dgdarien

I have a 2000 Honda Civic and I've noticed with age that the headlights are not as bright as modern cars and was looking into an upgrade. Anyone had good success with LED headlights in their current exisiting housings? I know they wern't originally designed for LEDs.

fcm

Just have the headlight lenses polished, over time they will "fade" and even a little fading will reflect light back into the housing, making the light look dimmer, a brighter light like LEDs will only make it worse. 94

deschlong

iTrader: (8)

TomCat retrofit some iirc.

Sprockets

iTrader: (6)

I was going to do a Morimoto HID retrofit, but was talked out of it and ended up getting Race Sport Generation 3 LED bulbs. I don't know about the longevity, because I've only had them for a couple of months, but they're absolutely amazing. Ignore the retail, because you can get them for less, but here is the website:

E-Shop

I doubt they're Cree, but I'd be more concerned with the design of the heatsink, etc. This was in a 1999 Civic, by the way.

TomCat39

Yeah, I just got some wide cardboard to aim wifey's headlights. Then need to wait for a wet rainy night to see.

Also have to remember, we are doing the 92-95 so the lenses are glass so don't yellow like the plastic ones do.

The ones I bought on amazon.com we 100 bucks a set, plug and play (except the OEM rubber molding I had to cut open) and are CREE led.

https://www.amazon.com/OPT7-Headligh...ywords=opt7+h4

We haven't had them very long to test them much yet. And still need to aim the headlights. But first impression was good in dry weather.

petr0lb0mb

Hey, TomCat. I was just wondering about your opinion of the LED headlights now that you've had them awhile.

tony_2018

Pics or it didn't happen.

I think philips has an h4 bulb out as well and is properly aimed.

mk378

Besides the lenses yellowing, also check the mirror coating in the back of the housings. If it has degraded, you won't get much light out in front of the car no matter what kind of bulbs you use.

TomCat39

The Opt7 bulbs are still doing well in my Wife's car. The 92-95 uses glass lenses so they don't yellow, it's is basically the reflector that could cause challenges.

So far so good.

For my spec-d tuning projector head lights it uses H1 bulbs so I found some lower priced china LED bulbs that cost me about 60 bucks, I had to warranty one of them out so I ended up with a replacement set and sent back the bad bulb for another 15 bucks or so.

They are working pretty well too.

I like my LED lights so far.

I think the Opt7 is worth the extra dollars for the long haul but really only time will tell.

petr0lb0mb

Good to know, TomCat.
mk378, that's a good point.
Tony_2018, I'm considering the Phillips H4's because they seem to be well made.
I'm a little bit torn on investing in LED headlights VS an LED light bar VS waiting for technology to improve on both.

tony_2018

led lightbar = no controlled lighting

TomCat39

What is your end goal?

One thing that should be noted about the LED H4 and H1 lights using CREE LED's.... If they are decently built they tend to have a fan built into the back of them for needed cooling purposes.

The fan and heat sink does play to the trouble side for fitment. On the 92-95 cars it's the window wash fill tube on the drivers side that fights for space with the bulbs.

I actually had to unbolt the top bolt from the filler tube so it would flex back to let me get the bulb into place and then I could re-bolt it back into place.

I suspect the stock air box on some cars might pose a similar issue. So you will hope the bulbs last near a lifetime.

I had less problems with the stock lenses and the H4 bulbs but it was tight. While the aftermarket projector lenses and the H1 bulbs required the unbolt/re-bolt process.

petr0lb0mb

Well, brighter, better lighting is my goal. I have an HID system now, which is sufficient when used as a low-beam, but it uses H1's for high-beams which are pathetic.
I was thinking that an LED light bar, ugly as they are, might be practical as a high-beam supplement.

TomCat39

H1 Highbeams (I bought H1 low beams) I would probably use these:



55W per bulb with 10,000 Lumen per bulb. And they are cheap to try.

These look just like the cheap ones I bought for my H1 low beam projector lenses. I just might upgrade my high beam H1's to this but I sort of like the normal yellow filament H1's as my high beam at the moment.

petr0lb0mb

Thanks for the idea. I might do that. I'll revisit the lighting topic later. I've got to wrap up my engine swap here first. I'm almost done, but every day there seems to be at least two unexpected items I have to run and purchase. Today was B-Series AC lines (didn't know they were different from D-Series) and O-rings for said lines.

TomCat39

I totally spaced on a detail though. If you have the Daytime Running Lights (DRL) version civic (CDM) you will experience brights DRL.

Honda used a reduced voltage to the high beam bulb/filament for the DRL. If you put in LED bulbs, even the reduced voltage doesn't drop the light volume much at all so you essentially are driving with your brights on until you turn on your lights, then it drops to the low beam circuit.

USDM civics of the era don't have DRL's so shouldn't be an issue.

petr0lb0mb

I've always hated DRLs and I'm so glad we don't have that requirement here. I think they are a solution in need of a problem.

TomCat39

I think not having the requirement is extremely dangerous in some situations. I am glad Canada has the requirement. So many people are not very bright (pun intended) and don't turn on their lights in the rain. See the pic below why this is dangerous.



darkish car, no lights in truckers mirror, can you see it?

petr0lb0mb

I see your point. But also keep in mind that those same people who aren't bright enough to turn on their lights in the rain, are the same ones who drive around at night with only the daytime running lights on, thinking their headlights are on, not realizing the rest of their car is blacked out.

TomCat39

That's so true too.

Damned if you do, and damned if you don't.