LED Taillight Conversions
 

Anyone try them? I've got dim taillights in my 65GTO and just considering all the options. I see our host/sponsor sells a conversion kit. Any suggestions or recommendations are greatly appreciated.

I found my dim light issue last night. Took everything apart and discovered that at some point a car repaint covered the reflective coating inside the taillights. I'm going to try removing the coat of burgundy and applying a coat of chrome spray. Amazing what you find in a car you have owned for 30years.

RED LED
 

FWIW;
I tested out the 2357 Red LED after a few mentioned their use.
I will say without question they are a good inexpensive improvement.
They give off a nice deeper RED Vs the Orangy standard 1157.
If you find that you need to paint the inner light housings, I found that Flat Bright White Heat Paint worked far better then any of the silvers.

Thanks! I hadn't considered white but your suggestion made me remember that I had used it on my 72 Cutlass Supreme. At some GM must have switched to white prior to 72. Thanks again. I have another post about reflective paint but site issues have locked me out of it.

Use the most reflective silver or chrome spray you can on the back. This color reflects in a directional pattern so it will reflect out. Use white on the top and bottom as white reflects non directional so it will reflect out and in/out.

Thanks again everyone for the help! Another learning experience and an opportunity to improve my car and be proud!

I tried various painting on mine, and spraying gloss white completely had the best briteness. the white on top and bottom was next best. It was a pain in the a$$ and took forever to do.

Finished my taillights yesterday and saw a dramatic improvement. Feel safe driving the car again. Still using conventional 1157 bulbs, went with flat white heat paint and polished the lenses using toothpaste and water like I did with model car windows as a kid. Did some internet research and most agree that flat white is more reflective than gloss. Google "flat versus gloss reflectivity" and you will find a whole lot of posts by, ahem, "indoor farmers" which indicate flat is better than gloss. In the attached pic, redone light on the left and burgundy painted over on the right for comparison.

I am in the process of doing this as well on my 65. Just found out that the bumper needs to be dropped a bit. I tryed those Philips led bulbs and they were garbage - dimmer then normal 1157. I got some 8000 kv led from Amazon, hope they are better. I went for white, I got the felling it would be brighter.

Thanks for posting the last picture, at least I know it not for nothing, great improvement.

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More pics for your reference. It is a pain in the butt as dhcarguy attests. You need to drop the bumper and pull the quarter extensions. I ordered and installed new gaskets while I upgraded the paint (3 pairs required with APE part numbers listed; lenses L160C, taillight housing to body L160D and quarter panel extension L161AD). Managed to align my grungy old back bumper way better than it was while I was at it.

Thanks for that !

I postponed the complete dissassebley till I get the gaskets, need to pass a provincial inspection Monday.

I was wondering how the tailight grills are held on - I can barely see a phillips head of a screw in there - my grills are loose a little and rattle a bit.

You know, I am concerned about the brightness of the rear lights and was thinking of a third option (other then Dakota's led or super brite leds') how about drilling another hole in the housing and adding another bulb and socket? My car is far from stock so what can it hurt?

What do you think (anybody)

Regards

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The grill [bezel] is held on with 4 Phillips screws.
Adding a lamp may not work. Likely get to hot in the housing. A bigger problem is your electrical circuit and flasher may be a problem.

The bezels have 5 screws holding it in place. You have to remove the 1/4 extension to get to them.
If anyone needs nice originals, I am going to sell these. They belong on a very nice driver.

Not to belabor the color issue, but some good information in this link from Jalopy Journal. Some actual test data for different colors...

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/...ilights.18275/

In my case heat won't be a issue, as I am already running a LED bulb and adding another still won't cause enough heat. In another thred there was a gentleman that had some of these "super high output plasma" bulbs for $90 ... those I don't know about. I cant see how the turn signal curciut would be adversely effected by adding a second bulb, but without a doubt it would be a good idea to add the socket and bulb before boring holes.

Thanks

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led conversion
 

Is there a led bulb for the front turn signal/ marker light s ? konwal455gto

Did you look at this web-site? Enter your car by year, make and model. It will then show what lights for where. It explains what needs to be done to run LED on an older vehicle. And, if you’re like me and not good at wiring, you can call them up for help. https://www.superbrightleds.com/

led conversion
 

Thanks for the link . konwal455fto