09 Gauges VS 08 Gauges

[DRKNYTE]

I have an 08 Speed 3 and the blue light in the gauges is not as pronounced as in gauges in the 09 models. Do the 09's really look that blue? Thanks!

 

[UHATEIT]

wish my blue light was brighter. Tho I dont believe the 2009 is aby brighter. May be an isllusion off the white needles

 

[Hank3]

Haven't heard of this before. Always thought the amount of blue-ness was the same.

 

[Kain]

Clicky.

 

[Moody]

i want white needles....:'(

 

[240ka]

love my blueish gauges and white needles

 

[DRKNYTE]

Not so fast (puke) 240ka, this is what it's supposed to look like.....

 

[UHATEIT]

Not so fast 240ka, this is what it's supposed to look like.....

if only it could look that blue and uniform all around the circle. Ive been wanting to make it brighter but there seems to be no way without cracking open the gauge and putting in brighter leds, since its not an actuall bulb that can be switched

 

[SBSPEED3]

love my blueish gauges and white needles

thats what my gauges look like on my 08

i like your head unit BTW not to thread jack or anything, but do you have anymore pictures during the day?

-Nick

 

[240ka]

thanks

 

[CHICO2003]

not a fan of the white needles. Sort of stands out too much for me... but whatever. pretty minor difference really. It'll be interesting to see how the new models look at night.

 

[Hank3]

Looks like the new Mazda6 actually has bluer trim rings:

 

[JD_MS3]

besides the needle, nothing has really changed. same shade of blue, but i do lean towards the white needles though, looks nice, but can lean to a headache during long drives having white glowing in front of you for so long.

 

[240ka]

not a fan of the white needles. Sort of stands out too much for me... but whatever. pretty minor difference really. It'll be interesting to see how the new models look at night.

Not sure what you mean, I have a 09 and I never noticed my needles were white until. This thread. They mos def do not stand out. If they did it would be a safety issue.

Sounds like a case of someone eating sour grapes

 

[sok07]

'09 ... inverted. White illumination w/ red needle.

 

[Kain]

Oh, that's nice looking. sok07, I was playing with the idea of getting brighter blue LEDs to replace the weak accent lighting in the gauges. Your thoughts since you've taken the cluster apart?

 

[240ka]

'09 ... inverted. White illumination w/ red needle.

Damn, that's fire. if they would have kept the white needle or used a blue one even. That s*** would be off the chi-zain

Actually, I like the contrast of the orange needle. Is that your actual gauge cluster, if so, how did you do it

 

[AllLostThings]

'09 ... inverted. White illumination w/ red needle.

That looks great! Please do tell us how you did it, if you did it.

 

[sok07]

There is a pretty good write up on the "other" forums. I just followed it. Be sure to practice how to solder and remove the mini LEDs before you start. There is a technique that you will find that makes removal easier. The most difficult part is desoldering and resoldering the 30 or so LED on the circuit board. Also the numbers on the faces are tinted w/ a slight orange film. An exacto blade and some sandpaper was used to scrape/sand the film to clear them out. After that just pick the color LEDs you want and you should be good to go.

I chose white because it looked very, very clean. I originally had lined the dial w/ a blue film, but I later reverted to the all white look. Note the modified redline. I should move that back to the original 6750 since I'm not stock anymore. Anyhow, I swapped out the white needle for a red for contrast. The white needle just blended into the white background. All blue might look good, but IMO probably be hard to see at night.


Dec06_2008
White dial illumination on the speed3 instrument cluster, white needles
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White gauge cluster illumination, now with red needles
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[Hank3]

Great job!