queensland laws for exterior lighting mods?
google and TMR site aren't giving me much to go on other than lighting colours that can't be used. i'm considering (purely for looks and ego) placing LEDs inside the wheel arches to shine on the wheels. they'd make for nice night/dark area shots. any possible legality issues there?

i know that lights can't be flashing, dazzling or the source visible to other drivers.

replacing the LEDs in a stereo head unit
i'll also be wanting to change the LEDs in my pioneer H/U from red to green. wondering if anyone has tried something like this?

instrument cluster colour
i'd like to change it from the red/white/black to green/black and i already know about changing the LEDs in the back of the cluster. what i would be looking at altering from there is the white analogue displays. they're currently white with red numerals and ideally i'd be making them black with green numerals - converting it into a half-arsed blackout cluster in the process. thoughts/ideas/opinions on this are needed, since i'm not sure how i would go about recolouring the plastic. painting the white sections is simple enough. recolouring the numbers/line marks is a different process that i haven't the slightest idea about.

would it be easier searching for a blackout cluster that fits my TJ with the option of changing the LEDs after?

I'm not from there but is say if you guys can run the neons under the car on public roads then I think you'd be fine, but then again they could get you for being a distraction like they do here in the us. Sick idea though I'd love to do that myself.

The head unit, I never heard of someone doing it but I suppose it's possible, but then again these days they have the head units that can change colors just by a press of a button.

And purely for quality purposes I'd get the blackout instead of painting something that way you get the full blackout experience. Love mine, can't see anything unless in direct sunlight and even then. Then I turn the car on and the needles light up first (though only a split second). Still almost everyone I show my car to notices the cluster.

At a guess the lights may be illegal or distracting to other drivers. Unless you're planning on only turning them on when performing a photoshoot I'd say you'll be fine because they aren't visible.

As fifteenjr said, it would probably be easier and in the long run more efficient to just get a headunit that is your colour, or one that can be programmed for a colour. I have a $160 JVC headunit that you can program any colour you want. Also allows you to customise buttons vs the LCD (could have one a lighter green, one dark, etc).

Cluster, Apart from using coloured LED's at the back (the easiest way) I would suggest perhaps getting your hands on a blackout cluster and from memory, I THINK it uses SMD illumination to light the dials. Therefor you could desolder the original white SMD's and solder some coloured ones on. I think this way you might be able to do the needle colours too (not sure on those though).

Head unit colours can be changed, generally its easier with bulb dye but others have just use ordinary paint on their globes, but this of course various from unit to unit.



I prised the front open very carefully and saw that the five small globes each had a green plastic cover. I took them off and painted the little globes with some paint I had left over from a children’s art project, a 'make your own stain glass window hanger'. The paint seemed perfect. I first tried a coat of orange and then after testing gave them a coat of red over the top.


http://montecarloforum.com/forum/interior-audio-visual-electronics-11/how-change-led-color-your-head-unit-33973/

http://www.mazda3forums.com/showthread.php?t=230015

As for the under car/wheel well glow, call your nearest Government Service Center (Where you rego the car) and they should be able to tell you, but I would say its illegal.

queensland laws for exterior lighting mods?
google and TMR site aren't giving me much to go
Have a read of the Regulations (http://www.legislation.qld.gov.au/LEGISLTN/CURRENT/T/TrantOpRUVSSR10.pdf).

Even if you think it's legal, you're going to be attracting a lot of unwanted attention if you drove with those lights on.

i wouldn't have them on while driving around unless it's at an event (track nights or similar "not on the road" events), as that falls into the "distracting to other drivers" area of the law. basic common sense, there. as you said, red, a lot of unwanted attention would come from it. that regulations file will give me something to go through that should have more precise information than "can't use blue lights because emergency vehicles."

and thanks for those link, p&h. that's one sexy cluster and head unit change they did. looks like i'll be digging around for a blackout to switch in.