LED Tail Light Bulbs Vs Stock – Which Are Better?

You may have noticed that the new trend for tail lights on new cars is to use LED tail lights.  While LED tail lights are brighter than most halogen tail lights you may be wondering how much more it would take to convert your tail lights to LED.   But which are cheaper LED tail light bulbs vs stock halogen tail light bulbs?

You can expect to pay about $14-20 for a pair of LED tail light bulbs.  While a pair of halogen tail light bulbs will typically cost about $5-10.  

Having bright brake lights can be the difference between alerting the car behind you that you are coming to a stop and the car slamming into the back of your car.

That’s why you want your tail lights to be as bright as possible to warn drivers behind you that you are slowing down.  But are LED tail light bulbs brighter than stock halogen tail light bulbs?

Are LED Tail Lights Brighter Vs Stock?

The answer is yes, most LED tail light bulbs will be brighter than stock.  This is because LEDs produce a brighter whiter light, while halogen bulbs will produce a more yellow hue.

Your tail lights will be brighter than stock halogen tail lights if you use LED tail light bulbs.  LED lights produce a whiter and brighter light than halogen tail light bulbs.

The brighter the light that the bulb can produce the brighter your tail lights will be when you press the brake pedal.  That is why most vehicle manufacturers have made the switch to start using LED tail light housings.

Can You Replace Your Tail Light Bulbs With LED Bulbs?

If you know how to replace a tail light bulb in your car then you should be able to convert your tail light bulbs to LED tail light bulbs.   Most LED bulb manufacturers will create LED bulbs that are designed to fit in the stock halogen bulb socket.

You would first need to find out what type of tail light bulb your car currently uses, you can then find a LED tail light bulb that will fit your stock tail light housing.

Do LED Tail Light Bulbs Cost More Than Halogen Tail Light Bulbs?

Yes, LED tail light bulbs will cost more than their comparable halogen tail light bulb counterparts.  This is because LED technology is newer technology than halogen. Because of this halogen bulbs are less expensive than LED tail light bulbs.

LED Tail Light Bulbs Reliability

Another reason to go with LED tail light bulbs is the reliability associated with LEDs.  LEDs are manufactured to last longer than halogen bulbs as they don’t use a filament to produce light.  Because of this LED bulbs can last up to twice as long as a comparable halogen tail light bulb.

In my experience, though LED tail light bulbs did not last as long as the regular halogen tail light bulbs that I was replacing.  LED tail light bulbs are brighter and will theoretically last longer but that was not what happened with me. I’m not sure if I had a bad batch of LED bulbs but they did not end up lasting that long.

How Do I Convert My Tail Lights to LED?

Converting your halogen tail light bulbs to LED tail light bulbs is not all that difficult.  Unless you plan to replace your whole tail light housing with an LED tail light housing like you would see on Audi’s or BMW’s, converting to LED tail light bulbs just means replacing a bulb.

To find out what type of tail light bulb your car takes you can search internet forums or use the vehicle selector guide on Amazon or Autozone’s website that will tell you what type of bulb is compatible with your tail lights.

If you don’t want to search internet forums your best bet is to use Amazon or Autozone to put in your specific vehicle which will filter the results based on what LED tail light bulbs are compatible with your specific vehicle.

When you go to the automotive section of Amazon you will see a section at the top where you can put in the specifics of your vehicle including the year, make, and model.  From there Amazon will filter for LED tail light bulbs that are compatible with your vehicle.  You can also do the same thing on the Autozone website.

If you’d like to check out a video explaining the process of how to replace a tail light bulb check out the video below.

Related Questions:

How easy is it to replace a tail light bulb?  Yes, most vehicle manufacturers make it pretty easy to access the back of the tail light housing in the event that a bulb burns out.  This makes it easy to remove and replace your tail light bulb with a new one.

If you do not see an access panel for the back of your tail lights in your trunk or back of your SUV then I would look up a video detailing the process for your vehicle on Youtube.

Usually, someone has had the same problem before and recorded the process on Youtube.  If you have a halogen tail light bulb that has burnt out now would be a perfect time to replace them with LED tail light bulbs.

If you were interested in replacing your headlights with LED headlights you may want to check out my other article about the cost to replace a headlight.

Do LED tail lights need resistors?  Some LED tail light bulbs will need resistors installed to keep your tail light bulbs from flashing quicker than they previously would have.  LED tail light bulbs may also need resistors installed to trick your car into thinking that a bulb is installed and not burnt out.

This is because LED lights use significantly less energy than halogen bulbs.  As a result, your car may think that the bulb is burnt out and not working at all even though it is still functioning fine.

Most LED tail light bulbs will not come with resistors but if yours does come with resistors you may want to install them if you run into your tail lights flashing too quickly or your car telling you that you have a burnt-out tail light bulb.

When I replaced my stock tail light bulbs with LED tail light bulbs I did not need to install resistors. However, when I made the switch to LED headlight bulbs my car needs to have resistors installed to trick the car into thinking that a halogen bulb is still installed.

Do LED tail light bulbs use less electricity?  Yes, LED tail light bulbs will use less electricity than halogen tail light bulbs. However, on a car, this isn’t that big of a deal as you won’t really be saving gas by replacing your halogen tail light bulbs with LED tail light bulbs.  The biggest difference in switching to LED tail light bulbs is the increased brightness provided by LED tail light bulbs.

LED Tail Light Bulbs Vs Stock – In Conclusion

Led tail light bulbs are a bit more expensive than stock halogen tail light bulbs but they will typically be a bit brighter than stock.  If you want to have brighter tail lights I would recommend replacing your halogen tail light bulbs with LED tail light bulbs to try out the difference.

Both are somewhat cheap to replace so even if you try LED tail light bulbs and don’t like them you could always buy another cheap set of halogen tail light bulbs.