RDKJ

There is always alot of talk about changing the amber side markers out to clear markers (which I've done), but has anyone actually changed the amber bulb to a clear bulb? If done, I suppose you would get rid of that glimpse of amber you see when looking closely at the side marker. The same can be done with the front turn signals.

If someone has done this, what is the best bulb to use?

lawjdc

There has been a whole lot written on several threads about changing out the amber side marker lights for clear ones. I changed mine to clear, but took out the amber bulbs and replaced them with xenon high intensity bulbs from England. The bulbs are actually blue when off, but the same bright white as xenon headlights when they are on. Its not expensive to try them out. BTW, there is a much easier way to pull out the side marker lights than the method suggested by Porsche in the owner's manual. Just use a 1 1/2" thin blade putty knife - insert it in between the side marker light and the plastic inner fender liner - and the side marker light will hinge right out. You don't have to remove the round plastic plug and horse around trying to find the retainer clip with a screwdriver. You can also try various combinations of amber and clear bulbs - the only one I haven't tried yet is the xenon bulbs in the amber side marker lenses. But that can wait for a rainy day . . .

Eric - Plug Guy

RD...the clears come with amber bulb. The ambers on the original sidemarker have clear bulbs.

Switch bulbs, see what you think.

wross996tt

I never removed the clear ones, just put the stock bulb in the clear side marker.

TurboTom

The Eric method works perfectly!!

Turbo Tom

Larry Harris

Call me slow but why do you drivers want to change from the amber to the clear? Aha, I'll bet its a secret sect formed to exclude the color amber from our world as we know it.

wross996tt

No...it is good for about .1-.5 HP!

synergy

Polarg M4 bulbs all the way on the clear sides!

Larry Harris

Synergy,
If you had left the amber side markers alone you wouldn't have hit the fox.

Eric - Plug Guy

Definitely good for 5hp gain and lower drag coefficient.

And with BumperPlugs installed, even more hp and less drag. Promise!

lawjdc

Here's a photo of the Extreme White 4000K Xenon Sidelight bulbs installed in the 997 clear side markers. The bulbs are readily available through eBay (just type in a search for "501 W5W" and you will find lots of them. I puchased my through a seller in England and received them in less than a week.

cole328

hi Eric - Question for you out of curiosity...I just ordered and replaced the amber side markers with the clear ones, and used the amber bulbs My thinking was that the amber, when on at night, are probably "safer" than using the clear bulbs in the clear markers. While the clear buld / clear marker combo no doubt looks better, is it legal to have white running lights do you know? As always, thanks for great advice and great products. Cole

Edgy01

Alas, one of the mysteries of Porschedom. Many years ago (1974-1989) Porsche 911 owners spent money replacing their rear turn signal lenses from the USA-DOT red ones to the European red and amber ones (for the blinkers to be yellow and the brake light remaining red). The effort was to get the cars to look as European as possible. (Some rear lens vendor in Germany must have been ecstatic over that trend!) Today, with the 997s, it's the same thing but flash forward about 25 years.

The options available are to put back in the clear bulbs (from the orignal USA-DOT amber lenses) or those bluer things, or to be DOT compliant, put in the bulbs that look clear when there is no power to that lens, but will shine amber when power is applied. The latter is the best solution IMO. Do a search herein for details on that swap out.

Rolf Stumberger

I think you are publicly advising someone to break the law .

All cars in the US are required to have AMBER sidelights (that's why the clear lenses have amber bulbs )

printemps2001

Doesn't changing the bulbs void the warantee?