Anyone know some good cheap places to buy LEDs for a 2000 Mustang GT? The cheapest I can find some 32 led bulbs is about $15 a piece. That includes ebay. Is that a good price or is there better?
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2000 Laser Red Mustang GT
Check it out at www.cardomain .com/ride/2170105
I used to work for a company that produced some automotive light bulbs. We used halogen bulbs as the light source in the product. In the process of knowing what our competitors do - and in considering the move to LED based bulbs - we tested our product and compared it to literally dozens of LED replacements.
I personally assisted with some of these tests on our product at the ETL testing lab in Cortland NY. (I didnt work for ETL - they were contracted to perform the testing on our bulbs, and I assisted with the test to ensure it was performed to our specifications.) BTW, ETL is a really cool place --- if you ever get the chance take a tour. I especially like their shaker tables and photometrics lab.
Back to the story - the guy running the test for us commented that NONE of the NON-OEM LED bulbs tested had the brightness or viewing angle to pass federal DOT/SAE tests. This means the majority (if not all) of those LED replacement bulbs on the market will be sold "For Off-Road Use Only." Being that they are not DOT/SAE approved, they will be illegal to use in many states. See "B" below.
Based on some of the tests we performed I would caution you that the vast majority of the LED bulb replacement on the market have significant problems including:
A) The designs usually use the LED lens instead of the vehicles reflector. This results in a bulb that is bright from certain angles, yet not easily seen from others.
B) The bulbs are not DOT/SAE approved, so in many states they will be illegal. Check the package for the "Off Road Use Only" sticker. The importance of this is......Lets say you have LED bulbs in the parking lights all the way around. You get side swiped/T-Boned and the person at fault says they couldnt see your lights. Who is going to win that lawsuit?
C) LEDs normally have a 10000+ hour life. However, many of the cheap LED replacment bulbs have improperly sized resistors, so the resistors that limit the LED brightness sometimes fail.
D) The overall quality is poor. Ive seen several 1157 style bulbs that had terminals that were out of spec causing the bulb to have poor contact to the socket. Ive also seen bulbs that have poor solder joints, causing some of the LEDS to flicker on/off with bumps.
THIS BEING SAID: There are a lot of reasons to use LED, if you can get a "good one." "Cool" is one of them and safety -if you can overcome the limited viewing angle - is the other. (LEDs turn on almost instant - where a Halogen has about 1/8th second to full brightness. Think 1/8th second is not much? Do the math and see how many feet it is at 70MPH. You will quickly find that 1/8 second makes the difference between a fatal accident and a near miss. :-O ) So while LEDs could cause "b" above, they could also prevent it.
BTW, the bulbs linked to in ebay I have not seen first hand. Judging from the picture it is clear the bulb does not radiate in a 360 degree "ball" pattern as would a regular (filament type) bulb - so the reflector mechanism they are installed into will not function as desired. With this in mind, my comments refer mostly to the regular LED replacement bulbs where you have 10 or 12 oe so LEDs all facing on direction - which is basically a crapola design.
For now, Ill stick to regular bulbs.
You be the judge, this is just my $0.02 and I want the change!
I used to work for a company that produced some automotive light bulbs. We used halogen bulbs as the light source in the product. In the process of knowing what our competitors do - and in considering the move to LED based bulbs - we tested our product and compared it to literally dozens of LED replacements.
I personally assisted with some of these tests on our product at the ETL testing lab in Cortland NY. (I didnt work for ETL - they were contracted to perform the testing on our bulbs, and I assisted with the test to ensure it was performed to our specifications.) BTW, ETL is a really cool place --- if you ever get the chance take a tour. I especially like their shaker tables and photometrics lab.
Back to the story - the guy running the test for us commented that NONE of the NON-OEM LED bulbs tested had the brightness or viewing angle to pass federal DOT/SAE tests. This means the majority (if not all) of those LED replacement bulbs on the market will be sold "For Off-Road Use Only." Being that they are not DOT/SAE approved, they will be illegal to use in many states. See "B" below.
Based on some of the tests we performed I would caution you that the vast majority of the LED bulb replacement on the market have significant problems including:
A) The designs usually use the LED lens instead of the vehicles reflector. This results in a bulb that is bright from certain angles, yet not easily seen from others.
B) The bulbs are not DOT/SAE approved, so in many states they will be illegal. Check the package for the "Off Road Use Only" sticker. The importance of this is......Lets say you have LED bulbs in the parking lights all the way around. You get side swiped/T-Boned and the person at fault says they couldnt see your lights. Who is going to win that lawsuit?
C) LEDs normally have a 10000+ hour life. However, many of the cheap LED replacment bulbs have improperly sized resistors, so the resistors that limit the LED brightness sometimes fail.
D) The overall quality is poor. Ive seen several 1157 style bulbs that had terminals that were out of spec causing the bulb to have poor contact to the socket. Ive also seen bulbs that have poor solder joints, causing some of the LEDS to flicker on/off with bumps.
THIS BEING SAID: There are a lot of reasons to use LED, if you can get a "good one." "Cool" is one of them and safety -if you can overcome the limited viewing angle - is the other. (LEDs turn on almost instant - where a Halogen has about 1/8th second to full brightness. Think 1/8th second is not much? Do the math and see how many feet it is at 70MPH. You will quickly find that 1/8 second makes the difference between a fatal accident and a near miss. :-O ) So while LEDs could cause "b" above, they could also prevent it.
BTW, the bulbs linked to in ebay I have not seen first hand. Judging from the picture it is clear the bulb does not radiate in a 360 degree "ball" pattern as would a regular (filament type) bulb - so the reflector mechanism they are installed into will not function as desired. With this in mind, my comments refer mostly to the regular LED replacement bulbs where you have 10 or 12 oe so LEDs all facing on direction - which is basically a crapola design.
For now, Ill stick to regular bulbs.
You be the judge, this is just my $0.02 and I want the change!
Blade
There has got to be led's you can buy that are legal, many new cars, truck, buses use them, they are even now used in traffic signals, and I find them just as bright or brighter than the incandescent ones.
How long ago were these tests run?
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2006 GT Tungsten Grey 5 spd, Xcal2/Pipeline CAI, Powerhouse tune. Spoiler delete. Front Speakers:Infinity 6812CF;Blaupunkt GTc652. Rear:Infinity Kappa 682.7CF. H/U:Alpine CDA-9885. Alpine MRP-F250 amp. Sequentials. President of the Splash guard registry. On Deck: Motoblue UDP's.
There has got to be led's you can buy that are legal, many new cars, truck, buses use them, they are even now used in traffic signals, and I find them just as bright or brighter than the incandescent ones.
How long ago were these tests run?
You are correct. It isnt usually the brightness of the LED - but the quantity of LEDs. Look at the newer vehicles with LED lighting and you will see several things:
1) The caddy uses many many many LEDs in the rear. With LEDs facing all required directions and with a reflector designed for LEDs, the desired viewing angle and brightness is reached.
2) Busses - You will note they have side marker lights, so the rear LEDs usually only need be visible to the rear. This is not the case in *most* normal vehicles.
3) Please note that in point "A" of my original post that my main gripe (and the main reason aftermarket LEDs are not approved) has to do with viewing angle. Certainly the individual bulbs can and often are bright enough to meet spec - the trouble comes in with the viewing angle. A (exageration to make point) 500 candle power bulb that has a 10 degree viewing angle is nothing compared to a stock assembly that has 500 candle power yet is viewable from 100 degrees.
4) Your stop light example s very good - From the oncoming direction you see the LEDs very bright - from the side there is a very significant reduction.
I agree with Blade, I bought some LED bulbs for my car and they were almost impossible to see during the day, and even at night they werent too visible because they dont reflect off of the light housing. the taillight and rear turn indicator lights stick out too far to reflect at all. I've checked my local laws and found that while they are "legal", they have to meet certain visibility requirements. Unless there are some special ones out there, I would say that LED's just arent bright enough to be safe yet.
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89' GT Ragtop.
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Cheap LEDs 
