I did a quick search and didn't find anything.

I went on fall drive with some friends of mine a week ago. It was a rare sunny fall day here in Seattle. Anyway everyone who was behind me at some point remarked how it was very hard to tell when my brakes came on unless we were on a shady stretch of road. To me they looked "normal" when I checked them in the parking lot. Has anyone else ever had this kind of feedback? Is there a brighter bulb/LED upgrade that anyone knows of?

Thanks in advance.

 

There are brighter bulbs, but you are probably going to run into a situation where your Tail Light warning light in your gauge cluster will come on when you turn your lights on. And to hot a bulb may melt your tail light housing from the heat of the bulb or the resistance from the older wiring.

I have an 84 and it's very sensitive to bulbs. When I replace bulbs I have to use the osram bulbs.

 

Have you checked the voltage at the sockets yet?
I would make sure you're getting the full 12v before trying to find different bulbs.

 

"Tired" reflector sections in the lamp assembly will do this for you. A little dirt, some rainwater, corrosion, and the reflectors inside no longer reflect. For the later lamp assemblies anyway, they might come unglued with the right application of heat. I've never done it, just speculating.

 

Check the bulbs for blackening from age and replace if they have become dark.

 

I have gotten that feedback on the 243K mile white car and agree with the suggestions, above. Here is what I found and had done to solve it:

1. A couple of sockets were corroded - cleaned up and I think even replaced one (this was a while back so I am going from long term memory)
2. Reflector housings were actually black in some parts. Cleaned up and painted with chrome paint. Amazing difference!
3. Lense cover was partly melted in one spot from wrong bulb. Replaced lens cover and bulb.
4. Mismatched, wrong wattage, and blackened bulbs found. Heard about some Honda bulbs as good upgrades from a good source (need to look up the source) and swapped those in. No warnings on my 86.5 and no signs of melting over the years. Trick may be to replace in matching pairs.

I hope that helps!

 

I have used a silver(chrome) mylar tape for holding the insulation sheets in our Airstream. It's thin and bright. I wonder if you could replace the silver areas that have become dull with this mylar tape?

 

Thanks for the feedback everyone!

I did have the tail light assemblies off last year and did clean all of the terminals inside the sockets and the plug ends at the time. However I don't remember paying any attention to the condition of the reflective coating, bulb glass or if the bulbs were matched pairs. I will look into that now.

Van I like the idea of a foil tape. We use aluminum "speed tape" in the flight test world. Seems to me it would be more reflective than a silver or chrome paint. One con I see though is the adhesive eventually wearing off and becoming unstuck.

I suppose any good chrome spray paint could work, but does anyone know of a taillight specific reflective paint? Carlos what brand did you use?

 

I just checked on the brand and low and behold it's called "Reflective Tape" . Good question on how long it would stick.

 

I'm reading on a few other sites that most guys feel flat or gloss white is better than chrome/silver paint and or foil or tape. I think I may try out a few and post my findings.

 

It was years ago and I thought I still had the spray can somewhere, but I couldnt find it. I think it was the plasti-kote bumper chrome spray paint (#615) like in this thread on a pantera forum:

http://www.panteraplace.com/page20.htm

They mention that auto parts stores have reflective paint made soecifically for tail lights, but thats not what I used.

I would not be surprised if I discovered it was a Krylon or Dupli-Color chrome paint instead. I would read the labels on whatever you use, to be sure the dried paint tolerates heat well. I found a thread by Dean Fuller over on Pelican where he mentions (in post 191 & 192) his use of chrome paint on his son's early tail light housings:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsc...1980-a-10.html

I had not heard about using white paint, but would be curious on the results!

 

I'll speculate that the reflective tape used for insulation has some consideration for temperature in the adhesive. It sort of goes with the application (of the tape...). Virtually any of these products, particularly Nate's "speed tape", will have a spec sheet that indicates temperature limits. I can't think of anything in aircraft use that doesn't have a detailed spec sheet.

Nate -- Got a brand/model/etc for the "speed tape" you use?

 

The tape we use is 3M's 425 Foil Tape. Probably the same or similar to what is used in other industries. In my experience this tape adheres very well to aluminum. Just not sure how well it would do on the tail light plastic overtime. I am going to test out its reflective properties in that application when I try the paints as well.

 

Thanks for the links. I'll have to check out my local O'Reilly's and see what they have on the shelf.

 

As a motorcyclist I am very concerned with the visibility of my signals to other drivers especially in your scenario. For sure, rejuvenating the reflectivity of the housings themselves can only improve the output, but nothing will compare to switching the bulbs to LEDs. You will get a stop lamp warning but when the time comes to rebuild your instrument cluster you can remove the warning bulb and tape over the hole

I have considered using aluminium HVAC tape inside the housings but haven't gotten around to it. This stuff sticks so well it is effectively permanent and holds up to hundreds of degrees.