The reason is because led's are only bright when you are directly infront of them. Anywhere on angle, the light is severly diminished. When working off of reflection such as tailigihts, the bounce effect of the light off the chrome is terrible compared to halogen which gives an even spread over everywhere. Sooo, when I say they appear brighter, that's because it's only when you look at the led's directly in their path which has a limited viewing angle. Even directly in their light path, they still don't produce as much light as halogens do, but technology is getting there.
Now, the 60 smd chipped bulbs may have a fantastic output compared to others, but the average 20 or 30 smd led bulbs are not going to have a brighter output. We're talkin 3157 (402 lumens) compared to maybe 100lumens equivilant output of an led.

Your much better off getting a pair of 3357/3457 bulbs which give 500lumens so you get 25% more ouput than the 3157 stock bulbs. Plus, they will prob be cheaper than the overpriced led's. and you won't need resistors

 

3357 and 3457? I have never heard. If thats the case i will look at those and buy some. And they will fit directly in the same slot as the 3057?

 

Well i purchased a single set of LED's off of ebay. Only reason being they were a mere $3.60. Tossed them on the truck yesterday and very true, nowhere near as bright at the bulbs. Back to the thinking cap.

 

What did you buy? Where they tower bulbs with numerous leds?

 

They were 24 LED's in total. 18 rear facing and 6 going around to cover the side. Went to bulbtown.com last night and purchased 3457's for less then a dollar a piece. I will see how they work.

 

Well i just painted my tails and 3rd brake and need brighter bulbs the tails only got one coat of vht nightshades so i just dont want to get a fine the tails are bright at night but its daytime im worried about ill post how much brighter they ar