Another Headlight Thread... LEDs!

[dogememe]

Recently I installed LED headlights in my Chevy and yesterday I installed a set in my Ford. Just like in my Chevy, it's a huge improvement!

And before y'all hate in me for installing LEDs in factory halogen housings and not messing with the aim, on both vehicles, I drove behind a friend also tested it in oncoming lanes with a friend and while yes you can tell that my vehicle has upgraded headlights it doesn't glare dangerously or blind other drivers.

So, I'd highly recommend you give them a shot. You can get a good set on Amazon (I chose JDM ASTAR) for the price of the worthless Sylvania SilverStar zXe Gold bulbs that cost $70 at the local parts store and give you less visibility than used stock bulbs LOL!

 

[kschachn]

I'm at the point I'd like to take a hammer to anyone's headlights where they have installed aftermarket LEDs.

They are not an upgrade to the other drivers in the road whether you have aimed them properly or not as far as I can tell. If yours aren't like everyone else's then you're the only one I've ever seen that isn't.

Usually it is some young dood in a bro truck but not always.

 

[dogememe]

Originally Posted by kschachn
I'm at the point I'd like to take a hammer to anyone's headlights where they have installed aftermarket LEDs.

They are not an upgrade to the other drivers in the road whether you have aimed them properly or not as far as I can tell. If yours aren't like everyone else's then you're the only one I've ever seen that isn't.

Usually it is some young dood in a bro truck but not always.

Did you skip the part where I tested them with a second person? They told me they were not annoying.

 

[kschachn]

Oh I didn't skip that, no.

Thanks.

 

[eljefino]

Glad yours worked. I got a used prius with H4/9003 LED retrofits and they were junk. Not hard to tell why: the emitter was a pair of 4mm x 5mm rectangles while the incandescent bulb is a point source-- for which the reflector is tuned.

I should have taken a picture with one each installed against my garage door-- the stock bulbs give a nice sharp cutoff while the LEDs were just a blob.

 

[wrcsixeight]

As if a friend is going to tell you what you don't want to hear.

 

[mclasser]

My main gripe with aftermarket LEDs is the color temp. They're so blue and cheap looking.

 

[knerml]

Originally Posted by eljefino
Glad yours worked. I got a used prius with H4/9003 LED retrofits and they were junk. Not hard to tell why: the emitter was a pair of 4mm x 5mm rectangles while the incandescent bulb is a point source-- for which the reflector is tuned.

I should have taken a picture with one each installed against my garage door-- the stock bulbs give a nice sharp cutoff while the LEDs were just a blob.


Good point. You will get different results with different headlight designs, even with the same bulb, depending on the headlight's optical layout.

 

[blupupher]

Originally Posted by kschachn
I'm at the point I'd like to take a hammer to anyone's headlights where they have installed aftermarket LEDs.

They are not an upgrade to the other drivers in the road whether you have aimed them properly or not as far as I can tell. If yours aren't like everyone else's then you're the only one I've ever seen that isn't.

Usually it is some young dood in a bro truck but not always.

Can I borrow your hammer when done?

They ALL glare.
I flash 10-20 cars even on 10 minute drives for their crappy blinding PnP HID/LED garbage, and I am in a full size truck. It is even worse in my wifes Scion.
I want to get a huge spotlight and mount it on my roof to blind the crap back at the drivers that do this. Or just crash into them because they blinded me.

Oh, and BTW, you light is worse, not better. All these lights give more foreground lighting, which makes you think you have more light, but your distance lighting is now worse than before. Go buy a light meter and compare, you will have less light at 100 feet now than before.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted by blupupher
Originally Posted by kschachn
I'm at the point I'd like to take a hammer to anyone's headlights where they have installed aftermarket LEDs.

They are not an upgrade to the other drivers in the road whether you have aimed them properly or not as far as I can tell. If yours aren't like everyone else's then you're the only one I've ever seen that isn't.

Usually it is some young dood in a bro truck but not always.

Can I borrow your hammer when done?

They ALL glare.
I flash 10-20 cars even on 10 minute drives for their crappy blinding PnP HID/LED garbage, and I am in a full size truck. It is even worse in my wifes Scion.
I want to get a huge spotlight and mount it on my roof to blind the crap back at the drivers that do this. Or just crash into them because they blinded me.

Oh, and BTW, you light is worse, not better. All these lights give more foreground lighting, which makes you think you have more light, but your distance lighting is now worse than before. Go buy a light meter and compare, you will have less light at 100 feet now than before.


This! They drive me insane for the same reasons.

 

[Wolf359]

Not only that, but the blue tint is actually worse for your eyes. There's a reason 4300k is considered an ideal color temperature by the manufacturers. They're also worse in bad weather. And they're not DOT approved so any cop could pull you over for having off road equipment on the road.

 

[dogememe]

Originally Posted by blupupher
Originally Posted by kschachn
I'm at the point I'd like to take a hammer to anyone's headlights where they have installed aftermarket LEDs.

They are not an upgrade to the other drivers in the road whether you have aimed them properly or not as far as I can tell. If yours aren't like everyone else's then you're the only one I've ever seen that isn't.

Usually it is some young dood in a bro truck but not always.

Can I borrow your hammer when done?

They ALL glare.
I flash 10-20 cars even on 10 minute drives for their crappy blinding PnP HID/LED garbage, and I am in a full size truck. It is even worse in my wifes Scion.
I want to get a huge spotlight and mount it on my roof to blind the crap back at the drivers that do this. Or just crash into them because they blinded me.

Oh, and BTW, you light is worse, not better. All these lights give more foreground lighting, which makes you think you have more light, but your distance lighting is now worse than before. Go buy a light meter and compare, you will have less light at 100 feet now than before.


Putting an HID bulb into a regular reflector housing is gonna throw light anywhere. Quality, properly designed LED bulbs put the LEDs in the same place as the filament in a regular bulb. Most people you see with blinding lights probably have HIDs...

 

[Dave1027]

Originally Posted by blupupher
I want to get a huge spotlight and mount it on my roof to blind the crap back at the drivers that do this. Or just crash into them because they blinded me.

Yeah, that sounds like a plan. Just head-on them.

 

[eljefino]

Originally Posted by dogememe


Quality, properly designed LED bulbs put the LEDs in the same place as the filament in a regular bulb. Most people you see with blinding lights probably have HIDs...


How? HOW?

LEDs are a surface mount flat thing. A "bulb" might have four flat surfaces, six, or more. The LEDs are outboard of the central focal point, already. If they're bigger point sources (they are) they could coincidentally be what the light of an incandescent filament might look like on its way expanding to meet a particular reflector. Or they can be horribly wrong. There's no telling, because the reflector was designed with one central point of light from a bulb's filament.

If LEDs are so amazing, why are LED flashlights projector-style with a lens magnifying the emitter such that you get a rectangle of light on the wall? Why aren't the flashlights using parabolic reflectors like they do with incandescent sources? Because LEDs aren't point sources!

 

[SubLGT]

Originally Posted by dogememe
...I drove behind a friend also tested it in oncoming lanes with a friend and while yes you can tell that my vehicle has upgraded headlights it doesn't glare dangerously or blind other drivers....


Sorry, that is a Fake Test. For a Real Test, send your headlamp assembly with LED bulb to Calcoast for photometric testing:

http://www.calcoast-itl.com/services.html

 

[kschachn]

Originally Posted by blupupher
Can I borrow your hammer when done?

One can also try and position your outside rear mirrors to reflect the nonsense back to the idiot behind you.

 

[DoubleWasp]

All of these threads read exactly the same. If LED or HID is in the title, you can literally copy/paste all of the usernames and responses and not notice any difference from the result.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

I do like updating my reverse lights to LED, but that's only for parking lots or my driveway of course.

LEDs in a housing not designed for it scatter something fierce.

With that said, I do have LED pods and a light bar on my various vehicles. And I run them on the road when I'm in the middle of nowhere and I want to better see what's off the side of the road. I'd never run them with anyone around. I really hate when people run them on the road.

 

[Brigadier]

Originally Posted by dogememe
Originally Posted by blupupher
Originally Posted by kschachn
I'm at the point I'd like to take a hammer to anyone's headlights where they have installed aftermarket LEDs.

They are not an upgrade to the other drivers in the road whether you have aimed them properly or not as far as I can tell. If yours aren't like everyone else's then you're the only one I've ever seen that isn't.

Usually it is some young dood in a bro truck but not always.

Can I borrow your hammer when done?

They ALL glare.
I flash 10-20 cars even on 10 minute drives for their crappy blinding PnP HID/LED garbage, and I am in a full size truck. It is even worse in my wifes Scion.
I want to get a huge spotlight and mount it on my roof to blind the crap back at the drivers that do this. Or just crash into them because they blinded me.

Oh, and BTW, you light is worse, not better. All these lights give more foreground lighting, which makes you think you have more light, but your distance lighting is now worse than before. Go buy a light meter and compare, you will have less light at 100 feet now than before.


Putting an HID bulb into a regular reflector housing is gonna throw light anywhere. Quality, properly designed LED bulbs put the LEDs in the same place as the filament in a regular bulb. Most people you see with blinding lights probably have HIDs...


Nope. Even factory LEDs in Acuras and Hondas are blinding to oncoming drivers.

 

[dogememe]

Originally Posted by SubLGT
Originally Posted by dogememe
...I drove behind a friend also tested it in oncoming lanes with a friend and while yes you can tell that my vehicle has upgraded headlights it doesn't glare dangerously or blind other drivers....


Sorry, that is a Fake Test. For a Real Test, send your headlamp assembly with LED bulb to Calcoast for photometric testing:

http://www.calcoast-itl.com/services.html


Sure, send me the money to buy another Escape and another set of these bulbs and I'll take it to that company and bring you the results.