LED headlights for the Subaru

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joeekaitis

joeekaitis

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Joined
Dec 22, 2001
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Location
Rialto, California, USA
 

 

 

Self-bought birthday gift.  No "Dim 'em, moron!" flashes from oncoming traffic at night on low beams, no flickering in DRL mode by day, no AM or FM radio interference in all modes of operation (common reported issues).

 

Brand is Alla Lighting, bought from Amazon if interested.

 

That is all.  Keep calm, both hands on the wheel, and carry on.

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Yanked out a quartet of Philips CrystalVision Ultras (H11 low beams, 9005 high beams) to make room for them.  Went with LEDs because of the tales of woe with aftermarket HIDs ranging from fried electrical systems to the inability to align and aim the low beams to avoid the flashies and "fix-it" tickets from law enforcement.
 
I had a set of inexpensive HID's on a Chevy impala and absolutely loved them. They were installed in the original housings, but aimed fairly well and I very rarely got flashed. I want to install them on my current 2004 Toyota Prius, the headlights on that car are horrid on low beam, and I get flashed daily.... No clue why, they are original style halogen bulbs and are very dim.
 
If you are getting 'flashed' on a regular basis I'd suspect that the aim may be off, would be worth checking out at least.

I will have to look into the LED headlights. I am curious about what their pattern looks like etc. My hunch is that they aren't DOT approved, or are they?? I have changed most all the other lamps in my car out for LED's already.
 
I like the idea of LED headlights,too.They would be a good alternative to HID or even laser lit headlights-those being VERY expensive.HID headlights have to be used in fixtures designed for them.Yes,the retrofits do have problems.And some folks get the weird,green,or even purple HID lights.For foglights I can see having the green or amber-yellow LED ones-that would be good-would like to see such a thing-you could select the color of the foglights based on the weather.Green,amber for fog,rain,snow.And regular white for clear conditions.
 
Been planning to go led on sisters 99 300m as changing out the bulbs is a stupid involved process requiring removing in the least the inner fenders and trim peices and cranking the wheels to reach from behind, stupid design that is overly complicated and takes a lot of time to do. Lil sisters hubby used to own the car and dealer charged over 200 to replace both bulbs. I did passenger side and 6 months later drivers side blew out. Let us know how they work and would be great to see a beam pattern against the garage door or wall. The ones I found for her car are only 28 bucks but the leads just push into the original plug so hoping to find ones with the proper plug instead.
 
Put HID's into my 01 bug several years ago.  I've never been flashed, but I guess the projector housings help that some.  Swapped them into our Jimmy too.  The Escalade came with them.  I've looked at LED's for the fog lights on these vehicles...may have to do it.
 
Another thing on the HID-and some LED-the projector lenses in the headlight fixture help in preventing glare to other drivers.My Highlander has these lenses-so HIDS or LEDS could be in its future.
 
I have LED's in my 2016 Regal...I love them! The newer ones have more output, so I'd recommend getting the highest lumen amount that you can. Mine are ok...with high beams they are great. My car has projectors so aiming wasn't an issue, but if you have reflective lens...def need to make sure the aim is correct or adjusted so you don't blind oncoming cars.

They are very easy to install as well...much easier than HID's. I think I will replace my fog lights with LED once they burn out. I use the Sylvania ZXE's in those...they are a much brighter white halogen and good alternative if you just want to use halogens. Lifespan is shorter, and they aren't cheap however.
 
 

 

 

LEDs for the Subaru were $60.00 a pair, a steal if they really do last the lifetime of the car or even 5 or 6 years.

 

PIAA is still charging more than half a Ben Franklin for a pair of short-lived "performance" white halogen headlights.  Brand loyalty must still be pretty high.
 
In the UK and Europe the sale, fitment and use of LED bulbs in halogen exterior lamps is not permitted and illegal because the optics within the lamp cannot work as designed with the incompatible LED source. I thought the same situation was in the US. Google Daniel Stern lighting...
 
Google Daniel Stern lighting...

 

 

 

Which I did.  His beef is with aftermarket HIDs in halogen reflector enclosures, same as your humble Sube-jockey.  Didn't find any mention of LED bulbs but I might not have dug deep enough.  I'll poke and prod some more.
 

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