I bought a pair of 50w 1156 bulbs from JC Whitney to use for my reverse lights. They are GREAT! It really looks like a 50% improvement. I was worried about the wattage, but the manufacturer's instructions said they will not harm the existing wiring harness when used normally. It is NOT recommended that the reverse lights be left on for more than 3 minutes at a time.

I was thinking this would be a great replacement for turn signal bulbs. After all, they're not on for very long and the flashing effect would keep the temperature down. However, the turn signal light circuit has a higher load than the reverse lights. Would just 50w bulbs in the rear put too much of a load on the circuit when hitting the hazard switch? I guess I could try them out and take a chance on blowing a fuse...

If 50w would be too much, I was thinking of getting 35/5w 1157's and just shaving them to work in 1156 sockets. Has anyone tried this with success? I did find one pair of 35w 1156's, but they were "no name", and I won't take a chance with that.

 

why would you want such high watt turn signals? I mean i have polarg 27 watts and people i know complain about them when they're following me...

 

I'm looking into Altezzas (w/plans to customize) and I've heard they don't throw light as well as OEM. Thus requiring more wattage. If you find 27w is very bright, then maybe my search is over.