I have to perform the dreaded broken adjuster fix on my E39's headlights, and I figured it might be a good time to upgrade the lighting if possible (read: if simple and cheap). Looking at the current bulb options I see plug-and-play LED bulbs are readily available. Are these actually a lighting upgrade, or just the latest crappy fad? If the former, any brands to recommend or avoid? Any caveats or cautions?
This is relevant to my interest.
The ones I've tried pointed their light straight up and down. If this aligns with your existing filament placement, they're quite nice. If this is off by 90 degrees, they have weird reflections coming out of the projectors. Sadly, they were not quite right on the Miata, but did increase light. If you can use HIR2 bulbs, just go with that instead.
I've always heard that you don't want to change bulb types with the factory reflector that's designed for a certain type of bulb. But that may only apply to HIDs.
A friend of mine put them in his 2nd generation 4Runner when his aftermarket HID ballast gave out. He seems to be really impressed with the light output. He did have to re-align the lights though.
LED has to be a better upgrade than HIDs.
Some of the LED's are designed to work with halogen reflectors (a bit better than bare hid anyway) I have a friend who has been running them in a dodge truck for some time. Turns out they wont melt snow that sticks to the headlights.... But the output/amperage use is very good.
I've been looking at these as well, but I've heard that like the ghetto HID kits, they sear the retinas off of oncoming drivers because the reflectors aren't designed for the "bulb."
It seems to be the upgrade path on motorcycles.
java230 wrote: Turns out they wont melt snow that sticks to the headlights.... But the output/amperage use is very good.
This is my biggest concern with doing the upgrade... How hard is it to retrofit those volvo headlight wiper blades to cars that were never meant to have them?
I'm intrigued, may throw a set of H4s on the 240SX which has pretty bad halogens and gets minimal road use. I'm all for decreasing the electrical load. LED has been great in my house, garage, and flashlights.
GameboyRMH wrote: I've been looking at these as well, but I've heard that like the ghetto HID kits, they sear the retinas off of oncoming drivers because the reflectors aren't designed for the "bulb."
Oh god just what i need, a more intense replacement for hids. Ive been noticing some of the newer cars with led headlights like acura suvs are pretty blinding stock. Wonder if some laws will actually be enforced if they keep making headlights brighter
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