What's Your Opinion On LED Headlight Bulbs

Do You Use LED Headlight Bulbs?

  • Yes

    Votes: 15 53.6%
  • No

    Votes: 10 35.7%
  • No, but I would

    Votes: 3 10.7%

  • Total voters
    28
I don't drive my car at night, so I never looked at changing the lighting, but I have played around with LED lighting in other cars. I've also been messing with LED taillight bulbs.

The kits are all over the place. Some are poorly engineered. Some actually draw more power than the stock bulbs on the high beam setting and not much of a power reduction on low beam. The focal points differ between different manufacturers even on the same bulb, meaning some will glare more than others.

None of the OEM's do LED lighting this way. (at least none i'm aware of) OEM's do direct projection LED, for head and taillight, with some secondary reflection. Aftermarkets are the only ones doing the primarily reflector style setups. Some LED's are better than others. There are no standards, no 3rd party checking the claims of lumens and current and such. They really are all over the place with no real standardization being make by offshore companies as cheap as possible.

So keep that in mind when searching for a kit. I've only investigated rear brake lights, but I had to buy LED's from 5-6 different vendors to actually find an LED bulb equal to the OEM incandescent bulb. The other vendors were dimmer. Unfortunately everyone assumed LED= brighter. Not the case.

For the headlights, a projector setup would be ideal, even with LED or HID lighting. One of these days i'll play around with lighting on my car, just to eliminate that ugly yellow light on the rare occasions that I do put on the headlights. For that reason, one day I might look into a drop in LED bulb, just for looks
 
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Given that most people don't drive their cars at night, I would figure brighter headlamps would be a moot point.

Personally, I managed to find some sealed beam Sylvania's that I installed on my Mercury that are plenty bright at night. I did swap all interior lights to LED, though. Nice and bright in there.
 
I recently converted all lights on the car inside and out with led bulbs. I even did the dash bulbs. They all are definitely a bit brighter than factory but I think its all just preference for looks and likes. Hey, what else do we invest in this hobby for?
 
I like mine!! But I never drive it at night so they never come on. Went LED crazy and it messed with my blinkers and flashers had it fixed but now they are messed up again. So I do the manual blinker by just moving the lever lol
 

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Reddevils brake lights seem much brighter. I have them all over the inside and love them. Makes the dash light up bright. Not messin with the exterior. Too expensive and I dont drive at night that much.
 
Usually parking lights on an overcast day is the most I ever turn on. I could never get LEDs to fill the front lights properly. Either one set wouldn’t be Amber enough or the outer marker wouldn’t illuminate fully so it looked like the edges were dark.
 
I have LED headlights, huge difference driving at night. I also felt unsafe at times driving at night with just the halogens.

I think I paid like $40 off Amazon, they’re called “Eye of Megatron” or some sht. Liked them so much I put the same set in my truck, too.

FWIW, I got flashed by other drivers when they thought I had my brights on WAY more often in my 2015 GT that had factory HID’s...
 
Good quality LED bulbs are going to be brighter, more focused, consume less power, etc.

You might have to adjust your headlamps' aim for an accurate "cast" in some cases.

Headlamp upgrades and seat belt replacements (that nylon webbing loses strength and elasticity as it ages) are two of the most important things we can do for our cars as they get older. The old halogen headlamps were fine when they were the best available, but that just isn't the case anymore. There's no reason not to upgrade unless you're building a concours-correct show car.
 
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I just found this whole researching LED headlight bulbs:

Diode Dynamics is suspending the sale of LED Headlight bulbs in the United States, due to federal regulations which restrict the use of replaceable light sources in headlamps. This restriction applies to all LED Headlight bulbs on the market. It is not unique to Diode Dynamics.

Our LED Headlight bulbs were designed and tested for effective photometric output, providing increased output with compliant beam patterns when installed in specific applications. However, the federal regulations do not include any provision for LED replacement headlamp bulbs. Therefore, it is not currently possible to certify any LED bulb for headlamp use.

The regulations are updated very rarely, with the last major revision occurring in 2007. However, we maintain hope that progress will be made so that advances in technology may be accommodated in the future. Newer technologies like LED lighting offer many potential benefits to consumers, which we believe should be incorporated into the regulations.

We apologize for any disappointment or frustration, and hope you will be able to find an alternate solution for your headlight needs. We are pleased to continue offering bulbs for other applications on your vehicle, as well as our highly-rated lamps and offroad lighting products. Thank you for your understanding and support.

International customers may continue to find LED Headlight bulbs available in their market, based on local laws and regulations.
 
An LED bulb in a reflector housing is not going to be "more focused" than a halogen bulb is. The 'hot spot' is going to be in the same place. The light scatter is going to be the same. It's all just going to be brighter with LED, or an HID bulb for that matter. A projector, which will have a proper horizontal cutoff, will have close to zero light above the hot spot. That's the proper way to convert from halogen to LED or HID. Not just sticking a bulb in a reflector housing.
 
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I recently converted all lights on the car inside and out with led bulbs. I even did the dash bulbs. They all are definitely a bit brighter than factory but I think its all just preference for looks and likes. Hey, what else do we invest in this hobby for?
I didn't bother with the cluster lights on my car. The yellow-ish light from the factory incandescent bulbs kind of contributes to the '80s Ford green cluster illumination. LEDs mess with that. Then again, I'm sure you can just get some warmer temperature LEDs just the same.

Good quality LED bulbs are going to be brighter, more focused, consume less power, etc.

You might have to adjust your headlamps' aim for an accurate "cast" in some cases.

Headlamp upgrades and seat belt replacements (that nylon webbing loses strength and elasticity as it ages) are two of the most important things we can do for our cars as they get older. The old halogen headlamps were fine when they were the best available, but that just isn't the case anymore. There's no reason not to upgrade unless you're building a concours-correct show car.
This is something I've wondered about. What avenues are there to rebuild or replace seat belt and retractors? The belts in my Mercury are well worn and don't retract at all.
 
I didn't bother with the cluster lights on my car. The yellow-ish light from the factory incandescent bulbs kind of contributes to the '80s Ford green cluster illumination. LEDs mess with that. Then again, I'm sure you can just get some warmer temperature LEDs just the same.


This is something I've wondered about. What avenues are there to rebuild or replace seat belt and retractors? The belts in my Mercury are well worn and don't retract at all.
In my Mustang II, I went with a set of universal 3point harnesses from Beams Industries.


They fit my application pretty well, but they won't necessarily work for everyone.

These guys will re-web and repair originals, they're not cheap, but their work is top-notch, several of the guys in my car club used them:
 
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I didn't bother with the cluster lights on my car. The yellow-ish light from the factory incandescent bulbs kind of contributes to the '80s Ford green cluster illumination. LEDs mess with that. Then again, I'm sure you can just get some warmer temperature LEDs just the same.


This is something I've wondered about. What avenues are there to rebuild or replace seat belt and retractors? The belts in my Mercury are well worn and don't retract at all.
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interior3.jpg


My SVT Contour when I converted the dash bulbs to LED. The green from the stock cluster and needles are more pronounced. My Fox dash looks the same.
 
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I’m reviving this thread. I’m looking to get some LED headlight bulbs for my 89 so I can see on my way home from work. The first 7 or so miles of my commute home are country roads with no light. When it’s raining hard it is difficult to see the lines. With that being said, I’m looking for something that fits the stock housing and is not $100+.

So far I am 0 for 2. I’ve bought 2 different sets of 9004 led bulbs but they don’t fit inside the housing.

Can anyone recommend a brand/part number that will fit? I’ve thought about getting the same 9007 bulbs as I have in my sn95 and repinning the connector on the 89 and running those.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks
 
No originals to the car. They are weathered and yellowed slightly. I have another set of OEM housings that I started to clean up but ran out of time before the time change. Now I have other things to deal with so those got set aside for now.
 
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From my thread on Black Jack, I bought a set of LAS Lights LED bulbs and loved them so much they went in 4 other vehicles of mine. I believe they were $70/pair and they require no additional relays or electrical work. They go straight into your stock housings. I remember a bit of a challenge getting them in there, but nothing serious. I'm pretty sure they just convert excess energy to heat and I think I'm hearing a fan to cool them back off. So far so good. I'd report back in my thread if there was ever a problem, but I don't expect anything. I recognize that in my Saturn, folks thought I had the brights on, but the Mustang lights were so abysmal that I think brightening them still isn't enough to bother anyone. I've come to the point I no longer give a damn. Seems like every 5th car has their high beams on or improper LEDs that are way to F-ing bright... really bothered me and there's nothing to be done for all of the inconsiderate a-holes out there. So, I've taken a completely different, proactive approach. I bought a set of what I call driving glasses that flip up and down and when I get an a-hole, I flip 'em down and turn the brights on. Then, I can see just fine and their brights still don't bother me.

Having said all of that, no one seems to mind the LEDs or high-beams me in Black Jack:


Where have you been all of my foxbody life? Tried these in Black Jack. Love them! Now, I'm buying pairs for the other foxes, my daily Saturn, & my F250.

Taking pics of lights never works out all that well, but believe me, this is something I've always wanted out of stock housings. These are factory bulb replacements for $70/pair.
LED_Lights.jpg