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LED Headlights

13K views 69 replies 19 participants last post by  legend lime 
#1 ·
One of the first things I noticed about my R is the headlights are dismal at best. The bulbs that were in it when I got it were the typical H11 Halogen bulbs that come stock. They gave off a yellowish light but did little in lighting the way. So I had a few H11 LED bulbs in my garage that I had from previous installations. Although they gave off a brighter whiter light than the halogens, they too did little in the way of lighting up the roadway.

I just installed a pair Auxbeam F16 Plus bulbs and WOW, what a difference. These bulbs emit a nice bright white light with no distortion or shadows. They really light up the roadway. They have a distinct upper cut off line so they won't blind on coming traffic. The R's headlights are crappy from the git-go, but these Auxbeam F16 Plus bulbs are an AWESOME upgrade.......just sharing

Dano
 
#2 ·
That’s a much needed thing for me, too. I drive to work through the country every morning and can’t see squat if it is raining. Do you have to do any mods to make the LED’s work? Do they create enough heat to affect the plastic lenses? Thanks, Steve


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#4 ·
That’s a much needed thing for me, too. I drive to work through the country every morning and can’t see squat if it is raining. Do you have to do any mods to make the LED’s work? Do they create enough heat to affect the plastic lenses? Thanks, Steve


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These don't require any mods and work right out of the box. The have cooling fans to keep down the heat, I've been using this type of LED's for quite sometime in all my cars. Never had a heat problem.
 
#5 ·
Yes the top pair is what I installed in the R. I have the bottom pair in my Buick Encore. I chose the plus (top pair) for the R because they're a tad brighter at 7000lm vs 6000lm for the non plus version, the R needs all the help it can get. Both the non plus and the plus are 6000k so they're a very light white. They have other H11's but they're 6500k and are too bluish for my liking.
 
#10 ·
Don’t buy the 9005’s in the top photo. They are the wrong mount type. Get H11 like the lower photo, in whatever brightness level and color temp you prefer. Steve

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Thanks Steve! (y) I ended up buying the same type as in the top photo, but in the H11 size. Of course they were $3 more than the first time I looked, but at least they had a "coupon".

I don't do a lot of night driving, but agree that the stock R headlights leave a bit to be desired.

The LEDs should be here in a couple of days so I'll report back.

Product Trophy Beer
 
#15 ·
Put them on today - what a difference! Kind of tedious working in such a small space but not bad. Ran into one problem. On the right side I turned the wheel as far as it would go in order to get more clearance. Then turned the ignition off. When I went to test the light after installation, the key wouldn't turn. It was fighting the steering wheel lock. Had to put pressure on the steering wheel in order to turn the key.
I would definitely recommend these LED's.
Thanks Dano for doing the research.
 
#18 ·
Interested but little confused.
9005 is HIGH Beam, goes into lower socket,
H11 is LOW Beam goes into upper socket and is on "Daytime Running" light circuit.
So "heat" is a question.

Cooling fan??
Yes you're correct with regard to the bulb part numbers and locations. These bulbs do come with cooling fans and I've never had a problem with heat from any Auxbeam bulbs. The DRL's and low beams work as they should.
 
#19 ·
Getting ready to put them in today or tomorrow. It's probably one of the last "warm" days before fall settles in here, so looking forward to a top-down night ride to see how they perform.

Haven't looked inside the fender yet, so maybe it's a no-brainer, but just wondering what you guys did with the little box (resistor?) that's attached to the light, if it's left to dangle or...? I have some 3M two-sided tape I could use to attach it to the body if needed.

TIA!
 
#21 ·
but just wondering what you guys did with the little box (resistor?) that's attached to the light, if it's left to dangle or...? I have some 3M two-sided tape I could use to attach it to the body if needed.

TIA!
I haven't used them but--my thinking is 2 sided tape, zip ties, balling wire, anything to secure it.

Nick
 
#22 ·
One of the first things I noticed about my R is the headlights are dismal at best. The bulbs that were in it when I got it were the typical H11 Halogen bulbs that come stock. They gave off a yellowish light but did little in lighting the way. So I had a few H11 LED bulbs in my garage that I had from previous installations. Although they gave off a brighter whiter light than the halogens, they too did little in the way of lighting up the roadway.

I just installed a pair Auxbeam F16 Plus bulbs and WOW, what a difference. These bulbs emit a nice bright white light with no distortion or shadows. They really light up the roadway. They have a distinct upper cut off line so they won't blind on coming traffic. The R's headlights are crappy from the git-go, but these Auxbeam F16 Plus bulbs are an AWESOME upgrade.......just sharing

Dano
Installation could NOT be anywhere as difficult as replacing bulbs on my Crossfire. Yes, I own a 2004 Crossfire and am buying a 2005 SSR ---- two of the most "weird" a vehicles produced in the past 20 years. Maybe a Prowler would fall into the same class of vehicle.
 
#25 ·
The R's low beams and daytime running lights are one in the same; housed in the upper part of the headlight. The high beams are a different bulb, housed in the lower part of the headlight. Unintuitive right? So the low beams run at 80% during the day as DRLs and 100% as low beams at night.

The LED cooling fan is integral in these lights, at the back of the the "bulb".
 
#24 · (Edited)
Installed the new Auxbeam F16 Plus H11 low beam bulbs this evening and I gotta say... nice! (y) Took about a half hour and it would have been a little faster, but you know how LED lights have a set positive and neutral? They either work or they don't? 50/50 chance? Well, of course, neither one worked the first go-round. Flipping the connector and ta-dah, let there be light!

Like Nick (@nj6969) I tend to want things locked down as much as possible, so I used some fairly strong 3M double-sided adhesive tape to attach the resistor boxes to an outcropping just below the low beam openings and to the side of the high beam openings. Even if they come undone somehow there really isn't much place for them to go so I'm sure they'd be fine.

The light these new LEDs gives off is, pardon the expression, almost night and day. It's certainly a white light, 6,000 Kelvin I believe, so bordering on blue-ish, but not annoyingly so. It's a world of difference compared to the yellow tint of the OEM halogens. The color difference when switching between the new LED low and old halogen high beams is a bit startling.

Overall the light pattern seems to be very good. They light up the nearby road on both sides extremely well. Illumination in the distance is much improved too. Road signs look like they have their own lights.

I was really concerned about being "that guy". You know the one with the impossibly blinding bright lights that we all can't stand? Some people think it's "cool" to shine megawatt lights into other driver's faces for some reason. It's unsafe and makes them look like idiots IMHO. These headlights are not those. Phew! Traffic was light, but even with oncoming cars directly opposite no one flashed their lights at me. I was prepared, but not-a-one. :)

As you can see in the photos and unlike some LED headlights I've seen, there is a distinct cut-off above which there is very little light. That's really nice. They shine far enough ahead to open up a dark road, but not high enough to be a bother to others. I've included a side-by-side, before and after for comparison. (Apologies for the lens flare). Just in case, the new LED is on the passenger side in the straight-on and garage door pics. ;)

I'll have to see how they look as daytime running lights. It's supposed to rain all day tomorrow so I'll keep my powder dry, but I'll report back as soon as the sun comes back out.

I did note that the light's cooling fans come on immediately and stay on until the lights go out. You can definitely hear them when the engine's off. After a 20 minute or so drive, the exterior headlight lenses were cold to the touch.

I put the old bulbs in the back just in case, but so far, so good. Since there is such a marked difference I'll probably buy the high beams if these continue to work well for an extended period of time.

Overall I really like these new LED headlights! Thanks @dano! ?

P.S. Be sure that both the low beam (and if you use them, the high beam) LED is oriented vertically to get the most light from the reflector housing as shown in the attached photo. More about that here:


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White Light Lighting Fluorescent lamp Light fixture
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#28 ·
Installed the new Auxbeam F16 Plus H11 low beam bulbs this evening and I gotta say... nice! (y) Took about a half hour and it would have been a little faster, but you know how LED lights have a set positive and neutral? They either work or they don't? 50/50 chance? Well, of course, neither one worked the first go-round. Flipping the connector and ta-dah, let there be light!

Like Nick (@nj6969) I tend to want things locked down as much as possible, so I used some fairly strong 3M double-sided adhesive tape to attach the resistor boxes to an outcropping just below the low beam openings and to the side of the high beam openings. Even if they come undone somehow there really isn't much place for them to go so I'm sure they'd be fine.

The light these new LEDs gives off is, pardon the expression, almost night and day. It's certainly a white light, 7,000 Kelvin I believe, so bordering on blue-ish, but not annoyingly so. It's a world of difference compared to the yellow tint of the OEM halogens. The color difference when switching between the new LED low and old halogen high beams is a bit startling.

Overall the light pattern seems to be very good. They light up the nearby road on both sides extremely well. Illumination in the distance is much improved too. Road signs look like they have their own lights.

I was really concerned about being "that guy". You know the one with the impossibly blinding bright lights that we all can't stand? Some people think it's "cool" to shine megawatt lights into other driver's faces for some reason. It's unsafe and makes them look like idiots IMHO. These headlights are not those. Phew! Traffic was light, but even with oncoming cars directly opposite no one flashed their lights at me. I was prepared, but not-a-one. :)

As you can see in the photos and unlike some LED headlights I've seen, there is a distinct cut-off above which there is very little light. That's really nice. They shine far enough ahead to open up a dark road, but not high enough to be a bother to others. I've included a side-by-side, before and after for comparison. (Apologies for the lens flare). Just in case, the new LED is on the passenger side in the straight-on and garage door pics. ;)

I'll have to see how they look as daytime running lights. It's supposed to rain all day tomorrow so I'll keep my powder dry, but I'll report back as soon as the sun comes back out.

I did note that the light's cooling fans come on immediately and stay on until the lights go out. You can definitely hear them when the engine's off. After a 20 minute or so drive, the exterior headlight lenses were cold to the touch.

I put the old bulbs in the back just in case, but so far, so good. Since there is such a marked difference I'll probably buy the high beams if these continue to work well for an extended period of time.

Overall I really like these new LED headlights! Thanks @dano! ?

View attachment 569774 View attachment 569775 View attachment 569778 View attachment 569776 View attachment 569777
Actually the F16 plus are 6000 kelvins and 7000 lumens. Anything above 6000k get too bluish for my liking.
 
#30 ·
I just replaced the low beams, which are the upper bulb sockets. I don't use the high beams that often as they attract the nighttime bugs in our area. I just left the resistor boxes lay inside. Using double-face tape is a better idea, there is enough length in the wiring harness to do it.
The halogen lights are yellowish and made it look like the headlamp lens was yellowed. These LED's are very white and the yellowish look is gone.
 
#31 ·
HID Bulbs were the craze for a while, I installed, very bright but illegal on the road, "Off Road Only". Lots of wires and ballast has to be secured.

I then went with Sylvania ZXE bulbs, (Zenon) 3 times as bright as OEM, plug and play, no fans, no ballast just a Headlight bulb. Buy anywhere in US at parts store.

Amp Module for reducing Daytime Lights is located in Black amplifier box, roof compartment, top next to RDM.

I will wait to see how you make out with the LED Bulbs, hope they work well.

Dicktator
 

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#34 ·
A little blue sky showed up between the rain drops today, so backed 'er out and took a quick photo of the DLRs. @dano is correct, they look to be about the same intensity, although I'm not sure if I could tell the difference between the DLRs at 80% or the regular100%. In any case, they seem to work great!

Ran down to the post office, driving by our local finest putting their radar equipment to work. They waived. ? ? It's a good day! ;)

Land vehicle Vehicle Car Chevrolet ssr Motor vehicle
 
#35 ·
A little blue sky showed up between the rain drops today, so backed 'er out and took a quick photo of the DLRs. @dano is correct, they look to be about the same intensity, although I'm not sure if I could tell the difference between the DLRs at 80% or the regular100%. In any case, they seem to work great!

Ran down to the post office, driving by our local finest putting their radar equipment to work. They waived. ? ? It's a good day! ;)

View attachment 569810
Yeah, the thing about LED's is that they operate on such varied voltages. You would be hard pressed to tell the difference between 80 and 100% of 12 volts. I test mine before installation using a 9 volt smoke detector battery so I'll know which pin is positive. Using a 9 volt battery on the LED's will blind you if you look directly into it.
 
#38 ·
One of the first things I noticed about my R is the headlights are dismal at best. The bulbs that were in it when I got it were the typical H11 Halogen bulbs that come stock. They gave off a yellowish light but did little in lighting the way. So I had a few H11 LED bulbs in my garage that I had from previous installations. Although they gave off a brighter whiter light than the halogens, they too did little in the way of lighting up the roadway.

I just installed a pair Auxbeam F16 Plus bulbs and WOW, what a difference. These bulbs emit a nice bright white light with no distortion or shadows. They really light up the roadway. They have a distinct upper cut off line so they won't blind on coming traffic. The R's headlights are crappy from the git-go, but these Auxbeam F16 Plus bulbs are an AWESOME upgrade.......just sharing

Dano
If you think SSR's have dim lights, our Cadillac SRX is like driving a 1962 VW bug with a 6volt system!
 
#41 ·
Between the two bulbs mentioned above the LED's are much brighter. I have Auxbeam bulbs in both my low and high beams, and I have a pair of LED's in my Fogs although they're not Auxbeam's, but at some point I'll replace them with Auxbeam bulbs, although the generic LED's in there now seem to be doing good.
 
#42 ·
A couple things to keep in mind when replacing halogen's with LED's. Cars that come with halogen bulbs have housings and reflectors designed specifically for use with halogen bulbs which include the placement of the bulbs filament. Just popping in a pair of LED's may not be the answer. If the placement of the LED's aren't perfectly placed then you'll have scattered light pattern, blinding on coming traffic, no upper light cutoff, etc., so it's trial and error. The Auxbeam F16 Plus just so happens to be a great fit for our "R's". Before trying the F16 Plus bulbs I tried other Auxbeam bulbs that didn't work out well. I tried their S2 bulbs for example. They were bright but the beam was scattered. I also tried the regular F16's (not the plus) and the light output was too blue which blended in with the roadway instead of lighting up the way. Another good example is our Jeep Renegade, the S3's were perfect in that application. Our Buick Encore likes the standard F16, which were bluish in the "R" but a bright white in the Encore. So again, you have to experiment. Auxbeam sells some of the best LED's I've found so far, but they have many different types of bulbs. While one my work great in one vehicle, it may not work in another. So you have to experiment. I did this for you on our "R's".
 
#48 ·
I put the H11’s on mine today. Nice! I also changed the rear shocks with some nice Monroes, and while back there saw I had a huge screw sticking out of the outer tread of my right rear tire. Had to go get it replaced with an old spare I had and ordered new tires.
Next week, it’s the front struts. Buying loaded ones, too old to be using a spring compressor anymore. S.


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#52 ·

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