What do you think of LED tail lights?

Apparently some (most) of my brake lights are out on my 348.

I will replace them all soon. I should replace with LED's. I might just do that actually.

 

Two things.

You need to make sure the LED's you get are bright enough to be seen. That means each light will need to have quite a few LED's on them.

Also, the signals have resistance in them, so you will need LED's designed to at least trick the car into thinking there is resistance, otherwise you will get the fast signal flashing thing happening.

I have still to do this yet, as I am on the fence as to what LED Lights to order that can properly do the job.

 

Nope, Rorie just put me off them!

Thanks for reminding me!

Nah, I will see what happens. If im bothered to solder in some resistors, I will fit LED's back there.

 

I put in LEDs in my reverse bulb when I replaced all four lense covers on my 355 cuz they were bulging out. They are brighter but they are also clear. I have a comparison pic if anyone wants to see.

 

The brake and reverse lights will be ok, but the indicators are the issue.

Maybe I will just fit brake and reverse lights and leave normal bulbs in the indicators.

Thanks for sharing mate.

 

See my above post.

Tail light, brake lights and resverse lights are ok to straight swap to LED.

The LED indicator bulbs will require a resistor soldered inline to make sure they have more resistance. Otherwise, they will flash REALLY REALLY fast.

Not unless they make them now with inbuilt resistance? I may investigate that.

 

Lol

 

Yes, a 24 or 30 LED designed specifically for the 1156 and 1157 should do the trick.

What I was getting at is you can't just go buy any 1156 or 1157 led bulb because most ones out there are maybe 12 LED's. LED's are great, but it takes quite a few to have the same brightness as an incandescent.

On the signals, I know there are some companies that have built in resistors. BMW uses LED turn signal bulbs. Only place I have seen aftermarket versions of those are at www.bimmian.com . I have not confirmed yet whether they have a 1156 or 1157 version of this, but I think they do. If so, they should also do the job on the 355 turn signals. But take a look at the pic. See just how many bulbs are on that board. Twenty-four.

But in a nutshell, you can't buy just any LED 1156 or 1157 bulb and expect it to work well. Do your homework before you commit to a bulb.

 

I think I may have some good news on this.

It seems there is a company that can make the indicator for the 355 that has the resistor built in, so it will work and not make you signal lights flash fast.

I think we need a simple solution specifically made for us. I should know the cost for these lights in the next month or so.

But I guess part of what I need to know is would there be any interest from members on the board to want to change over to LED if they know it was designed for their 355, was bright enough, and easy to do?

Thanks!

 

I did the same thing before mine started to bubble, they were brighter than the stock bulbs

 

There ya go. I thought they would have been made by now.