LED bulbs

[Click_It]

Hey guys. For years I've been thinking it would be good to replace the old halogens with LEDs, looks better, less power drain. I got most of the various bulbs this week and started installing them but ultimately was a little disappointed.

• The turn signals (we call them blinkers in Australia which probably sounds funny) don't work. Well they do but the flash really fast, the car obviously can't detect the low power drain and thinks the car is missing bulbs. Unfortunate. I've heard others here successfully use LED bulbs so it must have been the type I bought?
• Tail light / brake lights are a miss too. The brake lights work but won't light up for the tail lights. Seems the LED's are all-or-nothing which is probably my fault I clearly must have needed to be a 2 stage bulb for there?
• The reverse lights... Amazing! Love them.
• The front parkers (do you call them that in America?) work and look fantastic and so much brighter, but now make the headlights look like a HORRIBLE so I took them back out until I replace the headlights.
• I already have an interior roof LED bulb from years ago, so much better than the stock bulb
• I haven't got the bulbs for the front side indicators yet but I'm guessing I'll run into the same problem as I did at the back

There are probably some specific bulbs I need to buy to get around the tail light and indicator problems I experienced.

The only one left are the headlights. I'd like to try LED (not eBay cheapies but some quality ones) but most here regard them poorly, so that leaves HID as the only choice to get some ~6000k lighting at the front and allow me to reinstall the LED parker bulbs.

Let some discussion begin

[firebush357]

We call them Blinkers here as well and I can fix some of these problems for you.

Wire in a 50 ohm resistor to either the front or rear blinkers and that will get rid of the Hyper Flash, they sell these on amazon or ebay for pretty cheap.

Brake Lights do need a 2 stage bulbs but make sure you get a quality bulb, I have seen cheap ones not light up bright enough when the brake is depressed

I switched to LED headlights and they are brighter light but they do not travel forward any further than a good set of Halogens and they blind on coming traffic.

You can find out what bulbs you need by visiting SuperBrighLEDS.com

If you have any questions feel free to ask and I'll help as much as I can.

[jawja jim]

The hyperflashing of the blinkers can be cured by replacing the stock flasher with any electronic flasher, which is about all that is sold in the parts houses nowadays, and is much simpler than wiring in resistors. You won't find a relay that plugs directly into the wiring harness, but can easily be done with 3 short jumpers and crimp-on connectors. It is so simple that I did it. A problem with cheap LED 1157 replacements is that, even though the lamp has 2 separate terminals, each lights all the LEDs on the fixture. This will cause the "lights on" alarm to sound if you depress the brake pedal while the no key is in the ignition. That alone had me change them without even determining if they were otherwise functioning properly.

[firebush357]

Here is a short video for how to wire in a resistor if you decide to go that route.

[w4rkry]

On top of what what said before, please do not put HID/LED bulbs in a halogen reflector. It causes glare, will always be mis-aligned, and will blind oncoming traffic. ALWAYS. Do not let some seller try to convince you otherwise.

The best thing to do is to buy a proper bright Halogen bulb. Get one with 150% more wattage and a better tint (4500k-5500k) from a reputable brand, like Philips or Sylvania. The results will be properly aimed, long disatnce, and incredible color accuracy.

[theastronaut]

HID's or LED's will make the beam pattern worse because the optics of the headlight housing and lens are designed around the size and placement of the 9004 bulb's low and high beam filaments. The much larger, and randomly placed light source of a HID bulb, or especially a LED bulb will significantly mess the beam pattern up to the point that you won't be able to see as well as a good pair of halogen bulbs. Brightness does not equal better vision; where the light is directed/aimed is more important than overall brightness.

If you want better headlights start with a good set of OEM housings- clean reflectors and lenses. Upgrade the wiring by adding a relay harness to get full voltage to the bulbs under load. Add good headlight bulbs, not bulbs with hyped up marketing. Anything with a blue tint will have a worse beam pattern due to the larger overwattage filament needed to overcome the loss of light from the tint. The best 9004 bulbs available are GE Nightwawk bulbs.

https://www.amazon.com/GE-NIGHTHAWK-9004-Halogen-Replacement/dp/B000H2BPJG

Past upgrading the original headlights, your only other option is to add auxiliary lighting. Fog lamps are useless unless you actually have thick fog, so they don't make good lamps to enhance the low beams, you'd need auxiliary low beams and they'll need to turn off when the high beams are switched on. If you mainly need better high beams then you'll want a driving lamp beam for better distance lighting that only come on with the high beams.

I added a relay harness and GE Nighthawk bulbs to upgrade the stock low/high beams, and Cibie driving lamps inside the grill opening for better long distance visibility. The lighting is very adequate now.

[Shin Hayata]

Source for relay harness? Thanks.

[theastronaut]

I built my own, a lot of the pre-made harnesses use low quality components and smaller gauge wire.