Am I mad for wanting to switch back to halogen tail lights?

[BCEXP]

You didn't have "Altezza" tail lights on your car? I always thought the 94-97 Accords with those lights one big red disc, looked nice when they also molded some lights in the trunk. Looked good to my 16 year old self haha, would never do it though! My JDM 1-pieces on my DA Integra was more than enough..

Ah! I had a DA integra back in the day too LOL. Fun cars.

[usdmej]

I chuckled at this LOL. There was a period in the 2000s when the Honda tuners were putting LEDs on their cars, and it kind of ruined the look. Factory or not.

an EG or EK with clear halogen tailights is peak automotive style I will die on that hill

[Nate047]

an EG or EK with clear halogen tailights is peak automotive style I will die on that hill

Is this a post your old Honda thread now because I'm all for it

[mpower22]

I don't know, a good thing to remember is that the LED's are technically period for the time since they were spec'd with all 3/2003+ E46 builds. Unlike the tacky Lexus/Honda craze, the LEDs on the E46 weren't some aftermarket fad. One of the very few cars with LED tail lights at the time; it was a remarkable feat that they had FULL LED illumination. It doesn't matter who it was; Porsche didn't have it. Mercedes didn't have it. No one else but BMW had it. This is truly when BMW was still on top of their game for sure before the horrible 3, 5, and 7 body styles that came later (but that's for another thread discussion). Even with the low number of other model cars out there that had LED tail lights, all others had a combo configuration of LED brake lights with halogen tails and halogen turn signals. In fact, the ONLY other model with an amber LED turn signal simultaneously on the road with the E46 was a low production model you've probably never heard of called the Cadillac Catera. However, that also had halogen tail and brake lighting though. So call me biased, but I like the clean look of the LED's and never looked back after my factory conversion.

However, I do like a CLEAN looking halogen tail light config. So if you decide to go halogen, just make sure you get a set of the Sylvania Silverstar bulbs to eliminate the "egg yolk" effect in the turn signal. There are plenty of chrome plated bulbs on the market, but the chrome plating dims them. The SilverStars don't suffer from this problem, so even though they let through the tiniest bit of yellow, barely noticeable, the are worth it all day long. Let us know what you decide!