LED info

Disclaimer: Links on this page pointing to Amazon, eBay and other sites may include affiliate code. If you click them and make a purchase, we may earn a small commission.

Tonka329

OBS Enthusiast
Joined
Sep 20, 2014
Messages
54
Reaction score
0
Location
Kankakee, IL
I have been cruising the Stickys and the posts under this section but, did not see much info on LED lighting. Looking for some ideas for LED headlights. I had HID's on my old '96 but, I didn't like how long it took them to "warm up" from dims to brights. So, I figure I would try LED lights this time. Thanks in advance for any info or tricks.

Tonka
 

someotherguy

Truly Awesome
Joined
Sep 28, 2013
Messages
10,039
Reaction score
14,832
Location
Houston TX
Do note the guy in that thread that is selling them doesn't come off with ANY usable info other than price. :gr_grin:

From what I've seen on other forums, aftermarket LED headlight capsule replacements vary wildly in quality and design, which you'd probably expect.

The ones with the little fans on the heatsink seem very prone to early failure, because those fans are certainly not rated for the environment they'll be used in. Under the hood is a dirty, wet, extremely hot place for fans that were probably designed to be inside a computer case.

Several people have found that they needed to experiment with the application. Some that seemed to be meant for headlight housings didn't work well in this or that application, but worked OK in driving light housings, or would work better if you were able to vary the depth that they reached into the housing so that they worked better with the reflector.

I would think your ultimate solution would be a projector retrofit and the best quality LED's you could find. If it were me I would wait longer for LED headlights to mature...and run OEM quality HID's in the meantime.

Richard
 

Tonka329

OBS Enthusiast
Joined
Sep 20, 2014
Messages
54
Reaction score
0
Location
Kankakee, IL
I was thinking of going back to HID's for a while. Any good tricks out there to polish up my lenses? I have some pretty good fog on them being a '96...
 

someotherguy

Truly Awesome
Joined
Sep 28, 2013
Messages
10,039
Reaction score
14,832
Location
Houston TX
HID's in those stock housings suck completely even when the housings are perfectly clear. Crazy glare. At minimum you want some housings with the caps over the bulb like the TYC Elegante or at least a copy of them. Even they're not great when it comes to the light pattern because you can't get around that the reflector design isn't meant for HID's.

You must be registered for see images attach


For polishing up your stock housings, simple wet-sanding with 600 grit, polish them with plastic polish (I use Novus #2) and a cloth wheel, then clean them really well and shoot them with clear coat. They'll look great forever.

Richard
 
Top