DownUnder

Hey guys,

Figured I'd post up some photos and videos of the new HC Motion tail lights that just came out for the 06-12 IS250, IS350 & IS-F. I received these from China to New Zealand in 3-days on FedEx Express and installed them on Thursday afternoon. These are HC's first IS tail light and they certainly didn't disappoint. The 'start-up' animation and sequential turn signal alone make them worth it, but the design when they're off is also nice.

I previously had the Vland tail lights, which I bought 3-5 years ago not long after they came out. Still love the Vland design but these are on a whole new level. Installation was plug and play...for the most part. On the 06-08 models there are two metal tabs on the trunk lid recess that need to be bent inwards using a pair of pliers for the lamps to be able to fit (mine is an '06). On the Vlands they cater for this with a recess in the lamp itself, but on 2008+ models this isn't an issue as Lexus didn't use the same design for the trunk lid. The only other thing was the lack of rubber weather-stripping along the top edges of the lights, like the OEM ones and the Vlands have. I simply peeled off the OEM weather stripping from my original tail lights and used thin double sided tape to stick them onto the HC tail lights. This is something HC are now aware of and will likely fix on their next batch, but either way it won't allow water into the trunk as there is a foam seal where it bolts to the body, but without the weather strip you will see a bit of a gap.

The tail lights have a red button on a separate wire, on both the main tail light and the trunk lid lamp. This allows you to turn the start-up animation off completely and choose between having the turn signal flash like normal or do the sequential motion. I'm not sure why anyone would want either of those functions off, but's it's nice they give you an easy way to disable them.

The animation starts when you turn the park lights on the first click, and will stay lit up as a full-time park light even when the headlights are on. You can flick your park lights on and off as many times as you like and the amination will start again every time, which is pretty cool.

Installation is plug-and-play. You only need to run one wire from each tail light to the trunk lid light so that the sequential turn signal works. Just pop off the plastic cover over the trunk lid hinges and tuck the wire inside. Be careful when popping them off as you can easily break the thin tabs on the front side, so best to use a thin plastic pry tool and gently pull on it while popping it off. These use an external resistor mounted on the back of the trunk lid lamp, but don't require any other additional wires to be ran or spliced.

I can also confirm that these have a built-in rear fog light option for cars that have the rear fog selection on the headlight stalk. Mine is a Japanese import model but luckily it does have the rear fog light option so I was able to test it out. A small section of the brake light functions as the rear fog light on the HC Motion lights, whereas on the Vlands they used the reversing light instead, which turned red.

Can tell that these will be very popular soon so I'm looking forward to seeing others with them, but for now here are some videos and photos that I have taken over the last couple of days:

primavera

Mate, I could never catch up to your mods ...
Btw, those tail lights look great (!)

YoshiMan

Now those are cool as hell!

ahmed24

Which section lights up for the rear fog lights? Biggest question will be how reliable the electronics inside these are compared to the vlands. Vlands have somewhat earned a good reliability reputation. You having your vlands since they came out speaks itself of the vland build quality
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DownUnder

Haha thanks man. The funniest thing is I bought these with the intention of putting them on my wife's IS350 (the one with the 4IS conversion) but liked the look of them so much when they arrived that I stole them for mine 😅

Thanks! Very happy with them. Had a 3IS F-Sport pull up behind me at the lights yesterday on the way home from work and I was dying for the right opportunity so turn them on to do the animation, and he was stunned 🤣

It's a small inner section of the main brake lights that act as the rear fog lights. I'll post a photo below. Yeah, longevity will be biggest question. I took the car for a drive in the pouring rain directly after installing them to make sure I didn't get any CELs and then washed it last night after work - So far no water inside them, which is a good start, lol. Fingers crossed I have a good run like I have with the Vlands 👌

PAVGR

iTrader: (2)

Congrats on the new tail lights.I saw them on eBay too.My question is if they stick out as the Vlands does?I like Vlands too but from some angles they look like they are popping out and seem a little bit strange at list to me.

davidbusta

iTrader: (1)

Can you show a picture of the brake lights with no other light on? I see the brake lights is just that top bar on the inner part and a little square on the outer part but I am wondering how itll look when driving in the day without the "L" DRLs being on.

DownUnder

Thanks! They don't poke out like the Vlands do. They are flush with the body, just like OEM. The bulge on the Vlands was always something I found a little strange, but it grew on me after awhile, even though it did look a bit like a praying mantis. I will post some photos below showing the side profile. They have very squared edges on the front of the lens, which I personally think looks great.

Sure, here's some photos. I have also taken a close up of the rear fog lights for anyone interested:

PAVGR

iTrader: (2)

Thank you for the pictures.They actually look a way better on the body than the Vlands does although i like the incide lights on better than them.But its groing on me...
perhaps a picture with both cars(your wifes and yours )rear with the lights on will be great for comparison.
I m searching for OEM 2012 led headlights for my own first and then i will decide for the rears too

DownUnder

No worries. I will definitely have to take some side-by-side shots of the HC Motion vs Vland. I have the red Vlands on my IS-F aswell so could line all 3 up, with the HC's in the middle, lol.

In the meantime, here are some comparison photos from when I first installed the Vlands. My car looks very silver in the Vland photos, but these were taken on the day of the install:

PAVGR

iTrader: (2)

Thank you for the pictures.Looks great

BionicMike

I got mine installed today and noted the same things you mentioned in your post. I have a 2013 so I didnt have the trunk issue. I also just installed them without reusing the OEM seal from the stock lights because I didnt think of that lol. Mine are the tinted/smoked version and so far no issues for the first dew hours, I did splice the LED reflectors into them with no issues but time will tell if anything happens.

DownUnder

^ Looks great man! The smoked version suits the gunmetal grey so well. Keep us posted on if you get any error lights with the bumper LEDs. A friend of mine with an IS-F installed his HC Motion tail lights and hooked up his aftermarket LED bumper reflectors but ended up getting a CEL after driving past a certain speed. Code was C1249, open circuit at stop light. HC Motion are sending him a couple of larger resistors to see if it will fix the problem. Mine also has aftermarket LED reflectors but I decided not to hook them up as I felt it might look like there's too much going on, so mine didn't get any errors. Will be interesting if you escape any CELs on yours.

MikeFig82

iTrader: (13)

So these are pretty much the upgraded version of the VipMoto taillights? Mine still look beautiful after about 5 years or so. Maybe I'll upgrade if they decide to make a matching headlight set from HC Motion.

zer0cool82

These look neat, they definitely look better with cars that have a more modded look. VLands are more of an OEM+ style.