LED light conversions

chiefjason

chiefjason

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2A Bourbon Hound 2024
2A Bourbon Hound OG
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Looking to do a conversion starting with the low beam lights bulbs on a 2010 Subaru Outback. Any recommendations on who to go with? Any companies better than others? Easier to install?
 
Bailey Boat said:
Only place you need to go is www.superbrightleds.com

Last 3 boats have been totally outfitted through them, great to deal with and plenty of customer support. Remember what that is??
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Use them for a lot of LED projects, so far only had one set of bulbs not work out right. They took them back, no questions asked.
 
I use Evitek G6's in my bike. They just came out with a new F2. They are great! Check them out.
 
I wouldn’t do it. The headlight housing is not made for LED’s and you will end up with a weird beam pattern that will blind people. Biggest problem is the cutoff. Looking at adding some OSRAM bulbs instead.
 
Bailey Boat said:
Only place you need to go is www.superbrightleds.com

Last 3 boats have been totally outfitted through them, great to deal with and plenty of customer support. Remember what that is??
Click to expand...
Just used them for some in-dash replacements. I haven't done the work yet because working on a dash is a PITA. But the buying experience was fine!
 
Carolinatlc said:
I wouldn’t do it. The headlight housing is not made for LED’s and you will end up with a weird beam pattern that will blind people. Biggest problem is the cutoff. Looking at adding some OSRAM bulbs instead.
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The Evitek G6'S & F2 have a built in shield to give you the cut off to prevent blinding oncoming traffic.
 
Carolinatlc said:
I wouldn’t do it. The headlight housing is not made for LED’s and you will end up with a weird beam pattern that will blind people. Biggest problem is the cutoff. Looking at adding some OSRAM bulbs instead.
Click to expand...

That's funny... I replaced my low beams with LED's and the pattern is exactly the same but the light is much brighter which helps me see at night, which is when I have trouble. I avoid driving after dark because I just don't see as well as I used to, if it temporarily blinds you quit looking at the beams, focus on the side of the road instead!!
 
White/blue lights generally aren't beneficial to improving what is visible. The best temperature lighting for visibility is 4000-5000k, anything above that and your visibility drops.

I run PIAA 4100k incandescent bulbs in my low/high beams and the 2500k in the fogs, for increased visibility at low distances a yellow fog is most beneficial and reduces glare.

My biggest concern with an LED conversion is the lack of being able to run my dust cover on the back of the lights. If you're not looking to keep the car and aren't worried about the wiring going bad, then you can run without the dust cover on.
 
Grim said:
White/blue lights generally aren't beneficial to improving what is visible. The best temperature lighting for visibility is 4000-5000k, anything above that and your visibility drops.

I run PIAA 4100k incandescent bulbs in my low/high beams and the 2500k in the fogs, for increased visibility at low distances a yellow fog is most beneficial and reduces glare.

My biggest concern with an LED conversion is the lack of being able to run my dust cover on the back of the lights. If you're not looking to keep the car and aren't worried about the wiring going bad, then you can run without the dust cover on.
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The LED'S I put in my bike fit with the rubber boots still in place.
 
SPST said:
The LED'S I put in my bike fit with the rubber boots still in place.
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That's great. My KTM Adventure had a lot of room in the housing to make it work too, but my 4Runner sadly does not, plus the dust cover is mounted on the side of the low beam, so the back end of the LED would require extensive modification to the housing to get it to work.
 
Definitely be mindful of the beam pattern. I tested mine on my garage, tried 4 different sets of LEDs in my wife 4Runner and due to their weird housing I could not find an LED that worked well.
On my Tacoma, totally different, but I went HID for lows and LED for highs & fogs.
Don’t go above 5000k light temp.
 
Bailey Boat said:
if it temporarily blinds you quit looking at the beams, focus on the side of the road instead!!
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It's so nice to have great advice available like this and BB who is so willing to share all his knowledge. I guess next you are going to tell me to stop looking at the sun when I go outside during the day.
 
Correctly patterned lights should not produce sufficient glare to require one to look anywhere but the center of their lane. If they lights are producing glare, they have the improper bulb for their housing. Should be treated no differently than anyone trying to intentionally blind oncoming drivers.
 
If you do a dash light conversion, be sure to order plenty of extras. These little POS’s like to come apart and break.
9C68B0C0-540F-47E0-B403-C3FA75D416DD.jpeg
That’s supposed to be one contained unit. I went through three totally broken ones. It’s a bag of f’ing laughs when the metal crap breaks and falls into the instrument cluster, requiring you to completely disassemble the gauges to pluck it out. Ask me how I friggin know that!!!!!!!!!!

When you get them in, they work fine. Little bastards though.
 
Grim said:
White/blue lights generally aren't beneficial to improving what is visible. The best temperature lighting for visibility is 4000-5000k, anything above that and your visibility drops.

I run PIAA 4100k incandescent bulbs in my low/high beams and the 2500k in the fogs, for increased visibility at low distances a yellow fog is most beneficial and reduces glare.

My biggest concern with an LED conversion is the lack of being able to run my dust cover on the back of the lights. If you're not looking to keep the car and aren't worried about the wiring going bad, then you can run without the dust cover on.
Click to expand...

After looking around and checking on replacing the headlights we decided not to go with LED's. With it being an older car there is just too much involved in replacing them to deal with it. Harnesses, the possibility of flickering or the car not recognizing them, and where to put the extra wiring. Or even which ones will fit. Or if they will work with the reflectors. The Subaru has an enclosed cover for the lights so extra wiring was not likely to fit and not sure the ones with fans mounted would either. We ordered Phillips X-tremeVision instead, 3400K temp. Sometimes plug and play is just easier to deal with. We will see how they work.
 
I have PIAA extreme bulbs in my truck and car and they are well worth the 60ish per set they run. Extra bright and still a standard bulb.

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk
 
Bailey Boat said:
That's funny... I replaced my low beams with LED's and the pattern is exactly the same but the light is much brighter which helps me see at night, which is when I have trouble. I avoid driving after dark because I just don't see as well as I used to, if it temporarily blinds you quit looking at the beams, focus on the side of the road instead!!
Click to expand...
Typical
 
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