06-09 LED headlight bulbs. MUST TRY list

[mastaglaus]

Well, as promised I said I'd let you guys know about these lights I bought. Installed the passenger side 1st as its the easiest. Turned the vehicle on, worked great. No hyper Flash. DRL retained. tested a minute or so. Moved on to the driver side and it was a pain in the ass to get the socket out. I have large hands on top of it. SO I did what I didn't want to do and removed the battery to get more access. Tried and tried to get it out and couldn't. I ended up taking out the headlight assembly (good knowledge for future but that sucked) to discover whoever last replaced the bulb had somehow screwed up the grooves and so it was just jammed in there. With a pull of some pliers i was able to pop out the socket and put the bulb in.

Of course before I put it all back together I test it. Blinker works as it should. DRL works as it should. Passenger side still working. Put everything back together. Start the car everything still works, test it for another minute, no issues. turn car off, put tools away, wash hands, cover cuts. Go back to car, start it to re-run setup on my stereo (since I removed the battery) when I notice the driver's side light starting to dim, then go bright, then dim, back to bright, then almost like a flashing, then out completely. Then right side just goes out. Then comes back but only 3 or 4 of the square lights (forgive my lack of terminology) are on. The other LED's on the bulb aren't illuminated. Wont flash when I turn my blinker on. Zero light on driver's side at all.

So looong story even longer, I'm back to my halogen bulbs. I don't think there's any way both bulbs failed within minutes and getting the same pair would yield different results. I believe these lights will not work, even if I were to get a new pair. So I'm back to square one, Unfortunately. I'd avoid the lights I posted in this comment, unless you want to see if you receive similar results. Hope that helps someone.

 

[mastaglaus]

Hey Guys, Sorry for all the posting, certainly didn't want to take over your thread, Formidable.

I just wanted to give an update on some different bulbs that I tried for the blinkers/DRL. I've been running them for 3 days and haven"t had any issues with them yet. They are a bit odd because of their length and the actual load resistor box, but they claim they're for DRL retention so I decided to try them. Like I said so far so good.

The resistor box does get hot as hell, but it feels to be the same temp regardless of if you've driven an hour or 10 minutes. I used super high tech temperature measurement in the form of my fingers/touch. So it certainly not an exact measurement. But I am less concerned with it getting hotter and hotter the longer I drive it.

The bad news, however, is that the 1156 bulb is now out of stock. But I wanted to post anyways to let you guys know another option that is currently working for me and fingers crossed it's restocked. Formidable, thanks for the OP again!

 

[BADCUDA1]

Going to try the low and driving. My only concern is during foul weather (snow, ice) driving the OEM lamps stay clear of ice and snow due to the heat produced. I'm concerned that won't be as clear.

 

[mastaglaus]

Going to try the low and driving. My only concern is during foul weather (snow, ice) driving the OEM lamps stay clear of ice and snow due to the heat produced. I'm concerned that won't be as clear.

Just went through a pretty bad winter here in Utah and didn't see any noticeable difference or sub-par performance with mine. Lots of driving during blizzards, sleet, etc. I don't have the exact same low and highs that were posted in the OP. For reference this is the brand I have been using for highs and lows since May of last year. https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B079KB7QX3/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_LN13CbD37RNCY

Sent from my ONEPLUS A5010 using Tapatalk

 

[Wardbird]

I installed the reverse lights last weekend and the fogs, low and high beams with the Auxbeams yesterday. So far so good. Much brighter than the stock bulbs, which my aging eyes couldn't deal with anymore.

Hopefully, they all continue to work well. Thanks for this thread and everyone's input.

 

[BADCUDA1]

Just went through a pretty bad winter here in Utah and didn't see any noticeable difference or sub-par performance with mine. Lots of driving during blizzards, sleet, etc. I don't have the exact same low and highs that were posted in the OP. For reference this is the brand I have been using for highs and lows since May of last year. https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B079KB7QX3/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_LN13CbD37RNCY

Sent from my ONEPLUS A5010 using Tapatalk

Thanks you for the info good to know! :thumb3:

 

[BADCUDA1]

Arrived today. Installed the new LED in the right housing and turned off the light but both garage doors were open but I think you can see a comparison between the Halogen and LED. Haven't used them at night yet but will report soon. The center of the cardboard pretty much lined up with the center of the runner. I would suggest as in the last picture to position the connector down to help prevent water intrusion into the connector socket.

 

[Formidable]

Good comparison pics. Now that you’ve had them in for awhile... what are your thoughts?

Arrived today. Installed the new LED in the right housing and turned off the light but both garage doors were open but I think you can see a comparison between the Halogen and LED. Haven't used them at night yet but will report soon. The center of the cardboard pretty much lined up with the center of the runner. I would suggest as in the last picture to position the connector down to help prevent water intrusion into the connector socket.

 

[Goldish]

I used these to replace the fogs in my 2004 and they are a nice improvement. Makes my headlamps look dull and yellow in comparison though.

 

[BADCUDA1]

Good comparison pics. Now that you’ve had them in for awhile... what are your thoughts?

I don't drive at night a whole bunch this time of year. Mostly when towing the boat to the lake for a little R+R.

I installed them in all 4 locations of low beam and driving. No point in doing the high beams they see minimum use.

But the LED's are a marked improvement over the Ultra Stars I've been using for years.

I'm happy. Good price and performance. I hope they last. The fans are a little noisy when the engine isn't running. No biggie.

Thanks for the heads up! :bounce:

 

[Wardbird]

I haven't used these a lot yet, but man they make a difference in low beam, high beam, and fog.

Hopefully, they last at least a couple of years or more. But, the improvement over stock style output is worth the change.

Twenty years ago the difference would have meant a minimal difference to me. Once you get to 50 or older light output matters so much more.

 

[Terminator03]

I haven't used these a lot yet, but man they make a difference in low beam, high beam, and fog.

Hopefully, they last at least a couple of years or more. But, the improvement over stock style output is worth the change.

Twenty years ago the difference would have meant a minimal difference to me. Once you get to 50 or older light output matters so much more.

Couldn’t agree more! I turned 51 this year and light to see in general is hugely important now, not just with cars, but that’s especially important. These made a day and night difference for me on this truck, especially in rural areas with little to no street lighting. Still haven’t gotten around to doing the highs yet because the improvement with just the fogs and lows were enough to cover most everything for my use, but I will do them eventually just for aesthetic reasons because they look super yellow in comparison now, even though the bulbs in there now have the blue tint on them (came already installed).

 

[Wardbird]

Couldn’t agree more! I turned 51 this year and light to see in general is hugely important now, not just with cars, but that’s especially important. These made a day and night difference for me on this truck, especially in rural areas with little to no street lighting. Still haven’t gotten around to doing the highs yet because the improvement with just the fogs and lows were enough to cover most everything for my use, but I will do them eventually just for aesthetic reasons because they look super yellow in comparison now, even though the bulbs in there now have the blue tint on them (came already installed).

We have a fair amount of deer in our area. Last fall I was behind a woman just down the down from us and a deer came out of nowhere, running across the street. She hit it and it went through her windshield. Fortunately for her it went in on the passenger side and didn't harm her and she was the only one in the car.

I want every advantage I can get to see potential dangers.

 

[UrbanRunnerNY]

Subscribing!

I thought LED’s were inferior compared to HID’s still. Seems like that may not be true afterall

 

[Terminator03]

Subscribing!

I thought LED’s were inferior compared to HID’s still. Seems like that may not be true afterall

A “true” HID retrofit, not the plug and play bulbs will still be superior, but for a $30 plug and play solution, this is awesome, especially since you don’t even have to wire in ballasts as you do with the pnp HID kits. I’m very happy with the performance of them, especially for the cost, and ease of install.

 

[smyles1632]

A “true” HID retrofit, not the plug and play bulbs ..

How 06 projectors differ from aftermarket HID projectors?

 

[Terminator03]

How 06 projectors differ from aftermarket HID projectors?

The optics and hardware on the ‘06 lights were designed for halogen bulbs, where the aftermarket or factory HID lighting is designed specifically for those bulbs, so the actual optics and mounting hardware is designed differently because they focus the light they were designed for. That is the simplest explanation I can come up with. It’s not that you can’t convert the stock projectors with LED (as discussed in this thread), or even HIDs, it just wont perform as well as using the correct hardware and optics. In my case, I’m pleased enough with the LED bulbs, that I wouldn’t spend the time/money on a true retrofit at this point, but others may feel differently.

 

[smyles1632]

The optics and hardware on the ‘06 lights were designed for halogen bulbs, where the aftermarket or factory HID lighting is designed specifically for those bulbs, so the actual optics and mounting hardware is designed differently because they focus the light they were designed for...

Designed differently or not, are they - for low beam projectors,- in fact different? Both have lenses and reflectors. Unless the reflector geometry is significantly different (and I highly doubt all these Chinese manufacturers invest in R&D and perfect the components as oppose to just reverse engineering and then endlessly copying it), they are likely very similar if not identical.

 

[chaz]

if you think the oem 06 projectors are the same as the retrofit ones then you need to read up on it.HIDs: Everything you need to know and then some....

 

[smyles1632]

if you think the oem 06 projectors are the same as the retrofit ones then you need to read up on it.HIDs: Everything you need to know and then some....

I'm asking a simple question: how '06 low-beam reflector is different from an aftermarket HID reflector? Not the theory (trust me, I can lecture on OEM xenons and LEDs myself), but the actual units, has anyone took a '06 headlight apart and compared them side by side?