HID vs. LED vs.??

[LavaRand]

My new-to-me Sienna has headlights that are...dim. They are aimed right, and the lenses are clear...they just aren't very bright.

Should I buy new regular incandescent lamps (I heard they can get dimmer as they get older) or would that be a waste? LED replacement lamps? HID replacement lamps?

 

[Torrid]

If you're going to upgrade to HID or LED I think it's a bit dangerous to other drivers without the proper lenses. Halogen reflector housings don't work well for HIDs or LEDs. The scatter pattern required for the light output is completely different. If you have factory projectors they can cope with it better and may be fine. I've done that with one car that had OEM halogen projectors with HIDs and had decent results. It might be best to try new bulbs first.

 

[hrv]

Also in the colder climates the LED does not melt the snow and ice from the headlight lens like a halogen bulb does...

 

[CharBaby]

These are just my opinion & experiences.

Try new incandescent bulbs or maybe go the next step up/upgrade in your bulb #.
Keep in mind that the higher/brighter of an incandescent bulb that you upgrade to may not last as long as the standard bulbs.
Also, if you do upgrade to LED, make sure your vehicle can accept the LED. I don't mean fitment wise but electrical wise. LED may be too much for you system...IDK!

Here's from GOOGLE:
Q: Can you replace normal headlights with LEDs?

A: Swapping out a halogen bulb with a similar LED bulb isn't straightforward. You can't exchange one for the other—you'll need a conversion kit. While LED bulbs last much longer than halogens, you will pay more for them. Additionally, the equipment needed for the conversion can get expensive.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Our newest vehicles in my signature('22Civic/'23Venza) have factory LED lighting. Although the light is nice and white, I don't fine either cars lighting to be any better at night than my older vehicles that had incandescent bulbs. But, I'm not complaining.
The LED's don't shine down the road any further nor is the lighting spread out any wider. They're just WHITER!
Other vehicles may be better, giving their drivers a different opinion, and I get that!

Incandescent lighting: Aimed properly or slightly higher(but not to "High Beam Levels"), I found the incandescent bulbs & assembly to be more than sufficient and in some instances, more to my liking. Or maybe it's just me and 55 years of driving.
And believe me, I'm getting older and more fussy about driving at night especially on unlit roads when all you can see is the darkness.

I've owned vehicles with sealed beam lighting that were just brilliant and easily adjustable(tweaked) for my liking without blinding oncoming drivers. I've had cars with sealed beams that were less so but when adjusted to my liking, were much better.

Ya know, lighting that is "aimed properly", may not be aimed properly for you. So, adjust them!
A little adjustment(tweak) goes a long way so, only tweak them a tiny bit.

 

[97prizm]

My new-to-me Sienna has headlights that are...dim. They are aimed right, and the lenses are clear...they just aren't very bright.

Should I buy new regular incandescent lamps (I heard they can get dimmer as they get older) or would that be a waste? LED replacement lamps? HID replacement lamps?

Thete are no hid or led that will not glare and have weird cutoff with your halogen housings. I picked up a set of Philips +100 nightbreakers and they make a huge difference in my neon.

 

[Torrid]

Also in the colder climates the LED does not melt the snow and ice from the headlight lens like a halogen bulb does...

If there’s one gripe I’ve had about LEDs, it’s this.

 

[4WD]

Silverstar ultra work better than stock - expect 1 or 2 years of life

 

[Marcozi]

Conversion to HID requires a ballast (and other items) for each bulb. Buy high quality LEDs and you should be fine.

 

[Sequoiasoon]

@LavaRand - Reflector housings or Projector housings?

OEM Headlights upgrade
Need help with better lights

I have used HID kits in many vehicles, projection and reflector based. Many don't recommend as they are not considered DOT/Road legal and list for "offroad use only". A quality set of HID's or a good LED may help you as long as you follow the 2 important notes.

1st- Make sure your headlights are clean, polished, no haze/fogging on the outer lenses.
2nd- Make sure they are aimed CORRECTLY with the vehicle as you normally drive it. (full load of people, just you etc).

If it matters to your area, LED's do not produce enough heat to melt snow/ice, even factory ones. This could be a hazard driving in snow at night. I also prefer the "warmer" color temperature of HID's in the 4500-5000k. Less reflection from wet roads etc.

I had an HID kit in my '07 Sonata (projector) for 13 years and 220k miles. I have an HID kit in my sons 2010 Forte with reflector based lights. I had H4 "moving" HID in wife's reflector housing Sequoia for about 10 years. The only vehicle I get flashed for brights sometimes is my factory projector LED Pilot. Daughter's CRV with the H4 Nineo LED does not get flashed. All my vehicles are checked and aimed for correct aiming of lights.

Aiming instructions - old school from Hella fogs and headlights.
Do the wall check with a tape measure. Find a flat area 25-30 feet from wall. Measure at the vehicle where cutoff is on light (example 37"). put some tape or just measure light at wall you should be 1-2" lower at that cutoff (35"-36"). I use the lower stepped portion on both. I cover the other light while doing that. Works the same for the fog lights. If you regularly carry loads or tow but are not while aiming you might want to go a bit more. That will give you the best distance available. If you find you still get flashed often then you can tweak 1/4-1/2 turn until you are happy with distance and flashing. Lots of pictures and videos if you search headlight aiming chart on google.

A= center of headlight/cut off at vehicle. B= A minus 2" with vehicle 30 feet back on a flat surface.

 

[wings&wheels]

Please no off the shelf LED or HID kits, don't be that guy.... Proper bulb or an OE/OEM HID retrofit are your best options, but either way make sure your lenses are clear and as noted proper aim is key.

 

[Cujet]

If you choose to get an LED replacement, Beamtech's higher end offerings are epic good and will provide the exact same beam pattern.

This is a combo of Beamtech LED's, PIAA driving lights and Rigid LED fog lights for up close illumination.

It was very well configured to NOT produce any glare for oncoming drivers, and I never got flashed. I wish I had a low beam pic, as the cutoff was epic good.

 

[sohccammer427]

My new-to-me Sienna has headlights that are...dim. They are aimed right, and the lenses are clear...they just aren't very bright.

Should I buy new regular incandescent lamps (I heard they can get dimmer as they get older) or would that be a waste? LED replacement lamps? HID replacement lamps?

I stick with the same technology that the car came with.

incandescent (I did not think these were uses on new vernicles anymore)
halogen
HID
LED

Your housings and reflectors were designed for a specific type of bulb. You may be able to keep the same type and just get an upgraded version.
I know a lot of halogen bulbs offer this option.

Worse this for me is someone who puts LED bulbs in a halogen or HID fixture and I'm blinded by their headlamps. It's dangerous.

 

[VolvoZ]

There are many new vehicles that came out in the last couple years that have blinding headlights straight from the factory. I have been flashing oncoming drivers much more in the last two years, than in the prior 10 years combined. (No, i have not kept count). Hard to tell which vehicles are the worst, but there’s a Honda/Acura with two side by side lamps that are particularly bad. Then there’s the F250/350 Superduty trucks with “stadium lights” that wouldn’t be so bad if not for the vast square footage of the light source.

 

[jakeuten]

My Mazda came used with aftermarket LED replacements, and while the projector beam housing does a good job of not blinding oncoming traffic, the light output just isn't very great. It also had LED's in the high beams, which are great to punish oncoming trucks, but due to a voltage mismatch the DRLs (which are low voltage highbeams) don't work at all. I'm going back to Sylvania Silverstar Ultras before snow falls. My last CX-5 had those and the light output wasn't much different, but the reflectivity on snow is annoying with LEDs. The Silverstars look white-ish, which is fine by me.

 

[DuckRyder]

You might check out headlight revolution on You Tube.

Particularly Morimoto's latest lights/bulbs.

 

[Torrid]

You might check out headlight revolution on You Tube.

Particularly Morimoto's latest lights/bulbs.

Big fan of Morimoto. I did an HID conversion kit on my GTO with 4300k bulbs and their ballasts nearly 20 years ago. They're more expensive than the random cheap kits on eBay and I found them to be very reliable and it all looked OEM. I had them in the factory projectors and it made for a clean cutoff.

My big concern for the cheap kits is poor ballast quality and improperly aligned bulb bases which could induce glare. Outside of that I really just can't recommend it with reflector housings. They throw off too much light for HIDs and LEDs.

 

[meep]

My favorite is HID projector conversion, but that’s not for the feint of heart.

First I would do is this. New halogen bulbs. NOT LONG LIFE. Just a regular Philips, osram, etc. Long Life bulbs run a thicker filament at lower temperature. The thick filament also is not as tiny. The smaller filament will yield a tighter focus from the headlamp optics. Thus, a standard, non long-life bulb will shine a little hotter with better focus.

Next, depending on the bulb, you may be able to snip a tab and install a slightly higher wattage halogen bulb with the same filament position into the lamp. H9-H11 conversion, HIR conversion (yes, R), are terms you can google by.

I personally do not like the LED color or harsh lay down, and poor Color Rendering Index, at all. Halogen lamps have the best CRI, and lower color HID can be ok.

LED drop-in lamps can be decent in a projector. I live a little out in the county here and most cars are running drop-ins. I get why - it’s dark out here, but they all “leak” light upwards.

 

[Wireman1987]

i parted ways with my halogens and went led.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/296511722114

 

[KrisZ]

I went with LEDs as well and I’m very happy with the results. If you go with a brand that matches the LED placement to the filement on the halogens, the pattern will stay mostly the same.

I’ve been using these from Hikari with very good results. They are on the dimmer scale of LEDs, but are still brighter/more intense than halogens. I get no flashes from the oncoming traffic, probably because their brightness is on a reasonable level, unlike others that try to be super intense.

https://a.co/d/apOMhJM


I regards to people worrying about extra glare and blinding others, honestly I don’t care anymore. Many OEM led setups do all of that to me on daily basis. So if you can’t beat them, join them.

 

[Wireman1987]

I regards to people worrying about extra glare and blinding others, honestly I don’t care anymore. Many OEM led setups do all of that to me on daily basis. So if you can’t beat them, join them.

100%.