this sounds like a repeat post. LED lights are a lot of work in any car that didn't come with LEDS from the factory. Cheap LED's, expensive LED's, they're all questionable especially the really bright ones since you are forcing so much light out of a tiny little diode. Regardless of the "100,000 hours" they claim LED's will last, heat alone will destroy them.

 

Don't they generate way less heat than a standard bulb though? Part of my reasoning for going LEDs was so that it wasn't producing so much heat and yellowing out the housings prematurely.

apologies for the thread derail lets stick to OPs issue lol

 

I read your other post
Is it possible they are internally wired backwards ?
If you look at the car with
just brake lights
Then just park lights

Are the parks brighter on their own vs the brakes on their own ?

If so , while standing on the brake does turning on park lights make a big difference ?

 

OP, did you post same concerns about the Holly LED on Team Camaro forum forum in 1st gen section??

 

Yes, it's actually a 69 Camaro with a 95 LT1. I find both helpful. After testing everything out, I felt people should know.
If I got a bad batch, there were 6 taillights and 2 parking lights that were bad.

 

sounds like this was a polarity issue, meaning the brake lights were functioning as tail lights and vice versa. I had the same problem but with a different brand of led bulb on my 64 Mercury Marauder. All you have to do is flip the bulb around, but sometimes the socket won't allow it to fit. If that happens you will need to use a bench grinder or a file on the 2 prongs on the bottom of the bulb. Then you can get it to fit and lock in when you twist it in the socket. LED bulbs are a little tricky since they need the electronic flasher(s) to work. I did this on my 96 Impala and they work perfectly. But they are brighter in some cases and they seem to make better contact. On my 64 Marauder, the turn signal indicators on the top front fenders did not work all the time with the incandescent bulbs and they were pretty dim during the day. After i changed them out to LED, they are a lot brighter and work everytime. Here's a short vid of my 64 Merc and the turn signals. 64 Mercury Turn Signals

 

NOPE

 

For the record, no they are not wired backwards When putting one in a pigtail and connecting it directly to the battery with one on, there is a slight difference dimming of when the second lead is connected. switching wires makes no difference, All of the LEDs are light up when either lead is connected.

 

man those holley bulbs are $30 a pair you're a big $$$ spender lol. i used yorkim 1157 red/amber bulbs for my marauder and my 70 chevelle. $13 for the pair. If you still want to go down the LED path, i would get a different brand of LED bulbs and test it out. That way you can kinda narrow it down to if the bulbs are really defective or something else is goin on with your wiring or flasher. If not, just stay with the incandescent bulbs. Only reason i converted all mine to LED is because at one time my tail lights were tinted on the impala (anybody on here remember nashsurecanpaint?) and with the regular 3496 bulbs it wasn't bright enough thru the tint. Nash did some excellent paintwork back in the day, they looked amazing though! If you want your lights brighter with regular incandescent use the chrome brite trim brite tape inside the housings. I got that idea here on the forums (bucket lens mod) and it does help reflect the light. Big shout out and thank you to all the forum members on here who have contributed info/ideas all thru the years!

 

I spent the extra $$ because I wanted quality. I just went through the one- and two-star ratings on different bulbs in Amazon. It seems that they all have the same issue. Very little or no difference between tail and brake brightness.

I ordered a Maxxima bulb that another member recommended.

Stay safe.

 

the regular 3496 bulbs

The specified bulbs for a Impala/Caprice are 2057.
The marker filament produces less light (2CP vs 3CP on a 1157/3496).
The higher 3CP marker light reduces the difference between the tail light and the brake light.

With the headlights on, the taillights are so bright that the brake light isn't even noticeable when they come on. Same for the turn signals.

I am not surprised a non DOT approved lighting product does not meet DOT specifications.

Some provinces and states, and Canada and USA federal laws prohibit the use of untested LED "bulbs" for on road use.

 

yup that's correct the stock bulbs are 2057s but i remember reading that the 3496 krypton was considered an "upgrade" since they output 43 candlepower vs. 32. I had them in and i could clearly see a difference between running light and brake light but i ended up going with LEDs afterwards. Marvin Davis tested the 3496s on his website http://www.sequentialtaillights.com/3496.html
Again, LEDs aren't for everyone but i can clearly see the difference between running light/parking light and brake on my vehicles and never had someone tell me the brake lights weren't functioning.

 

OP is absolutely right, the Holley signal bulbs are not correctly set up in terms of brightness between modes. Brake lamps are supposed to be 3x to 5x brighter than the driving lamp; the Holleys are less than twice as bright. I switched mine out for Sylvania Zevos which had a better differential.