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LED Headlights

malbrecht1

SM 2017
Full Member
Joined
Oct 28, 2016
Messages
61
Location
Minnesota
Today I installed LED headlights I bought on Amazon and LED DRLs.

Stock halogen on the left. New LED on the right.
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Both LED headlights and DRLs
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Night shot
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The light output is 5 times better than the halogens that we in it. I am amazed at the difference. I would recommend these to anyone. Next I have to find some LED fog lights to match the 6500k color.
 
Just so you know... LED's are illegal to run on the road... And you will find that the LED's you have are very spotty for output.  You will have some areas very bright and others dark.

You need projectors to make those safe so your not blinding others and the light is focused so it isn't just glaring. And make it less likely to get pulled over. You WILL fail safety tests with them installed regardless and can be ticketed for improper lighting.

Rodney
 
I like my Led headlights too, led are not illegal. lots of cars and trucks come with them standard.

They make them nowadays to work with the standard light housing
 
redheadedrod said:
Just so you know... LED's are illegal to run on the road.

False, at least in Pennsylvania.
It is legal to run LED's in a stock housing, the only time the housing must be changed here is if you swap to an HID, and only in the lows. The law here requires a HID to be "focused" either by shielding or a projector. No clause in the vehicle code states this in regards to a LED.
In regards to the DRL, I can't remember the number off the top of my head, but there is a maximum output associated with them. As long as they are not crazy bright, you shoud be fine.
Rod does make a good point on the spotty output though. I have seen some that look like polka dots on the road, but have seen others that emit light just like a halogen, depends on the bulbs you buy.
As long as your aim is adjust properly (if there is a different emission pattern. this may not be the case) you shouldn't run into any trouble. 
 
Yeah, not a fan of LED in stock housing. I plan to put LEDs in my Malibu, but that already has a shroud to cutoff light so I don't blind airplanes.

Looks good but you need projector lenses.
 
Does this look like it will blind a airplane, stock light assembly no projectors

33cc7907-c7f5-4b8d-9b69-f12303c3f678_zps8j9jyrua.jpg
 
If the LED's put out more light than the OEM's they are most definitely illegal to run without proper cutoffs. It is like running brights all the time.

While there may not be specific laws that outlaw LED's they are too bright in standard OEM housings and will blind oncoming drivers. For this reason they are illegal because you can't dim them.

Note that vehicles that come with LED's standard have totally different optics and were designed from day one to run that way and are totally legal. I also have some LED lighting for my truck that is totally legal because they come in projectors designed for them.

PNP (Plug and Play) HID's, LED's or even going with a 100 watt conventional bulb are considered illegal in most if not all states due to the total light output being too high. As Mentioned they are considered the same as running your brights which you can be cited for.

I currently run LED's in my fogs and they are decent... Much better than using OEM bulbs or even the 35 watt HID's I had before them but I am aware I could be ticketed for them and try to only run them when necissary since I drive a lot around Deer. and heavy snow or fog.

 
I didn't know I would receive so much hate for having LEDs. I absolutely love them. The light output is much brighter than stock, and I don't have any spots in the lights. I had a more spotty light throw with the halogens. I feel safer driving at night because they light up the sides of the road much better than the stock lights.

As far as being illegal or legal. I'm not sure on the technicality and I don't really care. I've had a cop pass me on the freeway and I drove past another one on my way home from work tonight. They don't seem to care. I haven't had anyone flash their brights at me, so it must not be too blinding for them.

The DRLs don't really have any light throw, they just match the color of the headlights.

Overall I'm very happy with these lights, and would recommend them to anyone looking to increase their visibility at night, without going through the hassle of installing HID kits.
 
What brand and what are the specs of led lights? I have 55 w hid's in my truck and want to upgrade Car and was looking into this option. I've heard some good and bad from some companies.
 
malbrecht1,
I'm not sure if I would consider it hate thrown your way about LED lighting as much as offering a possible source of problems down the road with modding lights. Each state has different inspection standards and regulations and depending on where you live you could pass or fail the yearly inspection if your state happens to have one. At one time Virginia regulations stated that lights had to be SAE or DOT approved, a specific wattage, and color range, not to mention numbers of lights on and in what location etc. They could also check a book and see if LED or other type of lighting was factory offered and inspected and if not you couldn't put that type in a car/truck that didn't come with it originally. Of course other states were not as picky and may not care.
As far as being legal and using the officer passed me and didn't do anything defense isn't really a good test of legality. Not every cop is a stickler for traffic violations and maybe the cop you saw was on his way home from a long day or responding to a high priority call (they don't always wail the siren and turn on lights when responding to some calls) and decided not to pull you over. You may on the other hand run into a traffic enforcer one day who will write you or your wife a summons.(I hope not though.)
Maybe the comments about lighting are coming from experience of being blinded by an oncoming vehicle whether it was LED, HID or all 4 on modded vehicle, doesn't matter to the one blinded and they are just cautioning you to be careful and try not to cause someone else to wreck and cause damage, injury or death. If you were found to have caused a wreck by blinding someone it could cost you a lot in civil court.
I do understand about wanting to increase lighting to make your ride safer for you though.
 
I understand, the last thing I want is to have someone be blinded by my lights and lose control of their vehicle. I bought new lights to make it safer for my night driving, and I also want others to be safe.

I apologize if my post last night came off as aggressive. It was a long day at work and I was expecting positive feedback about my new headlights, so I'm sorry for being bitter. I appreciate the insight. I truly don't think they are blinding for others, but I will have to do some testing one of these nights.
 
One thing Ill tell you about LEDs Low Beams point them down to the road as you do with any headlight, the beam go further than you think if you use the ones in the 6000 to 6500 color range. They mimic natural sunlight

Here is a video from u tube with a Cladded AV, you see all the road signs lighting up even thou the lights are down on the road. I'm like you I used SilverStar for years but the last couple of pairs weren't as bright as they used to be.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbFZpPDXses
 
Those are the exact headlights I purchased. LOL Great find MS03  (y) He seems just about as happy as I am with the lights.

I used to have SilverStar's, but from now on I think I will only be purchasing LED headlights. They are the future of lighting, not just automotive, but lights in general.
 
I think Leds are the future also since all car manufacturers are putting them in. Cladded AV don't have any options since they are not made in the after market. I remember when Silverstars were in the color range of 5500 but now they are around 4300 and yellow like your first picture.
 
redheadedrod said:
Just so you know... LED's are illegal to run on the road...

Rodney

Can you back this up?

As near as I can find, they are legal if they fit in the OEM package. So HIDs with the ballast would be illegal. But it looks to me like there are LED bulbs that fit in a stock headlight that would be legal.

Either way, if their bright, a cop might pull you over for it, which gives them opportunity to find who knows what else to bust you over.
 
Noooo don't start Rodney again.

My Led passed every DOT and NHSTA standard, the only problem with HIDs you can't control the lighting pattern with a round bulb, with LEDs you can. For some reason they do not pass for DRLs
 
I only have two issues about LED's... And I am running some as fogs... (VLED 25 watts)

You can blind oncoming drivers, and their light output is not consistent. The blinding oncoming drivers is the one that can get you into trouble.. If you take care in making them so they don't blind oncoming drivers then go for it. If you cause an accident due to blinding someone else you can be held criminally liable. We had a local case of someone blinding someone else with their HID's and were charged with manslaughter because they caused an accident ending in death. Was a while ago and I can't back it up so take it as you want.

I am considering trying them in my CTS but it has projectors for the low beams and LED's MAY work fine in them. I have been warned that HID's will damage them but don't know if it is BS or not.

As was explained to me if you consider the standard bulb and an HID bulb they have a tube or filament that lights up to provide light. Reflectors are setup to handle this type of output. An LED bulb provides light from 2 or 4 squares that are very focused. Even if diffused you will still see hot spots where those squares focus depending on your reflector. I certainly do see them with the fog lights on mine. But I don't worry about it so much because I mostly use them for upfront close and to the sides. I live in deer country and they are great for seeing deer next to the road.

So if you can deal with the blinding of oncoming drivers and can focus your LED's in a manner they actually light the road evenly without dark spots go for it! But I know of NO current LED bulbs that can do that on their own at this time without using projectors. If I could find them I would be running them now and wouldn't have spent almost $1,000 for JW Speaker LEDs...
(Trying to fit in a standard headlight housing still... Going to cut off the tabs and mount them but haven't had time.)

I am not AGAINST LED's just cautious about their usage. I do believe they are the future them or Lasers... Lasers may be replacing LED's because they can be used to replace older bulbs directly. They use a solid state laser to ignite a tube of gas which then discharges like a conventional light.  Very cool and essentially just special purpose high intensity LED's.
 
HIDs are pretty clearly illegal if the conversion is outside the OEM housing as the NHSTA standard says.

And even regular headlights can be improperly adjusted to blind oncoming traffic which is a fineable offense.

I still don't see how all LEDs are illegal. Seems more likely that it's illegal for ANY light that is either too bright or improperly setup.
 
That's because LEDs are not illegal manufacturers have made allot improvements with the design of them. LEDS just like HIDs need to have a Cutoff line to keep the light on the road not in incoming traffic The picture I posted is a stock light housing the cutoff line is built into the light itself.

Now the ones I have are 3,700 lumen a silverstar is 1,000 lumen so they are 3.7 brighter. So lets say this be careful what you buy.

And sorry I would not get a Vleds headlight
 
Tonight I went out and tested the headlights some more. I did notice they were aimed a little high, so i adjusted them down a few clicks. Not a very big change, but my brights are adjusted better now, as well.

Like MS03, my headlights have a distinctive cutoff built into the light to avoid blinding oncoming traffic.

Mine are 4,000 lumens, so they are slightly brighter than MS03, but I don't see the need to go any brighter. The vleds are rated at 6,000 lumens, and I could see where someone might get pulled over for that.

These are fantastic for driving at night on the freeway without any street lamps. I can't get over how much better they are than standard halogen bulbs.
 
I will end my comments on this thread but as I said be wary of the light output... And ratings by the companies providing them.

When doing research to buy my own it was explained how Lumen output is not comparable between LED and Standard bulbs so take the rating with a grain of salt. The explanations were far too complex for me to try and understand and then translate here. If interested you can google search for yourself.

I only mention the VLED because that is what I have experience with.

LEDs are great if they are compatible with the optics in your headlights...

The "Headlight Junkies" group on Facebook has a totally negative view on LEDs and have much more experience with them than I do and they constantly inform members how LED headlights just don't work anywhere near as well as HIDs and in some cases factory lighting but can be very deceiving with their output. The biggest issues they mention are the uneven lighting, glare, and the fact the majority of light is right up close to the truck and not far down the road.

And no question that the future is LED or Laser Based lighting.

Beyond all this for a variety of reasons lighting other than what came OEM should be considered potentially illegal and the best way to not get hassled is if your lighting doesn't look too bright or blinding to other drivers and looks like it came with your vehicle. Various people on the Junkies group have been ticketed for different lighting setups and others have mentioned they haven't ever been stopped let alone ticketed. So your experience may differ.
 
Thanks cause you are not going to change my opinion, we will agree to disagree.
 
I'm considering buying these as I have a bulb out and figure it's time to upgrade. I've seen that you said your stock housings have a built in cut-off... what year do you have? Mine is an 02... wondering if mine have this cut-off as well? Also, did you have any problems getting them to fit with the cooling fins on the back of the bulbs? I've seen some people say they are hard to install because of clearance issues. Also, did you have to buy any adapters or harnesses extra? I'm just looking for a good plug and play led bulb that will give me a little better lighting than halogen. Thanks so much for your input!
 
The LED bulbs are designed with the cutoff not the housing.
 
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