Improving the brightness of your tail lights, brake and turn signals

[Kern Dog]

Many people either accept that their taillights are not as bright as new cars or take steps to improve them.
Some efforts are a waste of time. One of them is Drop in LED bulbs like these:





You don't need to know the brand. If you see a design like these on a shelf or in an online listing, do NOT buy them. They actually put out LESS light than an 1157 incandescent. Here is a comparison. The left side is regular 1157 bulbs, the right is the LEDs in the pictures above:



The inner bulbs in both housings are #89 single filament bulbs that are about 7 1/2 watts.

[Kern Dog]

Stepping back a bit though....
I started off with stock taillight housings that were "seasoned" for 55 years. Here is what the regular taillights looked like:



 Inside they had the standard dull silver appearance.



You can see some blackening on the top side of the pods.....I think this was from bulbs getting hot.

[Kern Dog]

I cleaned the surfaces and painted over the silver with satin white exterior house paint.



I didn't just pick this idea out of thin air. A guy named Daniel Stern suggested it on the forum "For A Bodies Only" under the screen name SlantSixDan.



I did a sloppy job on one of them....



The results are great though.
This is the tail and brake lights now...

[Kern Dog]

While doing all of this, I kept chasing electrical issues. I first noticed that I had no brake lights when I tried to see how much brighter the left was from the right. I took pictures of the turn signals as they flashed. I traced the dead brake lights to a bad turn signal switch when I plugged in a different switch and the brake lights worked again.



Brake lights....With how seasoned the wiring is, the lights are noticeably brighter with the engine running.



To remind you, this is the comparison where the left side is all incandescents, the right is LEDs in the middle and right with the #89 bulb in the inner socket.



There are supposedly some LED bulbs that are great but for me, this will be more than good enough!

[Kern Dog]

I replaced the turn signal switch and gained brake lights but the turn signals up front are weird. I have a left turn signal but not a right. The flashers make the taillights blink but not the front.
The taillights are brighter at all times though. Below, the car on the LEFT has stock taillight housings, the car on the right has the painted housings.



Can you tell a difference?



I was here alone and could not press the brake on both cars to get a picture of the brake lights. I turned the flashers on in both cars, hoping to snap a couple of pictures as they both were brighter from the flasher...



I don't know if I got it right. The car on the right looks a lot brighter though.