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I've tried these LED bulbs on several of my cars. These bulbs will not be brighter than the halogen bulbs on your stock tailight housing. That's because the stock tailight houisng is designed for the halogen bulbs to throw light at the back reflectors to get more lighting. The LED bulbs have zero light toward the reflectors and hence they will not be as bright.
Perhaps the particular LEDs that you purchased did not work for you. If you look carefully at my first post, you will find that the LEDs also project light around the circumference of the bulb. Here are some videos that I took so that others can see the amount of light they provide within the OEM housing in comparison to the incandescent bulb:
Not many pics at the moment because it's difficult to capture the difference on camera. I think the videos tell it best, but incase anyone is too lazy to wait for the videos:
LED installed
The LEDs light up the reflectors pretty well.
This the comparison. Can you guess which side has the LED bulb?
I'm guessing the driver's side...the color seems richer (and only that side is pictured in one of the shots).
I just checked out the videos and they look very nice. The only dissapointment was the brightness of the LED brake lights at night. How does it seem in person? Bright enough to be safe both at night and in the day? Would you mind listing part numbers and prices? Thanks a lot.
1. Half LED / Half incandescent - Indoors (MVI_0820.AVI)
-i can't tell cuz there is a sharp angle on it. but from the looks of it, the timing on both bulbs looks insync. they both go on at the same time, and go off at the same time.
did you mis-label the videos.
2. All LED - Indoors (MVI_0821.AVI)
-same angle, from the looks of it, the driver side led is more responsive, it goes on and off before the passenger side. the passenger side has a slight fade time on it. i really think you mis-labeled 1&2. and if you didn't mislabel them, then they are not firing insync like in the first video.
3. Half LED / Half incandescent - Outdoors (Night) (MVI_0822.AVI)
-better more direct angle for judgement. the driver side is more responsive, it is off and on faster than the passenger side bulb. BUT, the passenger side appears to be brighter as it gives off more light reflection IN THE VIDEO, but the passenger side has a fade time to it, it stays on a little longer than the driver side, i would have to see it in person as does everyone else to make proper judgement.
4. Half LED / Half incandescent - Outdoors (Night) (MVI_0823.AVI)
-same result as #3. but it was priceless to see you running to your camera in the major LA area for traffic and theft reasons
but i have to say though, job well done! i am by no means an engineer or electrician, so i shouldn't speak. but as far as driveability, if you had both sides as led's and you showed me those vids, and said are these bulbs or led's i wouldn't have been able to answer. the only reason i could tell the difference was because you mixed the bulbs up for the vids. from what i have seen, the leds look totally driveable, i CAN obviously tell they are firing and i guess that is all that matters. anyways, i am drunk as hell right now and i am gunna sleep cuz i am gunna make the malibu run at 9am.
peace. oh, and i have an 04 with led's if you want to compare in person and i just live down the street from you so let me know.
Mark: Thanks for pointing out the mix up! I'll fix that!
I'm working on getting the turn signals to work this week. I'll keep you guys posted on that. Daytime brightness on the LEDs isn't bad, but I'll try to snap some video for you guys to see. I haven't had a chance to see the LEDs against direct sun yet so I don't know how bright they are, but I did drive around all day with it yesterday, and I didn't get rear ended!
As for part #s, I guess I shouldn't put the name of the website where I bought them, but you can obviously see the name in the pics above.
BRAKE/TAIL - 7443-15 (15 LED Red) *TURN - 1156-A24 (24 LED Amber)
BACKUP - 7440-15 (15 LED White)
*Hold off on getting the turn signal bulbs. They didn't fit correctly, nor did they work after I removed one of the lucking stubs to try to fit them.
If anyone else has had success with getting 1156 bulbs to fit and light up in 1156A sockets, please PM me.
