Brighten your tail lights the easy way

[CUDA69]

My tail lights are not bright enough in the rain or fog. I didn't want the complexity or the look of modern LED's so I searched the subject on FABO. It didn't take long to come across some really good advice from Slant Six Dan. He said use Philips 12899RX2 bulbs. So I bought a pair of of Amazon for $28.95. They just plug right into the OEM sockets.

You can't tell by the way they light up the entire fixture evenly, but they are LED's. They only have two LED's mounted opposing each other. I pointed one up and one down. What a difference, the tail lights are brighter than the 1157 brake lights, and the brake lights are as good as a modern car. Another thanks goes out to Dan.

 

[66340SEDAN]

Awesome! Dan is a wealth of knowledge and a great guy :cheers:

 

[tekslk]

How do they compare to the Honda 34906-slo-A01 Honda bulb 12v43-3cp?

 

[straightlinespeed]

Curious, did you get before and after pics?

 

[superchargeddrt]

I used the silver star bulbs and polished my reflectors. BIG difference

 

[4spdragtop]

Curious, did you get before and after pics?

Curious here too. A store up here lemme take a couple 1157/leds out and try them in Dads car...made his tail lights worse, I tried both clear and red led's and both sucked.

 

[tekslk]

I think slant six dan said the Honda light bulbs were good but now I must research.

 

[bruceo2011]

I've painted my reflectors with spray chrome and made sure the inside of the lenses are clean. Made a big difference.

 

[CUDA69]

I don't have Honda bulbs to compare to but I will take some pictures tonight comparing them to the stock 1157's and post them. I have seen Summit LED 1157 replacements and they are so bad they are not useable. The stock bulbs blow them away. They have about a dozen LED's pointing straight out and just give a dim spot of light in the middle of the lens.

 

[BrianT]

I agree about using the cheap LED bulbs. I was never happy about the brightness of my stock 1157 bulbs so I "upgraded" to the cheap LED's. I almost got rear ended because the guy couldn't see my brake lights, they were absolutely worthless in the daytime. I put the stock bulbs back in. I'll have to check into these bulbs listed above.

Philips bulbs on Amazon

 

[tekslk]

Dan pmed me and said this is the new way, the Honda bulbs are no longer the best thing going. He said clean the lenses with soapy water, and spray the reflective cover with chrome spray paint.

 

[buck351]

Over the winter I got these from Amazon for $18.99 for two. Now on sale for 17.99. I was also concerned about getting rearended. See below photo showing brake/flasher light function.:

JDM ASTAR Super Bright AX-2835 Chipsets 1157 2057 2357 7528 LED Bulbs For Brake Lights Tail lights Turn Signal, Brilliant Red



I also got an led for the dome light from Amazon. The regular lamp gets pretty hot in the fixture.

Grv Ba15d 1142 1076 1176 High Bright Car LED Bulb 13-5050SMD AC/DC12V 24V 28V Warm White Pack of 2 for $10.20

 

[CUDA69]

Here are tail and brake light comparisons. The left is the LED, the right is an old 1157. The phone camera doesn't really do it justice. There is a bigger difference looking at it live.

 

[Treblig]

Here are tail and brake light comparisons. The left is the LED, the right is an old 1157. The phone camera doesn't really do it justice. There is a bigger difference looking at it live.

The difference looks significant!!!

treblig

 

[rumblefish360]

Slant 6 Dan is pretty smart. Very knowledgeable and willing to share & teach.

 

[SSVDP]

Slant 6 Dan is pretty smart. Very knowledgeable and willing to share & teach.

Yes he is a great help on many topics.

 

[BB-Dave]

good to know....thanks

 

[Woods74]

Exxxxcelent. :angel12:

 

[straightlinespeed]

Thanks for the pics! I see the difference even with the phone pic. You've sold me on them.

 

[22dog22]

are these led bulbs red or clear ?

 

[ssba]

Impressive, thanks for posting the photo. Dan gets a thanks also.

 

[CUDA69]

are these led bulbs red or clear ?

The bulbs are designated red in the description (maybe to be used with a red lens) but are actually white.

 

[RedFish]

I needed to solve the weak tail light / brake light problem in our first 67 notchback long before internet or LEDs. The lenses had gotten darker with age so improving the charging system to get a full 12 volts everywhere didn't cure all. I simply added 2 more bulb sockets to each fixture. Same ol' off the shelf 1157 bulbs used, plus the 1 bulb failure is no longer a total loss.

 

[mguner]

I like the fact that LEDs take so little draw. The signal switch would survive without having to solder the rivets on the ones with the flasher switch built in!

 

[fratzog lover]

Slantsixdan also recommended the Night hawk headlamp. Good choice also. One day last fall I had a rare free Saturday so I got the Dremel out. Took the fine wire brush and cleaned every contact I could find. Even removed the battery terminals and it fit like a hone in a cylinder. Remove the bulkhead connectors and cleaned all the blades to a gleaming gold. Cleaned the relay connections etc. It made a difference, and was worth the 2 hours.