When you're dumb ........

[NascaLT]

The taillight on my '04 LT isn't very bright (like me) so I went down to the local shop and asked if they had any inexpensive suggestions for brighter bulbs. They suggested Halogens and stated they use them on their personal 'scoot and sell a bunch of them. I buy three, come home, remove the taillight assembly, pop out the old bulbs, put in the new. Nice, easy, and boy are they bright. That was 8 months ago. Yesterday I'm standing behind the LT and noticed one of the bulbs had apparently burned out. A bit premature, I thought, but it happens. I remove the taillight assembly and was stunned. The bulb "holders" and the area around where these things attach to the assembly had melted together. The bulb tips melted, sections of the assembly had collapsed and the bulb holders had fused with the bulbs. The wiring harness, however, is pristine. I never blew a fuse, everything electrical works on the LT, and the outboard turn signal bulb area of the taillight assembly was intact and untouched. Of course, a new taillight assembly is ordered. With the factory dim (wit) bulbs. Being dull is better sometimes and a lot less costly.

[deputy5211]

The taillight on my '04 LT isn't very bright (like me) so I went down to the local shop and asked if they had any inexpensive suggestions for brighter bulbs. They suggested Halogens and stated they use them on their personal 'scoot and sell a bunch of them. I buy three, come home, remove the taillight assembly, pop out the old bulbs, put in the new. Nice, easy, and boy are they bright. That was 8 months ago. Yesterday I'm standing behind the LT and noticed one of the bulbs had apparently burned out. A bit premature, I thought, but it happens. I remove the taillight assembly and was stunned. The bulb "holders" and the area around where these things attach to the assembly had melted together. The bulb tips melted, sections of the assembly had collapsed and the bulb holders had fused with the bulbs. The wiring harness, however, is pristine. I never blew a fuse, everything electrical works on the LT, and the outboard turn signal bulb area of the taillight assembly was intact and untouched. Of course, a new taillight assembly is ordered. With the factory dim (wit) bulbs. Being dull is better sometimes and a lot less costly.

If you have not already ordered the tail light assembly, you might be interested in saving a pile of money by buying mine (from my wrecked '00 LT). I will include the bulb sockets as well. PM if interested and I'll send you details.
Tony

[zippy_gg]

Also a brighter alternative to stock bulbs are LED. Halogens, as you found out the expensive way, run hot!

[deputy5211]

Yes, LEDs are the way to go, IMHO.

Watch for a group buy coming back around soon!

[neodoc]

Of course, you could just leave it as is and when it catches fire, there will be no mistaking you have the brightest taillights on the road :) Seriously, though, I once changed over to LED bulbs bought here http://www.autolumination.com/. Dave Dragon from this forum has (or had) light towers which are super bright. You'll need 1157 for the tail/running lights. I actually sold mine to him after giving them a try and realizing that without load equalizers, my centerstand quit working and my turnsignals would flash at a rapid rate, as though the bike sensed a burned out bulb. If you're looking for brightness, these will work nicely. One word of caution, though, the white towers will be so bright that your brake lights will seem pinkish through the red lenses. You might want to get the red towers as well and compare. Good luck.