Hello Members.
I wanted to post an update to some of my recent lighting upgrades. I was on the fence for awhile on whether to go with LED headlight bulbs (as there are so many brands to choose from, and the pros vs. cons). I went with the Phillips Ultinon LED bulbs. They're pretty pricey, but saw some great reviews from other members. I like how Phillips have replicated the halogen beam pattern much better than some other brands, as I definitely didn't want to blind other drivers with my stock housings. The package says 6200K, which is mis-leading. It's more like a pure bright white (no yellow, or no blueish tint).
Here's the bulbs from under the hood. There's a small ballast system with each bulb that I just secured with a little 3M auto tape and zip tie.
The only possible issue with LED bulbs is if you're caught driving through a heavy snowstorm, then the snow may build up over the headlights as they do not generate any heat so the snow will not melt. That's where having auxiliary lighting that's either halogen or HID's will help if you ever find yourself in this situation. I previously had the KC Slimlites installed on my bumper, but decided to upgrade to the KC pro-sport HID's. I have the factory bumper mount system, so I ended up going with the 6" lights. The 8" lights (which I tried and had to exchange) ended up sitting much higher than my headlights which I personally didn't like. Since these lights have an internal ballast system, they are quite wider (especially compared to my previous slim-lites). However, there is just enough room with my mounts to clear the grille. They're pretty bright and have the slight blueish HID tint to them (they're much brighter than my previous slim-lites which had H3 100 watt bulbs)
Here's a side-by-side close-up comparison of the LED's and the HID's (had to get in real tight to get as accurate color reading as possible):
Here's the front with all lights on! (sorry, but the camera on my phone wasn't picking up the lighting very good, as it was super bright) I also upgraded my side mirror bulbs with LED bulbs and removed the diffuser film. The lower grille fog lights are my Rigid Industries LED's (there's a post on how installed those.)
Here's how the lights look from the inside. (Sorry the grey brick wall isn't really showing an accurate depiction, may try to find a white wall to show this better). These were taken from my new Go-Luk dash cam. I previously tried different Black-vue dash cams which i always liked the small size and barrel-shaped design, but they always started malfunctioning. So far the Go-Luk is working out great (and looks like they did copy the same barrel-type design of the much more expensive Black-vues.
Headlights only:
Headlights high beam:
Headlights and Rigid Industries fog lights:
Headlights, fogs, and HID's:
Also I upgraded my reverse bulbs to LED's as well:
Here's with also my rear Rigid Industries lights on that i installed under the rear bumper (there's a post too on how i mounted these.) Also I switched the license plate bulbs to LEDs too.
Thanks for reading! I want to thank all the members for their great forums/posts which always provides great help and inspiration.
Cheers!
I wanted to post an update to some of my recent lighting upgrades. I was on the fence for awhile on whether to go with LED headlight bulbs (as there are so many brands to choose from, and the pros vs. cons). I went with the Phillips Ultinon LED bulbs. They're pretty pricey, but saw some great reviews from other members. I like how Phillips have replicated the halogen beam pattern much better than some other brands, as I definitely didn't want to blind other drivers with my stock housings. The package says 6200K, which is mis-leading. It's more like a pure bright white (no yellow, or no blueish tint).
Here's the bulbs from under the hood. There's a small ballast system with each bulb that I just secured with a little 3M auto tape and zip tie.
The only possible issue with LED bulbs is if you're caught driving through a heavy snowstorm, then the snow may build up over the headlights as they do not generate any heat so the snow will not melt. That's where having auxiliary lighting that's either halogen or HID's will help if you ever find yourself in this situation. I previously had the KC Slimlites installed on my bumper, but decided to upgrade to the KC pro-sport HID's. I have the factory bumper mount system, so I ended up going with the 6" lights. The 8" lights (which I tried and had to exchange) ended up sitting much higher than my headlights which I personally didn't like. Since these lights have an internal ballast system, they are quite wider (especially compared to my previous slim-lites). However, there is just enough room with my mounts to clear the grille. They're pretty bright and have the slight blueish HID tint to them (they're much brighter than my previous slim-lites which had H3 100 watt bulbs)
Here's a side-by-side close-up comparison of the LED's and the HID's (had to get in real tight to get as accurate color reading as possible):
Here's the front with all lights on! (sorry, but the camera on my phone wasn't picking up the lighting very good, as it was super bright) I also upgraded my side mirror bulbs with LED bulbs and removed the diffuser film. The lower grille fog lights are my Rigid Industries LED's (there's a post on how installed those.)
Here's how the lights look from the inside. (Sorry the grey brick wall isn't really showing an accurate depiction, may try to find a white wall to show this better). These were taken from my new Go-Luk dash cam. I previously tried different Black-vue dash cams which i always liked the small size and barrel-shaped design, but they always started malfunctioning. So far the Go-Luk is working out great (and looks like they did copy the same barrel-type design of the much more expensive Black-vues.
Headlights only:
Headlights high beam:
Headlights and Rigid Industries fog lights:
Headlights, fogs, and HID's:
Also I upgraded my reverse bulbs to LED's as well:
Here's with also my rear Rigid Industries lights on that i installed under the rear bumper (there's a post too on how i mounted these.) Also I switched the license plate bulbs to LEDs too.
Thanks for reading! I want to thank all the members for their great forums/posts which always provides great help and inspiration.
Cheers!