Brighter taillights?

[67686977]

I was following one of my friends the other night and I noticed how dull his tail lights were. So when I got home I checked mine and noticed how dull and faded my housing looked. Is there anything i could put in there to reflect the light a little more? I thought about tin foil but I think there is probably a better way. Any suggestions?

 

[powersfab]

you could send out the reflecters and have them cromed.
get new lenses
LED Bulbs
or put in a relay and biger wiring.

 

[broncojack]

You can get a can of "Chrome Paint" at any auto parts store and shoot the insides of the reflector . It will make a big difference

 

[Skuzzlebutt]

Get yourself a small (4") buffing wheel to fit in your drill and some metal polishing compound. You can get a mirror like finish on the reflector pretty easily.

 

[mudde]

I sand blasted mine then painted them bright white, because I did have to buy the chrome paint that way. It helped a lot. When you paint them make sure you clean the paint off the mounting bolts or you will lose your ground.

 

[hackyrat]

Wonder how those hyper bright LED bulbs would work? BC has them.

 

[72Sport]

I bought a roll of "chrome" tape at PBoys and cut and whittled until the tape matched the contour of the rear of the housing. It has been in there a couple of years and seems to have helped.

Check the ground wire or wires for the tail lights. Remove the ground wire screws and clean the metal behind the wire terminal and maybe replace the screw that holds them to the body. Buy new screws at PBoys or? not the hardware store. Hardware store sheetmetal screws have a coarser thread pitch than automotive sheetmetal screws.

You might also clean the pins and sockets on the wire harness plugs at the rear of the Bronco.

All of the above should help.

 

[ASE-73]

Try Halogen bulbs ... significantly brighter at the same current draw.

 

[73stallion]

i have the hyper led's from bc and i love them. looks like you're riding the brakes a friend told me. i have a few customers that want me to install them also.

 

[DirtDonk]

That's good to know. Some of the earlier versions of LED's were pretty wimpy behind our old lens'.
When I was testing some in my housings, I found that high gloss white paint worked better than the "aluminum" paint I had and even better than the chrome tape that I tried. But some tapes and chrome paint might be even better.
But like was said the first thing to do is to clean the contacts in the housing and the plug, make sure the housing is very well grounded, and that full power is coming through all the wires. Mine were always pretty bright to begin with so I would think that good connections are the place to start.
I've been using 50w halogens in my backup lamp sockets and have been very happy. Haven't tried them in the taillight yet but can't wait to play around.
You have any nighttime pic's of yours with the L.E.D.'s 73?

Paul

 

[Skuzzlebutt]

So they make halogen 1156s & 1157s? I've never seen them, but I've never looked either.

 

[Broncobowsher]

So they make halogen 1156s & 1157s? I've never seen them, but I've never looked either.

I've seen them before in motorcycle supply catalogs. Sorry, don't have any o the catalogs at work with me right now. Just copies of Summit, Speedway motors, and the newest Bronco driver.

 

[El Jefe]

it is my opinion that none of the direct replacement LEDs for 1157/6 bulbs are worth the hassle:

LEDs are directional and to achieve the reflection effect that a standard incandescent bulb + reflective housing provides, one must have more than the 15-20 (guess) leds that fit in the 1157 round.

I'd rather build or adapt a board of leds similar to these from early classics ent. (too bad there aren't any Ford applications listed in this site http://www.earlyclassic.com/techarticles/ctsep03pg1.html

I saw the install on the article truck on TRUCKS! and i was sold.

 

[vap13]

Eastwood sells a spray thats suppose to be just for that. They call it reflective aluminum and the item # is 10005Z $8.99 a can. I havn't tried it myself yet but am planning on getting a can.
Paul

 

[HotWheels]

i have the hyper led's from bc and i love them. looks like you're riding the brakes a friend told me. i have a few customers that want me to install them also.

What is involved in the install of these? I need some good tailights up here in the dank NW!!

thanx!!

 

[J-DUB]

If I am right Mick, which isn't always true, they just replace the standard 1157 bulbs with a 1157 led.
After a little Yahoo search:

LED

 

[HotWheels]

are those the ones chuck sells? aren't his different..higher quality and such? I dunno...