Technical BRAKE LIGHT'S OR THE LACK OF THEM

LEDs in all of my signal/stop lights in all of my vehicles. It can still look old if you just replace the bulb, it'll just be much brighter, and turn signals will be crisper (probably catch attention better) because they snap on and off instantly compared to filament bulbs.

 

I added a third brake light. Took it from a Dodge Neon (wreckers) if I remember correctly. Cut a slit in the body and flush mounted it like on the Neon. I felt better knowing it was there and no, I was never hit.

That being said, I was headed to a show (during the day) and was following a friends 32 Coupe with 39 lights in the rear, car was yellow. I literally could NOT see any sign of a light when he braked. Once at the show I verified they were actually working (they were) but they were so dim, it was like there was nothing there and I was looking for them. It was scary following him.

There was a guy in my area with a red 48 IH truck (hot rod) with tiny slits for taillights ... he got hit. It was at that point he replaced the lights with 4" or 5" diameter round lights.

I'd rather wear a lifejacket and need it than not were a lifejacket and need it but that's just me.

 

The problem is most people don't respect their own vehicles so how can they be expected to respect yours?

What we need are rear-facing flame throwers; anyone that follows too closely or forgets to stop gets a little blast of car roasting mayhem.

 

A couple of years ago I followed my son as he was driving my '56 Chevy I found that I could hardly see the tail lights. I ordered a set of LED lens / light combo. Very bright. I then started to think about the '46 Chevy taillights in my roadster. I got nervous with people following me so last year I ordered a set of LED lens / light combos and installed them. I don't like the the look of them (plastic lens) in the car because I really liked the look of the glass lens but at least they are real bright.

 

Installed this one on this 40--brake and turn signals--6 volt but bright. I have also installed a bright LED strip on the backside of the bumper on some--lights up the whole rear of the car but works best at night.

 

I thought about this many times, but I was told it may be illegal.
If you have a hydraulic switch and want to use a mechanical one instead, you can use both at the same time, wired in parallel, so if one dies, you still have the other in the circuit.
LED's don't have an "on" delay like incandescent bulbs, so they go to full brightness quicker.
Unfortunately some human brains (if that's what you call them) don't react no matter how quick they see something,

 

Thanks Danny, good one. Case in point, It happens, on occasion, that a Big Truck stopped in traffic, or even on the side of the road, gets slammed in the rear.
Before getting certified to pilot the 18 wheelers, I attended evening school for six months. (there are shorter courses but it seemed reasonable considering my record).

While there, they stressed defensive driving. Look up ' Smith System' if you like.
My take is See and be Seen. Stare at Nothing. See Everything. We are taught to constantly check mirrors. If something catches your eye, back to to the windshield, then check again. Keep the eyes moving. 2 seconds is all it takes to get an alert. After seeing your path, return to the surroundings, and back to the front.

As far as equipment I am a fan of the strobe effect switch, as already mentioned. For the first couple seconds they draw in the eye. You can find them at your favorite Harley store.
When checking your equipment get a second party to step on the pedal. Then you know how you are perceived. ( mechanical switch performs better than the silly pressure switch )
When stopping behind a car leave enough room to go around him should he get stuck. You then avoid having to reverse, and can always stop in time. There is never a need to cover the ground, behind the guy in front.
There is more,,, if interested look up Smith System. They are talking to truckers, but it couldn't hurt.

 

For all you Ford guys mac's has a trunk trim for the 46-48 Ford that doubles as a third brake light.

 

I had original style 48 Chevy tail lights with blue dots in them on my 1931 A roadster and was worried about them being bright enough to be seen in the day light. I stole an idea from someone on here and ran LED strips inside my trunk lid in line with the louvers. Now when I step on the brakes these light up and ARE very visible. Other wise you don't notice them. Additionally I replaced the Chevy lights with similar ones with LEDs in them. They have a built in quick pulse feature when the brakes are applied. The video below shows what they look like with the 4 way flashers on.

 

LED ‘56 Ford truck lights and third brake light is one used in a hitch receiver. Note the blue dots

 

Got rear ended in my 77 Tbird summer daily driver. When I herd the tires squeel I looked in the mirror she had her head in her phone no damage to the bird but her van had plastic all over the street. Often think of how I could get my other cars brighter.

 

I've got those same (plastic) lenses on mine, and didn't like how chintzy the plastic looked, so I got some die from a hobby store that is used for making 'stained' glass. I don't remember what shade it is, but I just added coats until it looked right to me (about the shade of stock glass lenses). They came out fine, look better than phony plastic, and the LEDs still light up the sky!

 

My Vette, when I bough it back in 1980, already had the common mod of changing the backup lights for tail lights and adding third lights. Always thought it would be neat if they worked like T-bird sequentials. I had it stripped down for paint this year, and found some sequential dinguses, small lightweight little boxes, nothing like big heavy boxes I envisioned them to be. I wired them in while putting the lights back in. It's not quite back on the road yet, and I'm not convinced it's not a little too, uh, flashy, but it might help in getting noticed. The blinkers of course do it also.

 

I was taught to make sure your brake light switch is setup to work with the slightest push of the pedal and "flash" the brake lights several times before I stop or turn. Serves two purposes, flashing lights to get drivers attention and pumping the brakes a bit to make sure there is good pedal pressure (I still run a few cars w single pot master cylinders) All while paying close attention to the driver approaching my rear bumper. Also still use hand signals and im not scared to hold my big ol paw up there to let em know Im about to stop. Of course none of these are fail safes, just what Ive learned to do when driving old cars.

 

I was stopped on a two lane highway with my turn signal on waiting for on coming traffic so I could turn left. I looked in the rear view mirror and a guy in a four wheel drive truck was barreling down on me. He looked up just in time to see me and veered to the right and passed me on the gravel shoulder doing 55 mph. My 36 Ford Cabriolet is channeled low and the slope of the trunk would have made an excellent ramp for the 4X4. It probably would have taken me and my friends heads off if he would have ran over us. It scared the crap out of me so the next week I made a LED light bar with a brake light and left and right turn signals. It has a quick disconnect electrical plug and it bolts to the back of the passenger compartment with wing nuts. I snap the tonneau cover back on and leave a few snaps undone where the light sticks up. It looks like ass and I usually only use it when I am on highways or interstates. But I agree, a huge neon blinking sign isn't going to help when a distracted driver is involved.

 

I have a single driver side light on my 47 chevy truck with a led bulb for the brake light. I continuously am watching the rear view mirror when braking to see if I need to pull forward to avoid getting hit. I always leave room between the car in front just in case. sure I could add a second light, but the issue is the distracted driver, not the visability of my truck

 

But whatever the "issue" is, a wrecked truck wouldn't be a fun follow-up. If your pride and joy gets rear ended, you ain't gonna be having a good day!

 

my parked 41 cad got rear ended by a 19yo kid who lost control of his fox mustang. cad was parked on private property 15 feet from sidewalk and curb. absolutely NOTHING on my car would have helped except a concrete k rail barrier forty-fifty feet long. it would have been even worse if it wasn’t for that parked industrial electric truck that he hit first and slammed back 12 feet into the parked cad.

 

New LED lens installed on the drivers side and 1157 bulb on the passenger side with the brakes applied. HRP

 

Great photograph sir. good example of the greatly improved lighting with a good LED system.

i’ve got some trailer LED tail lights that I’m gonna try and mount behind the fender stock openings on my 41 Cadillac. It won’t look stock (I admit) but IF at a glance if it looks OK… I’m gonna run with it. and maybe one of those license plate frames with a lot of bright red LED lights too…

 

For those of you looking for small LED light fixtures to use as a 3td brake light, you might want to look into motorcycle LED rear tail lights. There are many options, and you can get them with the strobe light flash brake, and even sequential turn that can be added at the corners of a rear window. I put a pair of LED amber front turn/running lights on my coupe that were for motorcycles. Each side has 3 amber LED lights (were also available as red LED tail lights) that were sequential turn, in a clear plastic cover mounted in a polished aluminum casting that mounted with one 1/4" (10mm ) bolt per light (or two sided tape). Those lights are very small (about 2" long, 1/2" wide, and 1/2" deep), and very bright (with reduced brightness running lights). The housing could have been polished aluminum, chrome plated, or black. I think the pair cost $20 & change delivered to my door in a week, from ebay. Amazon also has a lot of options (ebay has more options). Gene

 

View attachment 5403046 I stayed with bulbs after several tryings with LEDs. Converting to 12V was a really big improvement. I split my taillight housings vertically into two chambers, welded the bulb housings from stainless, so after welding it is easy to polish it again to high gloss. So now the inner chambers are park and brake, the outer is turn signal. I did not like the "all in one bulb"-solution. The taillightglasses on the Pontiac (real glass for sure) are maybe 3 by 3" small, all are saying it is really pretty visible under any conditions. But im still aware of coffeedrinking offjerking eating emailwriting multimedia clowns all the time, the 80 yrs old inner rear view mirror still works fine.
While driving in Germany was pure fear, people driving like they really want to die in the fastest way. Now here in Sweden it is like a dream to me, less people, less traffic, less assholes. and many more old cars.

The chambers are not too big, but i blocked the brake pedal for an hour to see how the bulbs are heating but it was not a problem.

 

Sometimes, two nice looking rear brake lights just are not enough...

Hello,

Sorry about your rear tap disaster. It is the non-aware drivers that are just as bad as teenagers and cell phones. They all are not thinking people when driving a 3000+ pound battering ram. Without thinking or thinking about the next edition of a TV show or fight with your best friend, is distracting to the person, but when it affects everyone around that person, it comes right at all of us.

As teenagers, we showed courtesy at all times. Afterall, those cars were our pride and joy. No one wanted to have their cars in an accident and laid up for a week or so to get them fixed. So, careful driving was mandatory… Sure we all shook our heads “OK, mom…” as she said drive carefully. We just could not wait to get out of the conversation we constantly heard all of the time. But, in the long run, it worked.

For your hot rods, a third brake light is almost something everyone should consider. These days with small, but bright light strips, one can attach anything inside of a rear window to allow those on the outside looking at a simple rear window. Most lights are red, but the lens is clear and disappears inside of any window. So, the aspect of an old hot rod is still there in the daylight, but once the brake pedal is stepped on, a bright third light strip glows.

In the red Ford Sedan Delivery, this would be a simple addition inside of the rear door window. We had seen several small strips that were clear and turned red when the brake pedal was applied. So, it would have been a stock look with added safety. No one looking at the rear door would even notice the small strip inside of the window. Safety with a little modification and hot rod ingenuity.

Jnaki

In talking with other hot rod guys, the 1958 Impala was a great example of a custom approach to the third brake light. The rear roof top vent had the perfect arrangement and height for a third brake light. Our 6 red brake light customization was good for the times. All 6 lit up with the touch of the brake pedal. But for the modern age driving with 100x more traffic and congestion, a third light is a mandatory addition.
1958 We had 6 same stock red taillights in place.

It is one of the only designs that comes with a piece that could incorporate small LED lights in the provided spaces.

Clear frosted lenses would show the car as stock, in the roof vent accessory area. Or some tiny red LED lights are bright enough to light up the whole indentions with only a small bulb hole. it would only be visible during braking.

We all know that a very popular thing to do was to replace the white center light lens with all red lenses. Then it was re-wired to have all 6 red lights stay on during day/night driving with the standard headlights. Finally, all 6, brighter, red lights came on when the brakes were applied, anytime.

So, the rear was fairly covered in the dark or while running. Now, with the addition of the custom approach to modifying the roof vent, the height along with the 6 red taillights can warn rear drivers of any braking situation. When stopped for a light, with the pedal pushed, 6 lights and the 6 individual inserts would stay lit. YRMV

 

Since the 70's I have run glass lenses and blue dot taillights on several of my cars. I tried chrome tape inside the housing, found a brighter version of the 1157 bulb and included a 3rd brake light on my builds. A few years ago, in stop and go traffic on an expressway, someone told me I did not have brake lights on my 37 Chevy. When I got to my destination, a friend verified that all my lights were working fine. The problem turned out to be the small stock 37 Chevy glass lenses. I was heading East, and the sun was shining behind me making the brake lights very hard to see. My original taillight days are over, and I have switched to running a stock looking LED in all my current rides.
The 56 Chevy taillights have a small red reflector on them. I found Danchuck sells a replacement reflector that looks exactly like the original and is LED powered giving me even more brake light visibility on that car.

 

3rd brake Light I made for my shoebox. Daylight pics. I put halogens in stock '50 tailights, about 50% brighter.

 

Here's an idea. Go to craft shop and buy a couple bags of mirror squares. They come in different sizes, 3/8x3/8, etc about 1/16 thick. glue in light housing for reflector. Ought to do something?

 

Several pictures of the 7” STOP lamp from commercial vehicles here. I have the same in my rear window of my 53 150 sedan. Single LED bulb which works well, so I’ve been told.

 

Smartest thing ever said on here. And after almost getting rear ended in my daily Subie last weekend our old cars don't stand a chance

 

It doesn’t mater if it’s a modern car , pickup , semi or farm equipment lit up like a Christmas tree . I have to drive a tractor pulling wide tillage equipment on county roads . Some are paved most are gravel. There’s been several times I’ve cringed thinking a distracted driver is going to crash into the equipment