With the small tailight lenses that we have on our cars, any brighter light would help us with the traffic around us. Also, backup lights would help too but they seem to get left off for aesthetic reasons.
^^^^^ One can put as big a light as they want. Won't stop idiots from running into things like emergency vehicles for example!
I have to admit that I have never once been offended by LED tail lights in a classic car. In fact I don't think I've even noticed them. I installed them in my 47 to reduce the load carried by the brake light switch so it doesn't burn out as often, and so far that seems to be working. Through the lens I don't think you can even tell they are LED's and not 1157 bulbs, the lens diffuses the light so you do not see individual LED's. Maybe it's just me, but it seems that if all we have to be upset about is LED tail light bulbs things must be going pretty well.
I added a 3rd brake light very easily with this lic frame. Works well, it's up higher and it doesn't look like an out of place add-on. It also has the white plate light built in.
Agreed. New GM trucks are really bad. To top it off there are those driving the extreme bright trucks that feel they need to run their fog lights in town. I resist the urge to flash my brights as it is pointless. The colour range is close to the blue white of a welding flash. There are some makes of transports and this year's Ford trucks that are equally bad. I think there should be a study on the spectrum range of those lights to see if there is eye damage over a long time. I think the LED lights can be bright without being so white. I put a set of LED wingtip lights on with a couple tiny LED's that absolutely hurt. It may be the small source is so intense that the lights should be larger. I was following an old car this summer on the highway. Other than seeing that he was not moving fast it was hard to see what he was doing until I was right up on his tail. The brake light & signals were a faint glow. I bought a set of Technostalgia tail lights for my 40 Ford that appear the same as the originals. When they are activated I don't care how they look when they come on as long as the world behind me immediately knows my intent.
i remember in the early 90's, when chevrolet put the biggest tailights ever on an ugly lumina mini van. The other night, some dirtball in a lifted 4x4 came up behind me with every available light bar option, as well as high intensity headlights on high, that were brighter than some welding arc i have seen
LED lights are messed up. Sitting behind a car with them is messed up. What's really messed up are those ass holes who drive with their bright headlights and fog lamps on when they're not needed.
I’ve got 1157 equivalent LEDs in the 57 vette and 56 belair as a concession to the modern world. My 48 Plymouth had a high(er) mounted center brake light and running lights mounted in the usual low spot. Originally i bought an LED replacement for the brake light but it was WAY too modern looking for me. So i found a nice original light and i will use an LED 1157 type bulb in that as a compromise. Traditional is fine but i do believe in making concessions to reality and safety.
being the old grouch that i am, i will say i think the world was a better place when we all had the same lights. incandescent bulbs have been around forever, the sealed beam came out in 1940, and for the next 50 years we were all equal and everyone's light looked the same after dark. now, i can barely drive after dark with the new laser beam headlights
5 watts is the specification for incandescent tail light bulbs in the UK Sent from my moto g(8) power using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I just dont like the look of leds in an old car Its just like every other modern thing I dont like. Late model transmissions, radials, plastic face electric guages. I like no modern concessions. Having said that my car is a poorly lit, rattly, loud, smelly 3 speed pile of shit so what do I know. It always starts and is fun though. And that's my good car....man.
I added a 7” stop light from a lumber carrier to my package tray, and used a h-2 halide bulb in the socket. Works great. The lamp is not so big it obscures my vision in the mirror so all is good. It screams STOP on the lens when illuminated.
This is key to setting up your tail lights. A higher position and/or larger lights will make a huge difference. When trying to remain original/traditional, this is not always desirable. This is where a 'brighter' light is an advantage, whether it be LED, or higher wattage filament bulbs. You could alway try the 'scrolling' LED setup to attract more attention........................................
Yes, I had a lot of close calls with my old Austin gasser because the taillights were down at the base of the tail panel. And being not so bright either didn't help. Once I switched to LED lights I never had any more issues of people running up on me. I prefer not to have a traditional rear ending.
One thing everyone needs to do is to have someone else drive his/her rig be it rod or custom both in the day time and at night and follow it in another car. That is the only way you are going to know what and how others see your rigs. I always try to give myself as close to a car length behind other rods or customs when in heavy slow traffic like going in or out of an event gate because there is always that one guy who's damned lights just flat don't show up or he did something he thought was cool and you can't tell where the frigging things are until he does hit the brakes. If you can't see the LEDs behind a stock type glass (or plasic) lens without getting right down and examining it if you see the car at a rod trot who cares, the "Oh I know he doesn't have real bulbs in his tail lights because I saw them when I was following him" is pretty well nonsense. Now if you have those lights where you can see the leds when the lights are off because they are the lens all bets are off as those are ugly. WHITE PAINT in the buckets or reflectors, REAL tail light lenses rather than tinted plastic and better bulbs help a lot on any rig though. Throw in lenses and buckets that are clean inside so they pass the light and reflect the light. I got pulled over by the State Patrol on the way home from work in my 71 GMC a few years ago for tail lights being too dim. Parked it in the driveway when I got home and walked out about 200 ft and sure enough they were hard as hell to see. I got up the next morning, pulled the lenses, cleaned out the housings and masked around the openings and got out the bright white paint and sprayed the buckets and took the lenses in the house and washed them while I had them out, Sprayed another coat of paint and jumped in the other rig and ran to the parts house and picked up a pair of the bright version of 1157 bulbs, stuck them in place of the old bulbs, put the lenses back on and got ready to go to work. I parked it in my driveway and started walking back out the driveway when I got home that night and there was a serious difference in how you could see the lights. Total cost was about 5 bucks and 30 minutes.
So this is what we're talking about right here. Sorry if this is offensive to you, but I don't think it's anything to make a big deal about. Any added visibility surely is worth the minor discomfort to your eyes. Also, I don't notice individual LED's, the lens diffuses them pretty well into just a single light.
Single, high intensity LED units are available that are more than capable of doing the job. Have a look at some of the LED torches available. Better still,
This may be somewhat OT, feel free to omit. My neighbour has snow plough trucks and says LEDs don't generate enough heat to keep the tail lights clear of snow.
On my 48 Plymouth coupe, I painted the buckets bright white, cleaned the lens, and put a set of those "bright" 1157 bulbs in them, and they were still not very bright at night. I used to pick up a friend to take with me to a car club meeting once a month. Every time I picked him up, she told me my tail lights were very dim. I've installed a pair of LED 48 Plymouth tail lights, and they are bright. I've also installed one of those LED sequential turn, and 3rd brake lights on the back end. You can see my brake and turn lights in the bright sunshine. If you don't like my LED lights, I'm sorry, but they are staying there. My car sees a lot more day time driving then it does night time driving. I think many people are concerned about how bright their tail lights are at night, but don't even consider if they can be seen in the sun shine, when most do their driving. Park your ride with the sun shining on the back end, and let me know if you can see the turn signals. While I'm at it, red tail lights on a red car are hard to see during the day, regardless of how bright they are. If your car is red, separate the taillights from the body with something (a chrome bezel or black pin striping or something. Gene
This is one of the best pieces of advice I have seen. I would also add that they should drive towards you. That way you will see if you are one of those annoying drivers with the headlights aimed at eye level. Whilst you are at it, get them to come and pick your car up at 5am in the morning after you have had a big night. If you feel like going out and decking them because your windows are rattling, you know how your neighbors feel. Also, maybe I should have called the title "I hate ridiculously bright oversized LED lights at eye level that burn my retinas out". There are probably thousands of cars with LED light bulbs that I don't hate. It is because they are a sensible brightness for the job they need to perform. If you are buying indicator bulbs from the local lighthouse bulb supplier, I am aiming this at you. Steve
The LED headlights don't generate enough heat to clear the snow off of them, or to keep them clear from snow that is blowing at them in a snow storm (or while plowing), and the tail lights won't generate enough heat to clear the lights from snow, but will usually keep them clear enough after they have been cleared the 1st time. I don't drive my coupe much in the snow, but should I get caught in a snow storm, I assure you I do clean the snow off of them before I start driving. I do live where snow happens, and I spent many winters driving a snow plow. Gene
I like LEDs, but a lot of the LED light lens have an odd shade of red that looks kind of phony. I bought a pair '46-'48 Chev taillights for my pickup and didn't like that look, so I went to a craft store and got a bottle of dye (not paint) normally used for tinting glass for "stained glass" projects. I just brushed on several coats until I got a shade of red that looked like stock glass lens. It doesn't hamper the LED brightness and it's been about 15 years without peeling, flaking or fading.
Well I really hate those HID (high imput discharge) especially on short wheelbase vehicles as they bounce up and down all the time. Add to those the frickin headlight jewelry that Audi and the rest are using now really, really piss me off! I know those things are brighter but I'm not convinced they throw th enlighten any further down the road so what's th epoint?
Im in the process of planning some flush rear mount bumper LED spot lights on my daily driver truck, gotta figure out how to route them thru the cargo light switch to turn on and off. You know to light up whatever is behind me, loading a trailer, or what not.
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