Silverstars, HID or LED headlights??

[Coopers ST]

What does everyone think of doing a bulb replacement in the stock housings and not going to a projector housing, I can't afford $500-$600 for new housings

I think it should be illegal, with a bigger fine than 15 mph over the speed limit.

 

[Tasmania]

LED over HID, Less power they use, and dont burn so hot like HID,

Just make sure its all ''LEGAL'' you dont want to void your insurance due to this. =)

 

[brettS4]

What does everyone think of doing a bulb replacement in the stock housings and not going to a projector housing, I can't afford $500-$600 for new housings

If you're talking about putting HID bulbs in your stock housing, you'll burn the bowls and end up worse than you are now. Then you'll have to pony up the bucks for a retrofit HID kit or replace your housings.

 

[Desertnate]

I think it should be illegal, with a bigger fine than 15 mph over the speed limit.

I'm with you. The glare thrown off by some of the Frankenstein headlights I see around here is flat out dangerous. There is light going everywhere but the road because they are using a light source that wasn't designed for the assembly in their cars.

The fun trend in my area is a guy will take his lifted/customized trunk and put the brightest LED bulbs possible in the reflector housings, the same bulbs in his fog light assembly, and a LED light bar across the top of the cab. They will then proceed to turn on ALL of those light sources and drive down a well lit city street in clear weather. It looks like a rolling footbal stadium at night. There is blinding light being thrown everywhere but the road. They are a hazard to trafic in front of them and very dangerous to oncoming traffic.

 

[Desertnate]

I think LED headlights are better

I tend to agree if they are housed in the proper projection housing.

An interesting test by the IIHS on the Audi A3/S3 found the HID/Xenon lights projected farther and with a more usable beam than the optional LED's. The difference between the two at that time was the LED's for that model year were in a reflector housing vs a projector and therefore couldn't properly disperse the light.

 

[brettS4]

And I bought 50w Morimoto ballasts for my HID setup since my upgraded Philips Xtreme Vision bulbs didn't make any noticeable difference in light output with the original 35w ballasts. Installing the new ballasts this weekend.

 

[kevin_1981]

I've done HID retrofits on three cars. I bought cheapo HID kits from Amazon for all 3 (One was $50, one was $60, and one was $75). I used the stock headlight housing.

2007 Scion TC (9006 lamps - Xentec) - Looks good. I get people that flash their brights at me maybe once a month if that. Much brighter, and the beam spread looks the same. Been using the same ballast/lamps for about 6 years now)

2007 Toyota Highlander (9006 lamps - Kensun) - Looks good, much brighter, and the ballasts are nice and small. A bit more glare-y, but partially because i need to do headlight lens correction. When they were clearer, they looked better, and had less people flashing their brights at me. Been in use with original bulbs/ballasts for about 2 years.

2004 Grand Marquis (9007 Bi-Xenon - Innovited) - Brighter than stock halogen, but an AWFUL and i mean AWFUL beam spread - inconsistent. When I have a chance, I think im going to swap to LED to try it out.

 

[WillSports3]

Stay away from silverstar, they're basically garbage. And I'd suggest led bulbs over HID. HID in stock housings will just not work properly versus led. I believe the gentleman with all the diagrams have covered all the basis for it.