I am going to get LED bulbs for both my tails lights. Has anyone done this yet? LED bulbs are brighter than stock, last longer, and also they turn on and off instantly, unlike regular bulbs. It looks pretty cool. You've probably noticed them a lot on the newer luxury cars. There are 3 bulbs per side for a total of 6. Anyway I'm wondering if anyone has done this yet and how do you like it? I'll put up some pics when I'm done in a few days. By the time you read this I might also have put up pics of my front near-hid bulbs conversion, which looks great.

 

Aloha NJSPEED69.
Please let us know where you got the replacement bulbs from and stock number if possible!
thanks, Gramps.........

 

You can order them off of ebay! I'm actually going to be buying mine today from a auto performance store which I get most of my parts from. I'll see if theres a part # on them. The install should be done today so I'll try and get some pics up tonight or tomorrow! You won't be able to see them go on/off faster in the pics obviously, but they should look brighter than stock. By the way, my front conversion pics are now up.

I did some research and they say that by using LED's in your brakes, at highway speeds, people behind you will have an extra 25 feet of reaction time.

Not bad.

 

What are the part numbers for the front job that you did? thanks

 

The LEDs I got are nothing but crap. I used APC brand. They aren't brighter than stock at all, and they light up unevely so one side is brighter than the other. I am going to try a different brand. The cool thing is they did actually go on and off MUCH faster than a regular bulb and looked great. Its like on/off, theres no in-between like a regular bulb has.

 

I think any mod.s I do will be to make the car run quicker. My lights run fast enough for me. I haven't been able to out run them yet.... :lol:

I might think about real HID if I start doing more night driving. Otherwise my lights are legal and work just fine the way they are. :P

 

If your going 65mph and you brake, LEDs give the person behind you an additional 25 feet of braking distance. If your going 130, the cop behind you will have an addittional 50 feet.

 

http://autolumination.com/1156_1157.htm

Check out this website for the LED brake lights.. I am ordering some of the "Matrix" bulbs. I've looked at a lot of the LEDs, and the main problem people seem to be having with them is LED projects more of a super bright beam rather than the glow of a regular bulb, and doesn't light up the entire brakelight or turnsignal housing. These Matrix bulbs seem to have fixed the problem! Mine should be here next Wednesday so I'll post a review then.

The LEDs I have now look decent, the main problem being they light up unevenly. These new ones should look awesome!!!

 

THESE MATRIX BULBS ARE AWESOME.

http://autolumination.com/1156_1157.htm

I just got mine yesterday and damn do they look sweeeet. My turn signals are now DEEP BRIGHT YELLOW instead of amber. My brake lights are much BRIGHTER and they also react much faster when you tap on the brake.

The cool thing about these bulbs is how fast they turn ON and OFF. There's no inbetween like you can see on a regular bulb. Regular bulbs take a second and go from dim to bright. LED's are either instantly BRIGHT/ON or OFF. No in between. For some reason, my turn signals flash faster too, and to me thats just a bonus. It really is a great mod for cheap - takes about 1 minute to install them all too.

And by the way I'm telling you guys about these bulbs from my own free will - I'm not advertising the site. I used some other LED bulbs (APC brand) and they were crap in comparison. Then I found these online, thought they'd work great, and they do.

 

Okay, here's how you do it... run down the highway at 65 with your lights on, then mash on it, uhhh... that didn't work???? Maybe we can get the "Myth Busters" of TV fame to come up with something!!! :wink: :wink: :wink:

 

Which exact part did you order from them? I'll be placing an order tomorrow!<g> Were they hard to install (I'm worried about fitting the LED bulb through the socket hole)?

 

I think it is flashing faster because the electrical system is expecting a certain "load" and the LED uses less amperage and therefor lower "load". That would cause your flasher device to behave differently.

 

Indeed your correct. That website has load resistors or something that can fix the problem.. however I like it

 

bump

 

I think I am doing way to much research on these damn LED's I sent the dude from autolunmination a email and he said this

Our charts indicate that the rear turn signal are 7507.

The 7507 is the same as the 1156, except it has 150 degree opposed bayonet pins.
We only have the 1156 with 180 degree opposed bayonet pins.

7507 leds may be hard to locate. I have not seen them anywhere.

One pin can be ground off of the 1156 bulb and the bulbs will work fine with one
pin removed.

We do not have a reference charts for the front bulbs. You will have to remove
them and matche them up here:

http://autolumination.com/technical_data.html

You will likely need load equalizers.

If using leds for turn signal applications, or in vehicles that have built in
dashboard bulb-out warning systems (such as BMW Mercedes and others) , load
equalizers may be required.

Use two 3 ohm equalizers if you have led turn signals in both the front and rear
(2 bulbs per circuit). Use two 6 ohm equalizers if you have led turn signals in
the rear only , or front only (1 bulb per equalizer). Use four 6 ohm if you
have an electronic dash mounted bulb-out monitoring/warning system.


SO please I am the worst thing when it come to electirc things, so someone please tell me whaich one to order I want the ones for the rear and front both amber
Thanks

 

I ordered bulbs from him today. What he told you is exactly what he told me a few months back when I started looking. Although he didn't tell me that thing about the "use 4 resistors".

I ordered:
qty 4 Matrix 1156 Amber (front and rear turn signals, manual says same bulb front & rear)
qty 2 Matrix 1157 Super White (rear tail/brake)
qty 3 3-OHM load resistors (1 for left turn set, 1 for right turn set, 1 for brake set)

I realize I will have to file off one of the pins since NOBODY seems to carry 7507's (found SilverStar's, but I don't like the blue look at all). For what it's worth, I believe the tail/brake bulbs are 7528's and the backup's are 7506 (or is it the other way around :?: ). I may use the load's or may not, will have to see how it works out, since using them will effectively bypass the Crossfire "bulb out" sensor system.

Once I see how I like these, I'm probably going to order some festoon LED's (6418) for the other bulbs (side markers, front markers, etc.). I think Cyril did his interior dome in blue LED's, I'd like to also but I haven't seen a bulb part# posted.

I will do one side at a time and try to shoot some sample pics to post. If you want to wait another week, if I get them by Friday I will install Saturday (before the Skyline Drive cruise) and let you know how it goes.

 

Thanks alot all those number 1156 1157 3 OHm resistors was just making me confused. But u clered it up alot. But I defintly want to see pics when u get ures. I think I am just going to ored them they look so much better anyways thanks for the help looking foward to see ures when its done

 

I have tried these LED bulbs, the ones with the 6 side facing LED elements, and was very disappointed.

The side firing lights are still too weak to fill the lens and reflector with amber light from side view, and I think it is a hazard in daytime. The center view of the light is a bright yellow spot but dims dramatically as you view from off center even a bit.

You do have to file off the top pin or stud to get them to fit the socket.

(This is a double post on both the LED threads. Sorry if annoyed)

 

I did this mod and it works great so everyone should really listen up to what I have to say. I made the mistakes for you, and I'm not making **** up.

#1. I did not file any pins down, everything was plug and play

#2. They fit perfectly.

#3. You don't need load resistors or whatever they are called for the brake lights or the backup lights - only the turn signals - and again, that is personal preference whether you want to use them or not. All they do is make your turn signals flash at the normal rate. Without them, after installing the Matrix bulbs, the turn signals flash twice as fast. PERSONALLY, I like them flashing twice as fast - it gets peoples attention faster - it's NOT illegal - and it looks sharp because it's a FASTER, BRIGHTER flash than you see in the majority of cars on the road. And on top of that, it costs nothing. I sure as hell wouldn't pay good money to have them flash the regular rate.

#4. The bulbs around the side do light up the entire housing. Pretty damn bright too.

#5. The only change I would possibly make is to put white ones in the brake lights.. It might make it look better... you really don't need RED light bulbs considering the lense is already red. So I think white ones might look even brighter and better.

 

NJspeed69;
I'm assuming you didn't mean to imply this I *was* making **** up.

I got the same lights from http://www.autolumination.com that you recommended. The 24 LED matrix bulbs with 6 side firing LEDS.

I placed them in the rear turn signal locations and they needed to have one pin filed down to fit the socket. They work Ok with the turn signals flashing faster than stock and they do not trigger the "Bulb Out" warning.

However, during the daytime from off center viewing, just like in any intersection or cross lane situation, these LED bulbs do NOT put out as much light as the stock bulbs. Hard to tell they are really on. From directly behind they are bright enough.

I was so disappointed I never installed the red brake light bulbs that I got and the original turn signal bulbs are back on the job.

At night they would work just fine but simply do not put out the light needed for sunny daytime use.