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Originally Posted by Diamond Dog
it keeps dirt from accumlating on the rear window as much as it would without a spoiler.
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It does help a lot with the dirt accumulating but I also find that the salt road mist builds very quick on the third brake light itself (same as on the tailights).
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Originally Posted by Diamond Dog
It also is brighter than the 3rd brake light with all the LED's on it.
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This varies depending on the manufacturer. The cheap one I got had to have possibly THE WORST, LED 3rd light on it. I was driving behind my wife and was like WTF, you can barely see this! Then I started looking at all the Sequoia's and realized that even the factory one is pretty poor when compared to other manufacturers 3rd LED's especially in "off angle" (2-3 cars back, 1 lane over). I then started researching more on LED's (especially when I saw how bright and excellent off angle the LED's on our fire trucks, chiefs cars and ambulances were). The "warning" ones have like 140 degree+ viewing angle and MANY other brake light ones are like 20-25 degree (per LED). After some calls to Whelen and other LED companies and a BUNCH of great info, I came across these
http://www.superbrightleds.com/leds.htm #RL5-3545.
Some of the things I learned:
The LEDS are measured mcd (millicandela) like candlepower for the LEDS.
Viewing angle as posted in 1/2 angle in the specs (20 degree = 40 degree actual visibility for viewing)
The mcd and viewing angle are inverse proportion. A 3500mcd 45 degree is the same or brighter than a 5000 mcd 30 degree)
The forward voltage needs to be observed so you can put the correct qty together or add correct resistor. To much voltage and it's burnt out right away (might be brighter for a short time though)
So I bought 40 (only needed 36) of these and unsoldered the original ones and put these in its place (that was an interesting project!) The results are EXCELLENT. I now have a 3rd light that is brighter than original Toyota factory (but not blinding) and can be viewed at a 45 degree off angle (1 car back, 1 lane over) and it is as bright as being directly behind it
. It now is just as bright as the best ones I saw (Nissan, Infiniti, BMW) but actually has a little better viewing angle.