License plate bulb lens comparison

[OnyxCobra]

I recently put LEDs in for my license plate bulbs and like a lot of others I'm sure I noticed the stock lenses were gross and cracking so I figured I'd replace them. No sense in having new LED hotness with old gross lenses.

Latemodel Restoration Supply carries two styles, 94-98 and 99-04. You'll notice only the 99-04 are made by Ford which I like and also look like they'll spread the light better.


94-98 99-04

Well since I had the LEDs in there now I could clearly see some shadows on the license plate from the restricted lens so I got the 99-04 style to see if it would spread the light across the plate better. It worked like a charm. The most noticeable shadows were the top corners of the plate and a V shaped shadow in the middle of the plate at the top.

The Results:

Old vs new lenses

Before

After

The camera over exposed the pics so it make it look a lot brighter and less noticeable than it is but hopefully you'll get the idea.

I also want to give a special thanks to Larius over at LRS for hooking me up with the order. ccasion14:

 

[5litrarag]

looks good... I been looking around for new lenses and Im kinda pissed that only the big parts places seem to have them for 10 plus shipping. hahaha

 

[ttocs]

yer right, cops should be able to read that from another 15-20 yds now! Good work!?

I just washed my car the other day but not the plate. A light amount of surface dust will effect its reflective range by good amount if you were not aware of it.

 

[evilcw311]

Onyx, where did you get the led bulbs??? and did the 99-04 lens bolt right on ok??

Latemodel rules, almost everything i got to put my car back together came from them and all good quality. my headlights are the only problems ive had from them.

 

[OnyxCobra]

surface dust? reflective range? they're just license plates dude, and they're gonna be dusty all the time. What do I care if cops can see it easier, I'm not hiding anything.


the 99-04 lens fit just fine. I got the LED bulbs from eBay, I bought 10 and used them for the gauges and what not too. They look like this:

 

[5litrarag]

Those are the bulbs I used at first too... I had some leftovers from my gauges so I tried them on the lic. plate. They work well....