LED bulbs

[RD_Atlanta]

Is there anyone who has switched to LED bulbs on Buicks earlier than production with LED bulbs? If so, is there any pro's or con's that you would share?

 

[JGBuick]

I pretty much have switched everything to LED's on my 2001. No regrets.

 

[RD_Atlanta]

Thanks, I think I'll convert over one step at a time. I just ordered all (4) LED headlights. The original low beams draw 51 watts and produce about 1500 Lumens. These that I ordered draw 35 watts and produce 4,000 lumens with about the same physical foot print as the originals. There are some available with large heat sinks that produce something like 10,000-15,000 lumens. I don't want to blind the other drivers. I 'think' that I'll be happy with about 2.7x lumens drawing 31% less current.

 

[JGBuick]

Good Deal. I've found that finding LED headlights that work well is a challenge. Yes, they do get hot just like halogens. The interior LED's are a non issue. (Although they don't slowly ramp-down like the regular bulbs, they are brighter.) I found some Headlight LED's (High and low) off of Amazon that have been working well. They have an internal mini-fan that helps dissipate heat also. The first time I did this, I had trouble with fitment, heat sink and so forth. The LED's I now run are almost identical the halogens in size and fitment. There are literally hundreds of these to choose from.

Also... because older (Halogen) headlight assemblies were built with halogens in-mind, the beam pattern will be off kilter. LED's have directional output and when they shine on the reflector housings, they can throw non-optimal beam patterns. Not a huge issue, but some notice it. Yes, less current is good!

Hope it works out! Good Luck!

 

[RD_Atlanta]

Very helpful, thanks.

 

[DrivenDaily]

Thanks, I think I'll convert over one step at a time. I just ordered all (4) LED headlights. The original low beams draw 51 watts and produce about 1500 Lumens. These that I ordered draw 35 watts and produce 4,000 lumens with about the same physical foot print as the originals. There are some available with large heat sinks that produce something like 10,000-15,000 lumens. I don't want to blind the other drivers. I 'think' that I'll be happy with about 2.7x lumens drawing 31% less current.

They claim in their advertisements that they have "X" number of lumens. Most are lying, or as some kindly call it, "gilding the lily". Either way, they're lying.

What matters is that you aren't blinding oncoming traffic, and you can see better.

And as you mention, drawing fewer amps is just another win.

 

[JGBuick]

One more thing... I actually was going to buy better halogens and decided I'd give LED (Headlamps) one more try. After looking at many different fixtures, I decided to try an LED that was "plug & play". These weren't the brightest, but were constructed without large heat-sinks and external modules etc. They were practically identical to the 9005 / 9006 bulbs in construction. My goal was to avoid a halogen replacement - again. I'm pretty happy with the results.

A coworker thought I purchased a new car when he saw them one night. Being brighter and whiter in color, he said it made my car look newer.

 

[DrivenDaily]

One more thing... I actually was going to buy better halogens and decided I'd give LED (Headlamps) one more try. After looking at many different fixtures, I decided to try an LED that was "plug & play". These weren't the brightest, but were constructed without large heat-sinks and external modules etc. They were practically identical to the 9005 / 9006 bulbs in construction. My goal was to avoid a halogen replacement - again. I'm pretty happy with the results.

A coworker thought I purchased a new car when he saw them one night. Being brighter and whiter in color, he said it made my car look newer.

Do you recall what brand you bought?

 

[JGBuick]

Do you recall what brand you bought?

Yes. These - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DHRMLLKZ?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title

 

[DrivenDaily]

Thanks.

Those say that they are for fog lights, which are "usually" less bright than headlights, and a lower Kelvin color temperature.

How would you categorize yours? It sounds like they are brighter than the halogens.

Are they a "warm" color, or a "cold" color (kinda bluer)?

 

[JGBuick]

Thanks.

Those say that they are for fog lights, which are "usually" less bright than headlights, and a lower Kelvin color temperature.

How would you categorize yours? It sounds like they are brighter than the halogens.

Are they a "warm" color, or a "cold" color (kinda bluer)?

They "could" be used as fog lights based upon the nomenclature. I just chose them because they were highly rated and were 9005 / 9006 replacements. (So I have both regular and high beams in one package. For less that $50, I thought I'd try them out. The color is definitely not warm (like the halogens were.) They are 6500K which is bright white. I wouldn't call them blue.

Another reason I chose these was they are a 1 to 1 design which kept the LED's in the same position at the previous halogen filament. Like I mentioned previously... there are literally dozens upon dozens of LED's that are claimed to be direct replacements for the 9005 / 9006 Halogen bulbs.

These just worked for me and I stopped looking. Are they the best?? I don't know. I'm sure there are other LED'S to try.... but??? These just worked (For me) and the price was less than a new set of Silverstar conventional halogens. To my eyes.... they are an improvement. I really didn't like the idea of using halogens "again" and seeing how hot they get and the power draw etc. Maybe I'm just anal about certain things...LOL

Hope you find something that works for you! Let us know what happens. 🙂

 

[ulycyc]

You also may lose your DRL function with some brand LED bulbs. I tried many fixes with the add-on resistor packs but none ever work. No big deal for as the LED lignts are 1000 times better then the originals. I also converted the high brake light and backups with LED's I have to back out of a long driveway and it helps alot.

 

[RD_Atlanta]

Thanks for all the responses, really cool how everyone tries to help one another on this site.

 

[seymourj98]

There are no DOT-approved LED headlight bulbs that replace a halogen headlight bulb, and for good reason. Your headlight assembly was engineered to shine light in a very specific way based on the light pattern emitted from a halogen bulb. There is no LED headlight bulb on the market that emits a light pattern anywhere close that of a halogen bulb. If you replace your halogen headlight bulbs with LEDs, you are blinding every other car on the road. Your headlights may appear brighter, but the visibility will be objectively worse than with a quality halogen bulb.

 

[DrivenDaily]

There are no DOT-approved LED headlight bulbs that replace a halogen headlight bulb, and for good reason. Your headlight assembly was engineered to shine light in a very specific way based on the light pattern emitted from a halogen bulb. There is no LED headlight bulb on the market that emits a light pattern anywhere close that of a halogen bulb. If you replace your halogen headlight bulbs with LEDs, you are blinding every other car on the road. Your headlights may appear brighter, but the visibility will be objectively worse than with a quality halogen bulb.

I had halogen bulbs in the housings for both high and low beams. The pattern was so miserable that I could barely see anything. There were dark spots where there should be light, and light was spraying around in places that it was no help.

I added some accessory LED fog lights (first white, then added amber covers), and I can see better with them than with the halogen low beams.

Later, I bought HID bulbs for the low beams, 4500K color temperature so I could actually use them. Same issue: light pattern is nearly useless. Thankfully those fog lights are still helping. A few months later, one of the HIDs burned out, and this week the 2nd one died.

This is why I'm considering LEDs.

I bought LEDs for my other car. The first pair was so bad that I threw them away. The next 2 sets were perfect and still are.

While I understand your position about there being no DOT-approved replacement LEDs for halogen bulbs, I would rather see the roadway than just put a candle in a housing. I can adjust the height so I get light where it needs to be, without blinding oncoming drivers.

An additional point when speaking about being DOT approved: Have you seen some of the garbage that comes on new cars these days? Straight from the factory they're blinding, even on low beam! And then there are those who think the cute little blue light is there to tell them that their headlights are on.

 

[RD_Atlanta]

I plan to test LED bulbs in one of my LeSabre's and I will be very careful that I'm not blinding any other drivers. I also have to ask how anyone is supposed to have any confidence in the 'DOT Approved' headlight assemblies when so many new cars/trucks are being shipped to customers with headlights that can only be viewed as hazardous? I can't imagine that auto/truck manufacturers are shipping vehicles with anything other than 'DOT Approved' headlight assemblies installed.

 

[JGBuick]

It's true, halogen bulbs and their perspective OEM enclosures were made to function as a unit. When I switched to my current LED setup, I noticed a difference in beam pattern with some definite dark spots. I attribute this to the fact that the LED's have only two (opposite) sides which emit light 180 degrees. A reflector housing made for a halogen is not the greatest (As opposed to a projector assembly for example) setup.

Am I still happy with the results? Yeah. Could it be better? Absolutely! I've noticed on the LeSabre's pattern, the light is now focused horizontally rather than vertically.
I do not get the "Brights are on!" flashing for oncoming drivers. Not once. So to conclude... Going with LED's has been a mixed-bag in my case... They definitely could be better. I'm still happy with them though. Who knows... perhaps I'll search for a multi-sided LED in the future.

 

[seymourj98]

I had halogen bulbs in the housings for both high and low beams. The pattern was so miserable that I could barely see anything. There were dark spots where there should be light, and light was spraying around in places that it was no help.

I added some accessory LED fog lights (first white, then added amber covers), and I can see better with them than with the halogen low beams.

Later, I bought HID bulbs for the low beams, 4500K color temperature so I could actually use them. Same issue: light pattern is nearly useless. Thankfully those fog lights are still helping. A few months later, one of the HIDs burned out, and this week the 2nd one died.

This is why I'm considering LEDs.

I bought LEDs for my other car. The first pair was so bad that I threw them away. The next 2 sets were perfect and still are.

While I understand your position about there being no DOT-approved replacement LEDs for halogen bulbs, I would rather see the roadway than just put a candle in a housing. I can adjust the height so I get light where it needs to be, without blinding oncoming drivers.

An additional point when speaking about being DOT approved: Have you seen some of the garbage that comes on new cars these days? Straight from the factory they're blinding, even on low beam! And then there are those who think the cute little blue light is there to tell them that their headlights are on.

Which halogen bulb? There are good and bad ones. Sylvania Silverstar ZXE are what I swear by, they aren't inexpensive but make a huge difference when driving at night in dark rural areas. You will not get better performance than these from any LED bulb in a halogen housing.

 

[DrivenDaily]

Which halogen bulb? There are good and bad ones. Sylvania Silverstar ZXE are what I swear by, they aren't inexpensive but make a huge difference when driving at night in dark rural areas. You will not get better performance than these from any LED bulb in a halogen housing.

I had those exact ZXE bulbs. They were brighter for sure, but they also died quickly. I was on my way to work one Monday morning with a pair of them. One headlight had failed late Sunday and I planned to replace it the following weekend. I turned on my fog lights to be sure I had enough lighting to be seen. Wednesday morning the other ZXE failed so all I had at that point was my fogs. The interesting thing is that it had been almost exactly a year since replacing them when they failed only days apart!

I went back to LL halogens at that time. It was a few years later when I started experimenting with LEDs. My first pair sprayed more light back into my face than I could stand.

After a couple more brands, I finally found the Morimoto H11 and H9 replacements and that is what it has had for a decade now. No blinding of oncoming traffic, no blow-back in my face, and no blackouts.

It's true, halogen bulbs and their perspective OEM enclosures were made to function as a unit. When I switched to my current LED setup, I noticed a difference in beam pattern with some definite dark spots. I attribute this to the fact that the LED's have only two (opposite) sides which emit light 180 degrees. A reflector housing made for a halogen is not the greatest (As opposed to a projector assembly for example) setup.

Am I still happy with the results? Yeah. Could it be better? Absolutely! I've noticed on the LeSabre's pattern, the light is now focused horizontally rather than vertically.
I do not get the "Brights are on!" flashing for oncoming drivers. Not once. So to conclude... Going with LED's has been a mixed-bag in my case... They definitely could be better. I'm still happy with them though. Who knows... perhaps I'll search for a multi-sided LED in the future.

I'm not sure if the housings I have are the stock ones, but they look to be.

The pattern from the halogen bulbs is so bad that there are dark parts directly in front of me, and a little light to each side. When I installed the HID bulbs, the light was a little brighter, but the dark spots are still there. If I can get a good set of LEDs that I can adjust properly, it will be the first time in over a year of owning the car that I will be able to see at night.

 

[RD_Atlanta]

Perhaps it will help if members could share their experiences with specific LEDs they've tried. This way collectively we can learn what works well. I've got a set of LED bulbs scheduled to arrive on Monday for one of my LeSabre's. They are 4,000 Lumens (vs 1000-1500 for the stock Halogens) and 35 watt (vs 51 w for the stock halogens). I'll post on how well these work.