What is the best LED replacement brake light/tail light?

[ew1usnr]

Has anyone found an extra-bright LED replacement that they would recommend as a replacement for an 1157 brake light / tail light bulb?
I would like to have brighter brake lights/tail lights on my 1963 Falcon. When I look on e-bay at the LED replacements for the original 1157 light bulb I get confused.

A lot of the LEDs have a base that will allow them to fit into an 1157 socket, but they do not seem to have the dual filament bright/low function of a brake light/tail light bulb.

Some of the LED replacements have different upper-portion dimensions that the 1157 bulbs. They are longer than the 1157 bulb and will not fit behind the tail light.
Would it better to get a white or red LED?
What is the maximum watt rating that can replace the 1157 bulb?
LED tail light bulb.jpg

[olgraybeard]

http://www.walmart.com/ip/StreetGlow...00000003260530

[Nathan289]

Youll find the led bulbs are not any brighter.

The original design was for the light to reflect off the housing.. hence the reason they're shaped like a big bowl and reflect the light through the lens.

While the led bulbs might actually be brighter you will notice the bulbs all face forward focusing all the light straight out to the rear. Basically you will have a bright spot in the middle of the lens.

My suggestion is to restore the tail light buckets and use a 2057 or anything with a higher wattage..

Other wise look for the led disc style bulbs where the leds are mounted on a circut board disc about 3" in diameter..

Dont forget you will need a led friendly flasher to make the turnsignal work.

Nathan

[pbrown]

I run these front and rear. Buy the red for the rear and amber for the front. They are very bright. Note that most of the LEDs are facing to the sides.

http://www.superbrightleds.com/morei...ed-tower-/814/

You'll need to make a modification to your dash turn signal indicator if you go with LEDs in the front. I used a couple of diodes to keep the voltage from leaking through to the other bumper lamp. Note that without the diode mod, both front lights blink when the turn signals are used.

[redfalken]

You might want to check these out:

http://www.superbrightleds.com/cat/tail-brake-turn/

They have lights shining forward and off to the sides so they hit the reflectors. I bought one from this company for my motorcycle that has white lights shining down to illuminate the license plate.

Most people recommend getting the same color led as your lens.

This is the brightest one they carry at 420 lumens:

http://www.superbrightleds.com/morei...ed-tower/1166/

[pbrown]

Here is a photo of my car with one LED and one normal bulb.

[Nathan289]

What pat is showing would work great.

Instead of adding diodes I've heard they make a special flasher that allows leds to work correctly.

Nathan

[dhbfaster]

Dennis, did you end up using these LED bulbs? How did they work out?