If there is anyone out there like me, you like your bulbs to be as bright as possibile. Upgrading your signal and mini bulbs will help improve the safety of your car. After a little research, I was surprised to find out that most of the bulbs that come originally on the Cobalt are the dimmest lights out there. The automotive industry actually makes the same bulbs that are used in our brake lights, mirror, and side marker lights in different brightness values. Here is a list of the common bulbs that are on the Cobalt that can be upgraded. These lights might also work on the Ions and Pursuits, but I will have to check all of this later on.

The list will have the following setup.

Bulb Location
Original Bulb Number
Dim (if applicable) / Bright Illumination in MCSD (measurement for brightness)
Upgraded Bulb Number
Dim (if applicable) / Bright Illumination in MCSD (measurement for brightness)


Turn Signal
3157
3 / 32
3357
3 / 40
If using projectors or clear backing turn signals
3157NA (Probably the most commonly one that everyone gets)
2.2 / 24
3357NA
2.2 / 30

Side Marker Bulbs (same for front and rear)
194
- / 2
2825
- / 4

Interior Front Mirror Lights
194
- / 2
2825
- / 4

Brake Lights
3157
3 / 32
3357
3 / 40

Trunk Light
194
- / 2
2825
- / 4

License Plate
194
- / 2
2825
- / 4

All of these lights can be found at your local auto parts store for anywhere between $3 - $5 a pair. Understand that with brighter lights means shorter lifetimes. But no worrys on that. These bulbs have a minimum rated lifetime of 300+ hrs.

Everyone go out and enjoy your brighter lights.

 

I like my taillights... they're really bright!
Good info though!

 

Light bulbs will eventually be replaced by LEDs anyway, so I don't see any point in spending money for bulbs that are a little brighter but will have a shorter life. Every exterior light on my car aside from the headlights and foglights are already using LEDs, and some blow the brightness of bulbs out of the water.

 

Yes, that is true. LEDs are brighter. But when LED replacement bulbs are put into a regular light bulb housing, there is usually not a very good illumination to the reflector. The LEDs are so directional that a vast majority of the illumination is straight out the light. With regular bulbs, they will light the reflector very well. And with the brighter the light, the brighter the reflector.

You look at most of the upgraded bulbs that I mentioned. They are between 25%-100% brighter than the original. When I wrote this, I did not plan on converting everyone to get brighter bulbs. This was some information that I was going to pass on to help people out who wanted a brighter bulb without spending a lot of money.

 

Sorry I should have clarified what I meant. I despise the LED bulbs that are so directional and so dim that they can barely be seen even at night. I had a pair for my Sunbird a few years ago. They sucked. But there are LED bulbs out there that do exactly what those cheap LED bulbs wont, which is light up the entire reflector. These are the type I use, and while they may be significantly more expensive than regular light bulbs, I think they're a better option for those who want the really high-end look and don't want to worry about having to replace the bulbs when they blow out. Here's what my front signals look like lit up with my LED bulb:

 

I have very dark tail lights.. would these improve my chances of getting passed for inspection. Also being seen during the day.
http://www.amazon.com/CHEVROLET-Coba.../dp/B000LJEDSK

 

Those are actually the LEDs you want to avoid. They won't illuminate the reflector at all, so in combination with your dark tail lights, you'd be making the situation worse.

 

i checked out the 3357 replacement bulbs didn't look like they would be much brighter.. can you point me in a good direction?? as to another brighter bulb.. even brighter than 3357

 

If you want to stick with LEDs you can check out the type I'm using. Go here: http://www.v-leds.com/Shop/Control/P...id/0/SFV/32481 and see if they interest you. I know you probably won't like the pricing, but these are by far the best LED bulbs I have ever used. These are identical to the ones I have in my signals in the above pic except those are amber not red.

 

i honestly don't care what i stick with as long as people can see me.. i don't want to get rearended cuz someone cant see me brake. I know these are LED's to. but LED's are all i can find for brightness.. but what's so different about these that they are cheaper. http://www.v-leds.com/Shop/Control/P...id/0/SFV/32481

well regardless, I need bright bulbs, so I'll take your word for it, and I'm buying them.. hopefully they shine through my almost black taillights.

 

The difference is in the way the bulb is designed. The ones you linked to are basically the same as the original ones you linked to a few posts back, but these have six LEDs aimed sideways, towards the reflector to help spread the light out a little bit. In total there are 24 individual LEDs in that bulb. The bulbs I linked to are a completely different design that use a much smaller type of LED (what they call M-SMT) which allows one bulb to have 60 LEDs built into it, most of which are aimed at the reflector, automatically making it brighter than the cheaper bulbs.

 

Yeah just wondering. Do you know where i could purchase led lights for my interior front mirror

 

When you put the LED's in, do you need to get load resistors, to keep from blowing fuses?

 

You need 40 lumens or more from a LED 194/168 replacement in order to match the light output of an incandescent. Last I checked, V-LEDS only had a few 194/168 LEDs that exceeded 40 lumens.

For the 921 reverse lights, you need 263 or more lumens. I haven't found any LEDs that produced this much light at V-LEDS.

 

This should be a sticky.

I got blue LED's in my reverse, interior and license plate.

 

FWIW, blue is not allowed on non-emergency vehicles. White or yellow on the front, red or yellow in the rear except for white on the reverse and license plate.