Headlight question (Again?) (1 Viewer)

[cbbr]

2000 LC. The headlights are terrible. The PO had LED's in the low beams and the spread was... Terrible. I tried the Hella 100W bulbs and - you guessed it - terrible.

I have read a thousand posts, but have not found the answer. It's somewhat obvious that LEDs won't work well as low beams because of the reflector. So is there anything that does work well in the stock reflector, or is the only answer to buy an aftermarket setup? And if that's the answer - which one?

 

[neoworm]

LED's will work. They just need to be the right ones. It's very important that the LED mimics the position and shape of the original halogen and then it needs to be clocked correctly. I put a set in my 03 and it was a huge improvement.

A bit of research on the interweb and you should be able to sort it out. Otherwise a projector retrofit is a possibility as well, albeit pricey.

 

[cbbr]

Any chance you can tell.me what you have that works? I tried set Auxitos and whatever was in the truck when I got it. Neither work well.

The problem seems to be that the reflector was designed for a constant round light output and the LEDs only shine in two directions. I'm wondering if I would be better off with HIDs?

 

[Exiled]

not for everyone, and not cheap, but the round headlight conversion opens up a whole universe of high quality lights. I've never had projectors but I've been super happy with the round headlights for years now.

 

[Red Beard]

Retrofits will bring you into the modern world of headlights. You can DIY or try one of the vendors here who can do them for you.

 

[nissanh]

Old reflectors are not good at reflecting the light to the road.

If you still want to stay with the old headlight housings, try getting H3 bulb and do the mod I did. H3's are 65 W (used for high beams), and you need to remove the two plastic strips inside the bulb (between the two metal pins). Then you have to install a larger O-rings to get the H3 bulb into the H4 holder. That's it. I have a thread in this forum. I have brand new Headlight housings installed with this mod.

If you plan to get A/M headlight housings, stay with DEPO, TYC or eagle eyes.