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Opinion - LED 'upgrade' will give more light, but not focused Posted by Mark in Marine [Email] ![]() ![]() In Reply to: xenon llamps blinking...LED 'upgrade' available?, three_jeeps, Sun, 6 Jan 2019 17:31:10 Members do not see ads below this line. - Help Keep This Site Online - Signup |
Your best option is new quality HID lamps (Phillips Osram, Flosser). If your lenses are sand-blasted you'll benefit from polishing and applying paint protector film on the lenses (the adhesive fills micro-scratches left in polishing, and it has UV absorbers that will prevent yellowing). Interior deterioration of the lens is showing on the two 2006 9-5's that I maintain, and polishing will not fix it =(.
My opinion of the Dame Edna lights is that the redesign traded performance for style. Of the pair of 2006 9-5's I referenced, one has HID headlights and the other has halogens. With new bulbs properly fitted there is not a lot of difference in how well they illuminate the road - but the HID color is different, and auto-leveling is a benefit with heavy load.
Sadly the best lighting for vehicles today is almost certainly well designed HID's with a crisp low beam cutoff - but style, price, & profit motives are giving us model-specific LED's with poorer optics. "Off Road" LED's plugged into standard reflector or projector lamps are brighter, but spray light and blind oncoming drivers while not improving the down-road light.
I apologize for the soap box - I used to make optical measurements for stray light and color. I would just get a set of quality HID bulbs.
Mark in Marine
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