LED tail lights

[Kent Wang]

I think they're hot, especially on the 6-series and G35.

 

[DNW]

It depends on the car. I like them on highline/exotic cars with a ton of technology. At least in the BMWs, they glow more intensely under heavier breaking. On the other hand, it just make the Civic looks like it's trying too hard. Some of the cheaper cars have them on now, kinda gimmicky IMO.

 

[LabelKing]

Originally Posted by DarkNWorn

It depends on the car. I like them on highline/exotic cars with a ton of technology. At least in the BMWs, they glow more intensely under heavier breaking. On the other hand, it just make the Civic looks like it's trying too hard. Some of the cheaper cars have them on now, kinda gimmicky IMO.
What do you think of all those "pimped out" small Japanese cars with detailing to make them sound like a vintage British roadster-with a raspberry exhaust?

 

[DNW]

Originally Posted by LabelKing

What do you think of all those "pimped out" small Japanese cars with detailing to make them sound like a vintage British roadster-with a raspberry exhaust?
When I see, or think about them, the image of a little buzzing mosquito comes to mind. I just want to take a giant bug squatter and smash it to smithereens. Annoying little *****!

 

[j]

Originally Posted by DarkNWorn

When I see, or think about them, the image of a little buzzing mosquito comes to mind. I just want to take a giant bug squatter and smash it to smithereens. Annoying little *****!
Yes.

I hate LED tail lights on cars. On motorcycles, I want them. They are a lot more jarring since they are almost instantly on and off, as opposed to bulbs. The buses here have even more jarring ones - they have a circuit to blink on-off-on-steady within the first maybe 0.1 second of hitting them. The effect makes them much more noticeable. I hope to find a way of retrofitting the same to my bike, since getting noticed while braking is a constant concern on a motorcycle.

BTW, those "bulbs" you can buy with the 20 or so LEDs in a bulb base usually don't work well at all. They aren't nearly as bright as a regular lightbulb. I tried one in my rear brake and it really didn't help at all. I switched back to the bulb for now.

 

[imageWIS]

They look cool on the new Range Rover. That being said, my car doesn’t have them, and how hard is it to change a light bulb? Exactly...

Jon.

 

[visionology]

When done right they look damn good. Plus they last longer and are brighter than conventional lights.

 

[skalogre]

Originally Posted by visionology

When done right they look damn good. Plus they last longer and are brighter than conventional lights.

I agree. Question of time until they replace bulbs anyway. If they were available for my car I 'd switch immediately. The reliability and speed of operation LEDs have are excellent for people in urban areas.

 

[briancl]

Originally Posted by visionology

When done right they look damn good. Plus they last longer and are brighter than conventional lights.

When speaking about automotive lighting, LED's can be more power-efficient than conventional lights. This does not make them brighter. There are websites out there that offer drop in LED replacements for conventional bulbs. They are packaged LED's bundled into the same connector as the standard bulb. This type of swap is almost always less bright than the standard bulb. You need more room to house the additional LED's required to output the same brightness of a conventional bulb.. although, the additional LED's can still use less power than the space-efficient conventional bulb. This is all using current automotive technology. Brighter, smaller, and more power-efficient LED's are on the way, but they aren't here, yet.

 

[visionology]

I think what I mean about being more bright is when you see a taillight that is LED based, it is uniformly lit because the LEDs are dispersed across the entire light while conventional lights are lit from a single bulb and while it may be brighter in the single spot, it isn't uniformly bright across the entire light.

I find them easier to see on those really bright sunny days where the sun can mask the taillights being lit as well, making them a bit safer.

 

[BayArea]

the LED's on the new cadillac are hard on the eyes when following them at night and I do not like them, but on BMW's and sport bikes I think there cool.

 

[Kai]

I hate them because they often induce false warnings on my laser detector. The same goes for the laser-guided cruise control on Infinity vehicles.

 

[swiego]

I like them. They came on my S2000. Now I'm seeing them showing up on a whole lot of other cars, just like HID / xenon lamps...

 

[DNW]

Originally Posted by Kai

I hate them because they often induce false warnings on my laser detector. The same goes for the laser-guided cruise control on Infinity vehicles.

So those suckers were what caused my V1 to go bananas without a cop in sight. I had no idea 'till now. F***ers!

Now, if I get radar jammers installed on the front and back of my car, wouldn't that **** up the laser-guided cruise controls?

 

[Kai]

Originally Posted by DarkNWorn

So those suckers were what caused my V1 to go bananas without a cop in sight. I had no idea 'till now. F***ers!

Now, if I get radar jammers installed on the front and back of my car, wouldn't that **** up the laser-guided cruise controls?

Yep. That's your problem.

And yes, a laser jammer will mess with laser guided cruise control.

I had a somewhat silly experience with my Escort SRX laser detector/jammer and an Infinity car on the highway. Every time I would pass the guy, my laser jammer/detector would go off, I would slow down looking for cops, he would slow down because his cruise control would switch off. After a while, I would speed up, pass him again, and it would start all over again. I finally figured out what was going on, and we both had a good laugh about it when we met while filling up at the gas station.