Anyone used them? Got a light out on my wagon and wondering if it's worth looking into or if I should get silverstars and call it a day.
have them, mediocre and not ideal... would probably go silverstars if I didn't get them super cheap on amazon during a goldbox deal
Not for a WRX, but I did install a set of LED bulbs in my wife's CR-V. Reflector housing and dual hi/low beam units. Got pretty good beam patterns and the light intensity seemed brighter than stock halogens. Not a huge fan of the bluer color, but they seem to put down more light on the road. Also replaced the fogs with LED bulbs and combined with the main headlights, the CR-V is nicer to drive at night. Part of my reason for changing to LEDs is because my wife always leaves the lights on and goes through a set of bulbs at least once every 15 months or so.
On your FXT? What ones are you running? I have a set from Amazon but they are way too bright for my liking... (Went back to Pep Boys Xenon-esque lights.)
Looking at LED options and talking to a couple people including you lot I think I will be doing HID low beams since I already have projector housings on the low beams (yes I know they are not IDEAL housings for HID but work). Then just run a standard silverstar or something of that nature for my highs.
Yep. Round Dan has them on his FJ, and they're Lifetime LED dual "Filament" ones. And riding in his rig for sweep at Nemadji winter last year, they don't cast down-road any further. You can tell that the pattern changes as it lights up the bush on the side of the road higher, but no further down the road. They are a rather bluish color, so that might be the problem, or it might be the nature of LEDs. They're a high quality, and I guess he bought an early set of theirs that failed, and they stood by their name and replaced them. But....they're expensive. I've seen Nick Roberts' rally car with GTRLighting bulbs in it many times, and am very impressed, but again, expensive. About 2 years ago, I bought a set of these from Amazon to use as fog lights in my Celica. I was so impressed that I got a set for the low beams on our '04 Outback. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B012KF1XDA/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 These are also bluer than I'd like, but acceptable, and for the price.... Mid project on the Celica. Stock on the left (of the picture), LED on the right: 20160502_202008 by Numbchux, on Flickr When I did the Outback, I wet sanded the lenses and treated them with some spar urethane to get them as clear as possible. This alone was a huge improvement, even with one old bulb in it (this project was spurred by a burned out bulb). Then the LEDs were a big improvement over that. I did some testing on my garage door, both from close and longer range to make sure that they did not cast light up where I didn't want it. Since then I've had my wife follow me several times, while I'm in my XT6 and Celica, and never thought the light pattern was a problem. Before and after headlight restoration: 2017-07-03_01-55-16 by Numbchux, on Flickr And beam pattern: 20170106_194211 by Numbchux, on Flickr I highly recommend it. I bought an Auxbeam LED bar about the same time that I had planned to add, since the last few miles of our commute are on backroads with far more deer traffic than cars. I never installed it
One other thing to note, idk if it's just my SJ FXT, but my radio reception is far ****tier (especially HD) since putting the LEDs in.
So few months down the road from when I started the thread I am back to see if anyone has done anything with LED since. I did put HID recently in my factory projectors for the low beams and they are working well so far. Now I would like to switch to an LED high beam and fogs if nothing else just for the sake of trying to keep the color difference closer. So anyone have any further experiences to add to the topic?
Haven't seen him on here much recently, but I remember @Terry Ammerman raving about them numerous times.
I am looking at a few options for the highbeam currently. The temp on my HID are 4500k so I am having a hard time finding ones that are close in temp. I may end up just needing to change temp for my HID bulbs. Option 1: https://www.amazon.com/CougarMotor-...&qid=1523451712&sr=1-4&keywords=9005+LED&th=1 Option 2: https://www.theretrofitsource.com/led-bulbs/head-fog-light-bulbs/9005-morimoto-2stroke.html Option 3: https://www.amazon.com/BEAMTECH-Hea...keywords=9005+LED&refinements=p_72:1248861011 Of the 3 option the option I am most on the fence about is the last one. It has the highest rated lumen output but it is also in 6500k. I am worried that it will appear to blue for my like.
6500k is going to be blue. I have those exact bulbs (Option #3 Beamtech) in my fog lamps and they are noticeably bluer than the stock LED low beams for my WRX Limited. I had a set of Morimoto 2-stroke, but ended up returning them to Amazon under warranty due to the cooling fan failing on one of them and frying the LED emitter chip. I faulted the salt spray for killing the bulb since I initially had them in my fogs and they matched the stock LED lows pretty well. I think they are 5000k or around there. Light output for the 2-stroke is really good. They're among the most spendy, but they emit a very bright white light. If I were to get another set, I'd look for passive cooling bulbs that don't use a fan. One less thing to go wrong. Edit, maybe give this one a try since it is fanless and is listed at 4300k https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01M...CZYYVF6BEB144EMT&dpPl=1&dpID=61uNk0cwvOL&th=1
I went with option 1. It is noticeably bluer then my lowbeam hid and fogs. So I will likely just live with it for now till I decide if I am even going to keep the LED high beams or not. I don't hardly ever use my highbeams unless I am on a backroad but even for that without a projector they may scatter to much to be used safely.
