (Post 5085618)

Nice DIY, thanks for sharing. I will also give this one a try.

I have never seen such a clean set of mats, rails - entire interior in fact. Props for you mate for maintaining the car so meticulously! clap:

Thanks mate ! I hope to keep the car this way for years to come. Let's see how things go.

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Originally Posted by Raghu M (Post 5085646)

You have a very neatly maintained car. Thank you.

Thank You for the compliment, and you're welcome.

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Originally Posted by RedTerrano (Post 5085687)

What a lovely well explained DIY. I absolutely loved the scale idea. Simple, economical but just as effective.

I would have loved to see the before and after pics.

Thank You RedTerrano. Yeah, the scales fit the need perfectly. They stick well wherever we want, using tape, or glue or hot glue ; their width and lengths complement the LED strips ; perfect for the job. I did search my backups for any pics of stock footwell lights or LED ones that I might have taken earlier, but didn't find any. I will do that more often now (taking before-after pics), haha.

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Originally Posted by anandavinash (Post 5085940)

This is so cool! I have a 7 year old Honda City to which I have done absolutely nothing except keep it clean and regularly serviced.

I'm glad to hear that the DIY thread has inspired you. Thank you. I hope you can make the cabin of your City in a way that it pleases you. No harm in spicing up things, lol.

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Originally Posted by kalyan_hyd (Post 5086528)

But, I was thinking I will need a LED bar on the outside esp for low light visibility when there's no natural or augmented lighting so this thread might come-in handy sometime in the future.

Thank you for the kind words Kalyan. These LED strips have no protection from the outer environment. So they are not waterproof. They're strictly for indoor use only. Some people use them in environments where there is a risk of getting wet by covering the LEDs and terminals with hot glue or similar insulating materials, but the quantities of glue/insulating material required and work involved is heavy. So, for outdoor use, it would be better to get the waterproof rated bars. I'm eagerly looking forward to see your ideas materialize though.

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Originally Posted by AKSarkar1 (Post 5086729)

Great DIY!
Definitely planning on doing this DIY sometime soon, such an LED upgrade can also massively benefit the otherwise dim lighting in the trunk. Puzzles me that VW could generously install LEDs in so many places with the 2015 facelift version (e.g. Number Plate lights, turn signals etc), but they didn't install LEDs where the passengers would spend the most amount of time in which is the interior of course.

On a sidenote, fabulous-looking floor mats, where were they sourced from?

Thank You AKSarkar1. Completely agree with you. The stock ones are too old looking for a car of this generation. They aren't really bright too.

And I did not mention in the thread, but the first place I implemented these LED strip lights was in the trunk. It's pretty easy in the trunk, as the fixture does not have the metal tab. So the wire can be directed from the back (or top), without the need to put a hole in the plastic. And there is lot of space in the trunk to mount the strip directly without the help of a plastic scale. However, the stock trunk light is only 5 Watts IIRC, so the length of strip is limited to 1 meter. To be honest, 1 meter is more than adequate for the trunk.

And the LED fixtures used for the number plate lights are very expensive. Maybe it is to cut costs that they just used these halogen ones inside. And I think the LED ones are not manufactured in India, but the halogen footwell lights are locally manufactured.

And the doormats are OEM mats from VW. We negotiated them as part of a deal while purchasing the car.

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Originally Posted by wr10forever (Post 5086778)

Very well written DIY, loved it. Just an observation: your floor mats are rubber and have a very nice glossy finish (because they're so clean) and it probably makes you feel the 3 LED strips in the front are too many but for someone whose car has dark coloured fabric floor mats and/or are a bit dirty, 3 strips might just be perfect.

Thank You wr10forever. I was thinking the same. If the car has fabric mats, the lights reflection will be much diffused and so the resultant light will look much pleasant. I got habituated and these bright ones are growing on me. In the day, the brightness is masked by the natural light. In the night is where things really glow.