Led Tail Brake Lights

I have installed led tail/brake lights by Diode Dynamics (DD), which I have good experience with on my daily drivers. I wanted a bit more brightness, the Mondial lamps are rather small by modern standards.

The lights are red leds, and are the 1157 type which is suitable for the Mondial. They have three brightness levels available, one being like stock, one higher output and one very high. I did the middle one, I did not want to sear the eyes out of other drivers.

I think the change is worthwhile. The light diffusion through the lens seems very good. The intensity is better than stock, but not too blinding. The brake light does seem to be instant on with a brake touch, compared with the very slight lag in the stock bulb.

I would recommend. DD is not cheap but the quality seems to be there. There are two bulbs in each light housing, so four bulbs in total are required.

The first picture has the new led on the left, the stock on the right, in the running light position. The second picture is with the brake light on, left led and right stock.

The pictures are glared and not really how they look, but the difference in intensity is conveyed in the pictures. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

I should mention these are made in the USA.

https://www.diodedynamics.com

 

I did not do the signal lights, as they are on so little and they are the right brightness as is. As you note, there can be some requirement to add resistors, which defeats the benfit of lower current draw and requires splicing into wiring, or one changes out the flasher relay, which I don't think there is plug and play alternative. Too much fuss for too little technical benefit for me.

My goal was simple, slightly brighter running lights and stop lights in the rear, to increase safety by higher visibility to others.

I have previously replaced the front parking lights with brighter natural spectrum led's, which I sometimes use as daytime running lights on darker days. Since they would be on for long periods of time, the reduced current draw would be helpful. I also replaced the small bulbs in the doors, the little red lens ones that lights up when the door opens. I did that some years ago, so I can't remember the specific bulbs I used. I did the inside dome light as well, with a light with the warm spectrum, I still want the OEM period look for these lights where possible, the blue tint lights that are popular now look out of character for our classic cars.

The tail/stop lamps that are OEM for the Mondial were 21 watts. The typical US 1157 lights also fit, and are 27 watts, so you would get brighter lights with more load on the wiring, that is probably what many have in their North American cars right now. The led ones I just installed are about 3 watts each, and I would say about 20 percent brighter than the 1157's.

The issue for me was whether the beam spread was suitable with the existing lens diffuser, or whether one would get more brightness but possibly less practical and peripheral light output for the purpose. The DD products seem to have no functional downside, the light intensity and spread/diffusion seem to be perfect.

I suppose one could replace all lights with led, it is really a question of where there is some functional benefit, with the lower current draw being a nice side effect but not my motive.

I have seen some add running lights and turn signals that are way to bright, sometimes the case with modern luxury car led lamps too, and these things burn right into your brain while tailing behind these cars, and I don't want to be one of "those guys" who don't care about impacts on other drivers. It is kind of like exercising high beam courtesy.

Make sure you clean the wiring contacts when replacing bulbs, that probably helps reduce current draw as well. The inside door lamps and license plate lamps are prone to corrosion, worth checking these, cleaning things up and putting some dielectric grease to protect them going forward, regardless of what bulbs one uses.