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My brake lights aren’t bright enough

Replace your 1157 bulbs with 2357 bulbs, as the 2357 are brighter. Add some supplemental grounds to the sockets and be done. LED seems to cause more problems than it’s worth.
 
This is what I'm planning to do in the future.

About 12:35 you can see the side by side comparison of before and after.

 
Didn’t know about those 2357 bulbs… rated at 28 and 8 watts… if were two bulbs could be nice however having 4 bulbs, better to have a nice alternator to hold the load up if thinking in keep incandescent!

Then, for the inner bulb… dunno if an 8 watts single filament is available to match up with the rest
 
Cheapsunglasses said:
I’ve had good luck with these. They have a “spot” light at one end, and then all the diodes around flood the lens.

Just make sure you get the color of the lens. I tried leds before and just got white , didn’t really work, I got red for the brake lights, Amber for the turn signals , and what a difference!

Also make sure all of your lights are properly grounded, and all your sockets are clean.

People love blaming cell phones for the problem. Sure it’s partial to blame, but lighting technology and lights themselves have improved drastically since our cars were new , I think we accidentally trained our brains to only recognize brighter lights , and people just don’t pay attention anymore

View attachment 1845368
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I agree. I built a 64 GTO 30 years ago. My tail lights were not bright at all. I cleaned the sockets with emery cloth and everything was bright but lights were still dim. This was before LEDs. I ordered a new wiring harness from under rear seat back and after installing it, my tail lights were really bright, my back up lights were bright and my gas gauge worked better and was more accurate. Just from changing rear harness. Hope this might help
 
gto64gto said:
I agree. I built a 64 GTO 30 years ago. My tail lights were not bright at all. I cleaned the sockets with emery cloth and everything was bright but lights were still dim. This was before LEDs. I ordered a new wiring harness from under rear seat back and after installing it, my tail lights were really bright, my back up lights were bright and my gas gauge worked better and was more accurate. Just from changing rear harness. Hope this might help
Click to expand...
i converted the inner 1089 sockets on my charger to the 1157 sockets, so all 6 lights act as brake and turn signal. along with that, i changed to superbright LED's in RED. it made a HUGE difference in brightness, at least giving me a tiny advantage to the prius driver who is on the phone to see i am slowing down and turning..........
:drinks:
 
Kern Dog said:
Oh, the irony.
This morning the guy in the orange Coronet seen here…

View attachment 1846066

…commented on how good my brake lights seemed to light up.
Really? Randy thought that they were too dim but Rich thought that they were good.
I would be willing to go brighter but I really would prefer something that looked stock but brighter.
I forgot about Daniel Stern!
Click to expand...
Everyone that followed me complained about my dim brake lights. I tried some red LED’s from Classic Industries, and they didn’t make any difference. Purchased a pair of red Holley Retrobrights LED’s, made a huge improvement in brightness. Glad I did it, Greg.
 
I put Yorkim brand off Amazon in for my 69 GTX and they are 3x as bright, which is what they claimed they’d be. I was able to see it in my garage in a back to back test. Absolutely tremendous increase in brightness. First trip out I could tell the amp draw was way less too. Has to be the easiest upgrade I’ve ever done to an old car.

They didn’t mess up the flashers either like I’ve seen said about some bulbs. I bought a set to put in the front turn signals too, haven’t done those yet.

This is what I use

 
Some Car Guy said:
I put Yorkim brand off Amazon in for my 69 GTX and they are 3x as bright, which is what they claimed they’d be. I was able to see it in my garage in a back to back test. Absolutely tremendous increase in brightness. First trip out I could tell the amp draw was way less too. Has to be the easiest upgrade I’ve ever done to an old car.

They didn’t mess up the flashers either like I’ve seen said about some bulbs. I bought a set to put in the front turn signals too, haven’t done those yet.

This is what I use

[/URL]
Click to expand...

Thanks but that link to Amazon does not work for me.
 
That weird. Took me right out to it. Here’s a screenshot.

IMG_0689.png
 
Hmm...It just redirects me back to this page.
 
Some Car Guy said:
I put Yorkim brand off Amazon in for my 69 GTX and they are 3x as bright, which is what they claimed they’d be. I was able to see it in my garage in a back to back test. Absolutely tremendous increase in brightness. First trip out I could tell the amp draw was way less too. Has to be the easiest upgrade I’ve ever done to an old car.

They didn’t mess up the flashers either like I’ve seen said about some bulbs. I bought a set to put in the front turn signals too, haven’t done those yet.

This is what I use

[/URL]
Click to expand...
Perhaps I am reading it wrong, but the description of this brake light needs a resistor if it is a turn signal bulb like my car has. My car has only two separate lights out back. Both the turn signal and brake functions are in the same bulb. Am I wrong?
 
fullmetaljacket said:
Perhaps I am reading it wrong, but the description of this brake light needs a resistor if it is a turn signal bulb like my car has. My car has only two separate lights out back. Both the turn signal and brake functions are in the same bulb. Am I wrong?
Click to expand...

No resistor needed. It’s a direct drop in for an 1157.
 
Some Car Guy said:
I put Yorkim brand off Amazon in for my 69 GTX
This is what I use

[/URL][/URL]
Click to expand...
The 69 and 70 Chargers use a 3 bulb arrangement in each side. The left has an 1157 in the 1st and second socket and if I remember this right, a 1059 for the 3rd one. The right side starts with a 1059 then the 2nd and 3rd are 1157s.
The 1059s are single filament. They do not brighten along with the turn signals and brake lights.
To make these "Yorkim" bulbs work, I'd need a single filament for the inner sockets on both sides.
 
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