LED Bulbs

Anybody using them? My dad replaced the taillight bulbs in all his Corvairs several years ago when the LED taillight bulbs first came to market. He said he had never liked how dim Corvair taillights always were.

Now they have LED dash light bulbs. Anybody using them? IMO late model Corvair gauge lights have always been pretty dim. I was thinking about replacing the regular bulbs with LED ones. Some of the ones I have looked at come in colors too, which I would want the factory green.

I have white LEDs in the VW. It's a nice clear white light - I like em.

I've also got GE LED headlights in a Miata. Not cheap, but very good output and color.

I have LED bulbs throughout the Celica, and about half the Vic. I will eventually get around to it in the E30 as well.

The factory green is accomplished with a green filter cap, not an actual green bulb. If you get a green LED, it will be a completely different green, way more brilliant and neon-ish...

Depending greatly on the type of LED bulb, you can have full coverage, narrow, or side focal. There are also a lot of varying other types that have other qualities. Multi-SMD led bulbs are more bulky, but put out way more light, and generally have good focal spread. Single large SMD led bulbs put out event more light, have a decent spread, but also tend to generate heat a good bit (most have integrated heat sinks).

Keep in mind, pictures can not do brightness justice, as you can change the exposure time to make things look brighter or darker. Conventional/inverted/hybrid 194 LEDs put out about the same light as a 4w bulb. The multi SMD's put out a good bit more, (rough estimate about double, the larger high power SMDs put out 3-4 times if not more.) All the bulbs pictured below are 194 bulb standard.

Conventional

Inverted

Hybrid

Multi SMD

Single SMD

The Celica

I have them as lights on my trailer. They are vibration proof - and so I don't need to carry 30 spare bulbs with me in case of a bumpy road anymore.

Interesting conversation here. As you should recall a few years ago a whole bunch of auto makers started coming out with LED "eyebrows" or whatever as a way to look expensive. I'm noticing a lot of those, especially on the Audis are going bad. My next door neighbor now has half an eyebrow on one side of his Audi and no eyebrow on the other. And no, it was never wrecked.

I've also paid some huge money, in comparison to standard bulbs, for LED bulbs on my outside lights on the house and garage. They lasted less than last winter in Kentucky. And last winter was the warmest I can ever remember here.

As I like lights on my cars to last long enough to get home with, I'll stick with halogens on my rides till the LED bulbs get more proven.

Rupert wrote: Interesting conversation here. As you should recall a few years ago a whole bunch of auto makers started coming out with LED "eyebrows" or whatever as a way to look expensive. I'm noticing a lot of those, especially on the Audis are going bad. My next door neighbor now has half an eyebrow on one side of his Audi and no eyebrow on the other. And no, it was never wrecked. I've also paid some huge money, in comparison to standard bulbs, for LED bulbs on my outside lights on the house and garage. They lasted less than last winter in Kentucky. And last winter was the warmest I can ever remember here. As I like lights on my cars to last long enough to get home with, I'll stick with halogens on my rides till the LED bulbs get more proven.

Slightly off topic but I put CFL's in my garage and porch lights and found they lasted way longer than typical incandescents in the cold Michigan weather.

It would seem perhaps the LED's do need some more time to mature.

We have LED lights on our motion sensitive lights outside. CFDs don't like this kind of on/off short duration use, and I was tired of replacing incandescents. They've lasted for several years now, instant on and no problems in any temperature. So I'm a fan there.

I just installed some Superbright LED lights in the brake/tail lights of the street Miata. They don't look any different, but their response time is excellent. Plus I like the low draw and minimal heat, one of the reasons I installed them.

The LED headlights in the Miata are actually aimed at OTR truckers, for whom a 30,000 hour lifespan is not quite enough. We'll see how they hold up, but so far I'm really happy with the light output.

I put LEDs in the dash of my 66 Mustang. Great improvement.

The Scion has LED's for the license plate, map, and backup light. I like the license plate, the reverse was a compromise because the super bright one's I ordered for backup and turn didn't fit into the tail light housing. Those suckers were super bright w/ about 20-30 LED's per bulb. I just ordered a package of bulbs that should fit the Subaru's license and map light.

I wasn't really a fan of LEDs until I put a panel of them in my dome light as the factory one was very dim. Made a massive improvement, it's like daylight in there. Makes me smile every time I open the door at night.

Still not a fan of them on vehicles more than a couple years old, the instant on doesn't match the character of older vehicles IMO. The blue-ish tinge to the license plate light ones doesn't appeal to me either. Where I live the heat of incandescent is a good thing too, my taillights and headlights are always clear of snow.

Anyone ever watch Initial D? I love the slow fade in and out of the turn signals on the AE86 during the credits.

I would put them in a dash of a car though, next time I've got mine apart I'd like to do that, if I can find replacements for all of them.

So what are the high quaity, really bright 1157 led replacement options? Id like to do my front turns and rear brake lights on my 64

^What he said.

I just replaced every bulb on my DD because half of them were half burnt and dim. Test fitted a couple LED bulbs just for E36 M3s and giggles, and the output SUCKED bad. I'm guessing i was using cheap bulbs.

These are the ones I just put on the Miata. As bright or brighter than standard 1157s.

http://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinfo/s-series-bulbs/1157-led-bulb-dual-intensity-45-smd-led-tower-/814/

If you can take a deeper bulb and have clear lenses, these are the same price but are rated at 2.5 times as many lumens. Note that you should use a bulb that matches the lens color, otherwise a bunch of the light will get filtered out. http://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinfo/s-series-bulbs/1157-led-bulb--dual-intensity-28-high-power-led-/1644/3767/

In reply to Keith Tanner:

Thanks for that link Keith. Exactly what I'm looking for for the Taillights and turn signals for the Corvair. It looks like they carry the gauge bulbs too.

There's good LED conversions and bad conversions. The worst are slightly better than HeNe lasers when it comes to viewable angle. There's a writeup where someone tried both good and bad ones here:

http://www.allpar.com/reviews/other/SamStrait-LED-bulbs.html

I can't stand bright gauge lights. If they're adjustable I'll usually turn them down to the point that they are just barely on. So distracting at night.

In reply to nicksta43:

I like bright gauges, but the Corvair gauges are ridiculously dim normally, so some LEDs will help brighten them up.