Not meaning to fire up the "Aftermarket LED headlights are bad" issue, but I installed Sylvania LED H7 bulbs in my 17 Camaro with great results. Driving home the other night, I noticed a 'dead spot' in the light pattern from the left headlight. Once home, the lights hitting the back wall of the garage confirmed the dead spot was from the left headlight.
I was too tired to deal with it then, so I wated until this morning to check. Originally, I thought one of the LED chips might have gone out, so I opened the hood to pull the bulb. After snaking my hand and forearm through a maze of obstacles, I felt the first spring clip holding the bulb in place and released it. To my surprise, the bulb then popped out into my hand - with the 2nd clip still in place. I pulled the bulb out and was confused for a second. The clip ring that is (supposed to be) attached to the bulb was missing. A quic look with the flashlight confirmed it was still locked in by the 2nd clip.
Thinking the bulb was supposed to be onepiece, I immediately thought of Super Glue or epoxy to put it back. I decided against that because the bulbs should still be under warranty (5-year defect). So I grabbed the box the bulbs came in to take it back to the store (amazingly I still had the box). As I opened the box to put the bulb in, the installation instructions fell out. Figuring WTH, I opened the instructions.
One of the FIRST things they say to do is to REMOVE THE CLIP RING FROM THE BULB and install it in the headlight housing!!! THEN they say to install the bulb into the clip ring, using the alignment pins and twist the bulb inside the ring until the wire is pointing down and the bulb will then BE LOCKED IN PLACE!!!!
Guess what I never did?
Moral of the story? Keep the box until the warranty expires and at least LOOK OVER the instructions if doing something you haven't done before.
I was too tired to deal with it then, so I wated until this morning to check. Originally, I thought one of the LED chips might have gone out, so I opened the hood to pull the bulb. After snaking my hand and forearm through a maze of obstacles, I felt the first spring clip holding the bulb in place and released it. To my surprise, the bulb then popped out into my hand - with the 2nd clip still in place. I pulled the bulb out and was confused for a second. The clip ring that is (supposed to be) attached to the bulb was missing. A quic look with the flashlight confirmed it was still locked in by the 2nd clip.
Thinking the bulb was supposed to be onepiece, I immediately thought of Super Glue or epoxy to put it back. I decided against that because the bulbs should still be under warranty (5-year defect). So I grabbed the box the bulbs came in to take it back to the store (amazingly I still had the box). As I opened the box to put the bulb in, the installation instructions fell out. Figuring WTH, I opened the instructions.
One of the FIRST things they say to do is to REMOVE THE CLIP RING FROM THE BULB and install it in the headlight housing!!! THEN they say to install the bulb into the clip ring, using the alignment pins and twist the bulb inside the ring until the wire is pointing down and the bulb will then BE LOCKED IN PLACE!!!!
Guess what I never did?
Moral of the story? Keep the box until the warranty expires and at least LOOK OVER the instructions if doing something you haven't done before.
Last edited by a moderator:
I'm trying to read the instructions more these days but it is a very hard thing to do.
