LED Tail/Brake Light Bulbs

[KuroNekko]

So, I ordered these for my VW bus given its tail lights and brake lights are pathetically dim. It turns out the VW bus and the Kizashi use the same bulb so I installed them first in the Kizashi to test them out and took some photos. Despite liking the upgrade, I took them out of the Kizashi and put them in the VW as they were intended for. Anyhow, I thought to share my observations with those interested.

First, a little about the bulb:
I ordered 1157 LED bulbs from superbrightleds.com because I wanted brighter tail/brake lights. Given the 1157 bulb is a dual-intensity bulb, this LED bulb has both a low (tail light) and high (brake light) output.
Retrofitted LED bulbs for cars used to suck in the past, but ever since the invention of SMD (Surface Mount Device) LEDs, they have been able to output a significant amount of light even as retrofits. In multi-reflector housings, it's best to go with a multi-SMD LED bulb. Hence, the one I got has 45 LEDs mounted in all directions. This insures it gives off an even amount of light in all directions so the housing can reflect it well.

With colored LED bulbs, you want to make sure you get the same color as the lens that will cover it. So for tail/brake lights, you want to get red LEDs to go inside of the red rear lights. It's not like standard incandescent bulbs which are clear.

Observation (in the Kizashi):
These are a nice upgrade to the stock incandescent bulbs but aren't too much brighter. The multi-SMD LED design really works to completely illuminate the reflector housing, but it's not like it gives off a significantly brighter light. If anything, the light emitted is more full and deeper red, better matching the center LED brake light on the trunk.
The photos don't really depict it too well, but you can sort of see how the LED bulb illuminates the reflector better than the standard incandescent bulb. The left side (standard incandescent) has dark spots in the reflector while the right side (LED) doesn't.

Overall, I really liked the LED look in the Kizashi. The bulbs themselves look great and really give off a fuller, deeper red light than the standard bulbs.
Also, benefits to LEDs include instant on and off instead of glowing on and off as incandescent bulbs do. This is a benefit, especially with brake lights, as illuminating even milliseconds faster gives drivers behind you a faster reaction time. When traveling at high speeds, these milliseconds can turn into a significant number of feet in reduced stopping distance for them.
LEDs also don't dim or blow out like incandescent bulbs and have a significantly longer lifespan. A good quality LED bulb should last the life of the vehicle so it's really like the last bulb you'll replace.

Despite liking them in the Kizashi for the modest, but noticeable upgrade they were, they proved to be a HUGE upgrade for the VW bus. These bulbs really make the VW's tail/brake lights look like a modern vehicle's unlike the washed-out output the incandescent bulbs gave off. I was previously concerned about getting rear-ended in the VW because of the poor tail/brake lights, but no more. With these bulbs plus the aftermarket 3rd brake light, the VW is up to modern rear light standards.

Anyhow, enough rambling. Photo time!

Tail lights (No flash). Notice that the right side has less dark spots or shadows.

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Brake lights (Flash). The difference in the dark spots/shadows is even more noticeable.

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rear LED.jpg (93.81 KiB) Viewed 9946 times

rear LED close.jpg (127.75 KiB) Viewed 9946 times

Lastly, for those interested, this the very product I bought:
https://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinf ... ower-/814/

[bootymac]

How do the brake lights look compared to halogens? Those LED bulbs are only 12/85 lumens compared to 38/402 lumens of halogen bulb...

[KuroNekko]

How do the brake lights look compared to halogens? Those LED bulbs are only 12/85 lumens compared to 38/402 lumens of halogen bulb...

Lumen ratings are a bit misleading when it comes to this application. The reason is because you're comparing a clear bulb vs. a colored LED bulb. Lumen ratings are important in measuring the light emitted in brightness for visibility. It's essentially a measure of visible light. As you can imagine, a clear or white light will have a higher lumen rating than a colored light like red because you can see more with a clear/white light. But for lights like tail/brake lights, it's not that you need to see with them, but to be seen with them. So in that regard, how much light they cast out is not as important as how visible they are to the human eye. This is where LEDs excel over incandescent/filament bulbs.

I also want to point out that the lumen ratings differ so much because it's measuring a clear bulb vs. a red LED bulb by themselves. If one was to measure how much light they emitted through the red lens of the rear light, you'd probably see comparable lumen outputs. To further support this notion, the white LED version of this same LED bulb is rated at 55/220 lumens. That's a big difference from the red version's 12/85 lumen rating. However, with LEDs, you want to match the bulb's color to the lens color. Tail/brake LED bulbs must always be red in output. White LEDs in red lenses will wash out the red color and look like a pinkish white.

Lumen ratings aside, these LED bulbs look brighter, but not by much. I'd say like 30% brighter but they definitely work to better illuminate the reflector more completely. The tail/brake lights look brighter because of it. That's what I was trying to show in the photos.

Overall, are these LEDs worth the $23 each in the Kizashi? It's hard to say. While I think they look better, they aren't significantly brighter. Benefits include the faster illumination speed and longevity, but it's not really something that brings a huge improvement performance-wise. They simply look better and closer match the color and intensity of the LED 3rd brake light. It's more like an aesthetic upgrade.
However, for the VW bus, these LEDs really made a difference closer to 300% vs. the Kizashi's 30%. With washed-out red lens and no multi-reflector, the VW's rear lights desperately needed an improvement that standard incandescent bulbs could not deliver. These LEDs were the perfect solution.

[nytq]

I've had these same LED replacements since I bought the car in 2011. Very nice light and I think they are way more bright than the standard bulbs. The color is richer and so for pretty reliable. Some leds have died, but you can't notice it at all unless you look at the individual leds when lit. You can really see how bright these are if your on a dark road and as you pass road signs or anything reflective, the LED's seem to really bounce of of these objects.

[bootymac]

Lumen ratings aside, these LED bulbs look brighter, but not by much. I'd say like 30% brighter but they definitely work to better illuminate the reflector more completely. The tail/brake lights look brighter because of it. That's what I was trying to show in the photos.

Ah, thanks for the clarification. The lumen ratings seemed off based on your pictures. They look nice but unfortunately they're out of my price range. I might try 3496 bulbs if the 1157s ever die. They're 38/540 lm (vs. 1157's 38/402 lm) and only $5/pair

[Woodie]

Overall, are these LEDs worth the $23 each in the Kizashi? It's hard to say.

Yeah, this is the key concern here. I was with you 100% until I clicked on the link and saw the price. That's a good price for a six pack of them, not each.

Is this what you were getting at AutoZone a couple of weeks ago? I saw your VW parked there, but figured if I popped in you might be creeped out that I was following you.

[KuroNekko]

Is this what you were getting at AutoZone a couple of weeks ago? I saw your VW parked there, but figured if I popped in you might be creeped out that I was following you.

I got the bulbs from that site I linked.
I was in Autozone getting some oil and filters and dumping used oil for recycling. And don't ever worry about creeping me out.

[DesRado]

Ordered some brake, reverse and turn signal bulbs off Amazon and they got in yesterday. Probably going to put them in today if it's not too cold outside. Will update with photos when it gets done.

[KuroNekko]

Ordered some brake, reverse and turn signal bulbs off Amazon and they got in yesterday. Probably going to put them in today if it's not too cold outside. Will update with photos when it gets done.

Did you get CANBUS-type bulbs for the turn signals? If not, then they will blink rapidly because the car will think a bulb is out. This is caused by the LED's low wattage consumption in powering the bulb. It makes the car think a bulb is out therefore sets off the rapid turn signal mode which is the way of alerting the driver a bulb is out. This system is called CANBUS.

The way around that is to use CANBUS-type LED bulbs which are designed with this in mind. Another solution is to install resistors in the wiring to lower the wattage in the circuit. It fools the circuit into thinking the LEDs are consuming more power than they really are. It essentially fools the system to think a higher wattage-consuming incandescent bulb is working. Without these measures taken against CANBUS, you will have LED turn signals that work fine, but blink very rapidly as if a bulb is out.

[nytq]

I went thru the rapid flash issue when I first replaced the turn signal bulbs with LED's. Ironically, when I had all of them in and saw how the rapid flash looks from the out side, I left it as is. In my mind making the flashing more rapid was actually more eye catching. On top of the fact that the yellow/amber light the LED's emit is very noticeable compared to the standard yellow you see on turn signal bulbs, which have a tendency to fade after awhile. Another interesting observation is that when I use my hazards, the flashing is normal. So I'm guessing that when running all the bulbs, there is just enough resistance to make the system act normally.