LED Headlights - Help!

[Chevy1966]

I just ordered GM factory replacement headlight and parking light assemblies for my 2002 Suburban - didn't want to mess with aftermarket units that might not fit. So now I need to figure out which LED lamp units will fit without too much hassle and won't melt my new plastic housings. So many choices out there. Any recommendations and feedback is much appreciated!

[EVRLET]

9005 & 9006 from the many Amazon vendors. They’re all made in China and won’t melt housings. You’ll have the LED haters who say they are blinded but it is what it is.

[Chevy1966]

Thanks for the feedback!

[hatzie]

Originally Posted by EVRLET

9005 & 9006 from the many Amazon vendors. They’re all made in China and won’t melt housings. You’ll have the LED haters who say they are blinded but it is what it is.

The problem is the same as HID lamps.
The headlamp reflector in your truck is engineered for the light output and pattern of Halogen bulbs. When you change to LED without changing the reflector you give up the edges of the light pattern for a more focused beam that cuts down your side visibility and does indeed cause problems for other drivers.

The polycarbonate lens and reflective coatings in these polymer lamp housings do not age gracefully. When you sand an polish them you repair the damage on the outside of the lamp lens but not the damage on the inside of the lens and the degraded reflector.
Unlike the old GLASS sealed beam lamps you don't get all new lamps when you change the bulbs.

If you change the old reflector and lens assemblies for quality new pieces and install quality bulbs you'll be pleasantly surprised by the increase in light output from the 15-23 year old factory lamps. I occasionally get flashed with my lights on low beam with halogen bulbs and properly adjusted new lamps.

If you insist on getting LED bulbs to bandaid your old worn out lamps at least get something in the 3,000 Kelvin range. Blue spectrum light causes issues for other drivers.

[EVRLET]

Like I said, LED haters. I have LEDs in all my OBS trucks and this edging, light pattern, proper projectory jargon that gets tossed around is laughable. How many people do you know can get into a vehicle and say all these things about light specificity? Very few. Most people only know if the light is not aimed straight and not worried about beam edging, angle of pitch, Kelvin scale, etc.

It’s like speakers in the truck. Not many will say the frequency range is off or give some sort of acoustical analysis because they have a tuned ear.

[hatzie]

Originally Posted by EVRLET

Like I said, LED haters. I have LEDs in all my OBS trucks and this edging, light pattern, proper projectory jargon that gets tossed around is laughable. How many people do you know can get into a vehicle and say all these things about light specificity? Very few. Most people only know if the light is not aimed straight and not worried about beam edging, angle of pitch, Kelvin scale, etc.

It’s like speakers in the truck. Not many will say the frequency range is off or give some sort of acoustical analysis because they have a tuned ear.

I don't hate LED lamps. I dislike just throwing together something that's brighter in the wrong spectrum to bandaid a failing worn out lamp.

LED bulbs work well in lamps that are designed for them. They are a poor compromise when installed in lamps designed for another light source. They cause issues for other drivers and still do not light up the road as well as a new lamp and bulb set.

If you've never had the pleasure of driving a vehicle with selective yellow forward lamps you should try it out. I've driven a Triumph Stag and an early 1970's Porsche 911 with OEM selective yellow headlamps. They're a heckuva lot easier on the eyes at night.

[kev2809]

if ur set on LED bulbs I would suggest these. I swapped out all my bulbs to LED and really like the look. I went with Auxbeam 9005 and 9006 for my 02 avalanche. I did use different brand for the blinkers since the Auxbeam wouldn't function right even with resistors (signal bulbs).

[71gmcC15]

I have every bulb in my 07 classic led. Love them. For the headlights I am running auxbeam f16 9005 hi and lows. I have Denali headlights. I am also running 9005 led in my fog lights. I always find with leds you need to aim them down more then the old bulbs. I dont get flashed or anything. It's the people that dont aim them that blind people.

[mikelom]

I have Auxbeam LEDs but on my car, and I'm very pleased with them.

[67sss]

Which headlight reflector assembly works best IF I want to change out my stock ones. I'm not wanting the "cheaply" made ones. Been there, done that and never again. I have a 2004 GMC 3500 extended cab long bed. We travel alot and would like to improve the night driving lights. I also was a truck driver for 30+ years and am not wanting to be that guy that blind people when I'm driving. Thanks

[kev2809]

Originally Posted by 67sss

Which headlight reflector assembly works best IF I want to change out my stock ones. I'm not wanting the "cheaply" made ones. Been there, done that and never again. I have a 2004 GMC 3500 extended cab long bed. We travel alot and would like to improve the night driving lights. I also was a truck driver for 30+ years and am not wanting to be that guy that blind people when I'm driving. Thanks

I didn't use any reflector...I did have to re aim the headlights but that's it.

[hatzie]

Originally Posted by kev2809

I didn't use any reflector...I did have to re aim the headlights but that's it.

The reflector is the dish in the headlamp housing.
LED is a directional light source. It lacks the semi spherical scatter that tungsten filament bulbs provide.
There are 921 series LED bulbs that are purposely engineered to soften and scatter a ring of light against the reflector dish in a filament housing. This setup does seem to work fairly well with the early discontinued Phillips Vision bulbs that I used in place of the 921 push in base backup lamps on my Tundra and my Impala SS. The difference is very noticeable. I have yet to find a replacement for these Phillips bulbs that works as well.


I have yet to see an LED replacement lamp for the larger taillamp/turnsignal and headlamp bulbs that does the same thing as the original Phillips Vision 921 design.
LED bulbs with side mounted LED chips are likely a lot less expensive to produce. The side mounted design provides several point sources against the reflector instead of the original Vision 921 that effectively scatters the light against the reflector of the vehicle lamp housing by directing the light against a metallized coating on the tip back against a conical reflector to scatter it out all 360° of the the sides similar to the bulk of the light from a Tungsten filament bulb.

The below side blasting bulbs are what are on the market now. The headlamp bulbs are similar to the three sided bulb on the left. The light from bulbs like these have hot areas where the light is focused from the LED chips and dark areas between the chips.

[67sss]

My lense(plastic outside) are fogged and have tried to clean and polish them with no luck. I also have a 2005 Trailblazer SS and the plastic headlight lense is clear. Is there a replacement lense/headlight assembly I could replace on my 2004 GMC truck?

[kev2809]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Headlamp-Fo...-127632-2357-0

[Nick_R_23]

What you want are fanless LEDs, the kind with the copper cooling belts on the back. These will conform to the tight spaces behind the headlights where there is little room on these trucks. DON’T use the cooling fan models, the fans commonly fail and usually don’t fit anyway.

I have been running LEDs for over a decade now. The best ones I have found are made by G6, and the best place to pick them up is on eBay. Use the search term “9005 LED fanless” or “9006 LED fanless”. They run about $42 per pair. I have used these on over 30 personal vehicles, including motorcycles and ATVs, zero failures. They also position the LED chip where the stock halogen filament sits.

Side note, stock housings are not true reflectors. Yes, they are a style of reflector, but the lenses are serrated to scatter the light pattern, which does more to dictate where the light is thrown than the reflector does. The reflector backing or the position of the filaments compared to stock will do little to change the light output pattern because of this. The reason that you’ll typically see HID’s appear much brighter in oncoming traffic compared to the LEDs or halogens, is because the HID’s are not shielded (your eyes are exposed to the arc/filament), whereas halogen bulbs are painted at the tip, and LEDs mount their chips on the sides, so your eyes are never exposed to the light directly.