LED Lights for our cars - The answer to my fears?

[Magnum]

Hi All

Apologies if a poor question but searching the forum hasn't revealed a conclusive answer thus far.

Basically having been the victim of a stationary (traffic light) rear-ending in an early car, I'm always conscious that the small size, low height, small tail light and relatively dim light thrown from these all contribute to increased risk - especially with today's driver sitting high up (and invariably on the bloody phone, whereas our air cooled car noise doesn't permit this ). I was driven into by a Discovery whose driver probably looked right over the top of the car.....and was on the phone

My hope is that, with LED technology, one can get a much, much brighter bulb/light that is highly visible. I'm specifically talking brake lights and indicators (I don't drive my old cars much at night for various reasons). In theory this should be a simple bulb upgrade from available LED options, coupled with a plug'nplay LED flasher unit.

HOWEVER does this actually work in real life - is the difference very material and worth the effort?

I'd appreciate your actual experience/views?

Many thanks

[911hillclimber]

A good friend of mine was worried about this very situation in his dark blue TR7 coupe.
He felt every light was weak (by today's standards) and on a dark car....anything might happen.
The TR is a mint 68K mile survivor.

He replaced every bulb with leds, tails, instruments etc.

in a dull garage the other week the brightness is astonishingly better.
Quite expensive iirc, around £200 and a long morning to install.

[hot66]

problem sometimes with the led rear bulbs is the tail lights can be so bright , that the brake lights arent' that much brighter when applied. Some time might be better to have slightly less bright tail lights so the brake lights really standout when on

[Magnum]

Thanks Graham & James

Graham - great I'm not alone, however the cost issue is exactly why I've posted the question. I think the cost should be more reasonable than indicated, nevertheless there's not enough access/information on "old 911" precedent to give definitive answers to avoid such an expensive mistake....
Frankly if I were a retailer I'd package entire kits, proven & tested, for the popular classic cars....perhaps they do (but they're not marketed effectively ....YES I've just googled and nothing easily identifiable for early 911!!!).

I'm also not sure why a long morning to install - was is just taking off & replacing the light lenses etc? The bulbs should be a straight swap and the LED compatible flasher unit should plug straight, albeit in a confined space?

James - I haven't heard of this, although I can imagine a situation where a strong white bulb is so bright if effectively "outshines" the red lenses? My research indicates that different bulb colours are available - I couldn't see this situation happening with a red bulb? Is it possible to interrogate this a little further?

Thanks

[jury]

[/quote]

[911hillclimber]

A long morning as Jim is retired, so no need to rush!
He was an AA patrol man, race car engineer and RRoyce Bugatti restorer, so does not rush.
The firm he bought his off do a 911 kit, but I can't recall thir name.

[haasad]

better car lighting do replacement led lamps and suitable relays. I looked at it for my r car but left the standard filament lamps in place as they look far more period correct when on. Likewise for my healey I bought the led lamps and fitted them but didn't like the look, that car has combined brake side and indicator lamps...!!!. In the 911 I fitted an FIA rain light from an outlet at Silverstone , I'm doing the same on the healey, it doubles as a fog lamp and a marker lamp to show I'm there in poor conditions.

[gridgway]

what conditions do you turn your rain light on in Andy?

[Jonny Hart]

LED bulbs replacing filament bulbs in an existing lamp housing are illegal by definition. Why? Because the law states that replacement bulbs must be of the same type.

Fit a high level brake light which can be LED and is legal because it is a complete unit.

[Magnum]

Thanks again all

Jonny - can't argue with rain light, however I can't come round to doing so as the looks aren't to my taste (I know, I can't have my cake and eat it.. ).

Haasad (Andy?) - regards not looking "right" I guess I'm less concerned principally as I'll be in the car and the modification is substantially hidden until "lit" (and to be honest being safer, the car & myself, is a major factor that exceeds this concern).

The more I think, the more this is one of those "just do it" things to see what happens - I'm going to start with strong red brake lights first (as they're a priority) and i'll give feedback.

Cheers all

[Tosh]

Have a word withBetterCarLighting

[Hannibales]

I got my instrument LEDs from this guy: Carmagic, I went for vintage white, good service and they look exactly as the website shows them. (If you did this it would also be a perfect time to put a fuse in the gauge light circuit too!)

You can see on his website he also does external LED sets as discussed on Pelican at the end of this thread, though I haven't tried them yet, probably a winter tinkering project.

[hot66]

I'm running LED headlight bulbs in my 964. Brilliant improvement.

Only prob I've had is one of the bulbs kept popping the fuse for normal beam..so I've replaced that one . Think it was just a dodgy bulb

[Winston Teague]

This is a matter we deal with day to day on pre-war cars. BEWARE, many led replacement bulbs are very poor quality and give a weak, thin watery light. Nothing like the specifically developed modern car led lamp systems. I hear Jonny's warning but frankly if your MOT man will wear it modify away, is my view. To have good rear lights you need highly reflective reflectors, and the brightest bulb you can fit in, perhaps coupled with additional duplicated functions: hi level brake lights are a good idea, as are 'fog' lights. Headlamp performance deteriorates dramatically with slightly cloudy lenses, and yellowed reflectors (rmember old mondeos?) the same is true for tail lights. I had my 356 rear lamp shells powdercoated brilliant white, and modified the bulbholders to take double filament bulbs in both sections, this gave twice as much tail lamp bulb and much improved brightness too. Silver paint is not good enough. If the 911 rear lamp body is metal, get it silver plated, this will transform brightness. Led lamps are suseptible to dodgy earths, back feeding and many snags associated with slightly manky 40 year old cars, and can often behave very erratically on the back of your car.
The technology is moving fast, and i just hope one day to find that someone, instead of seeking power draw savings, makes a bay15d bulb which is MUCH brighter, say 15/30 watt for stop/tail lamps. But even this would be brighter and better with good reflectors!
W

[haasad]

I turn on my rain light when it's raining.......and when it's foggy........and tbh if someone is too ruddy close.